Guardian of the Sun
by Hinterland Seer
Summary: Blaze Burn was a simple pegasus, just trying to keep him and his brother alive after the destruction wrought by Discord. Unfortunately, he found himself with all the wrong and right ponies in his struggle to free his friends and family from utter chaos. As time passes, he finds himself in walks of life he never imagined existed, like being sought after by Princess Celestia herself.
1. 1 Blazing Away

Chapter 1: Blazing Away

Blaze Burn never really felt like he was living up to his full potential. Never. His single mother was always away, and he was left home alone more often than he cared to admit. He felt like he needed much more sunlight, his pearly white coat gleamed, but it was so bright, sometimes he blinded even himself. He was happy with his mane though, a radiating red-orange that faded into a white not that different from his coat.

He always felt like something was missing, something that would earn him his cutie mark. He spent most of his days dreaming about the awesome deeds he would accomplish. How he would become the best flier in all Equestria, and how he would be honored by the Princesses themselves. But he still felt like those dreams still needed something; he would become the best flier, the ultimate pegasus ever known.

However, the moment Blaze laid eyes on his baby brother, Star Burn, he knew he would do anything to protect him. When his mother came home with that little bundle of joy, he felt that hole in his dreams filling. He would become his brother's protector, a winged guardian.

After a short time, the small royal blue bundle of a pegasus that was Star began to grow. That was when Blaze decided upon a course of action. The area of the Everfree Forest, where the Castle of the Two Sisters resided, was slowly expanding, and the city was falling apart. Discord had been turned to stone, but his magic still destroyed much of the prosperous land. This made a slight problem for running away, there were just no opportunities for the brothers to get anywhere, and that was it. Mother barely made due, and their family really only consisted of the two tiny colts, since she was gone on her love business most days and often overnight,

But Blaze was a determined pegasus, though he may have been young and inexperienced. He had decided to run away, and he thought he knew how he could provide for themselves. Even though most of the country was in ruins, the Castle was still well-built. It had survived far worse events, and it would continue to reign through countless more. He knew that both the Princesses were well off. Royalty always had plenty of food.

That was the basis of Blaze's plan; to steal food from the Castle. But he knew he was still lacking in one major department; he had no skill in the art of theft. It took a few days of miserable contemplation, but he figured it out. He had a plan, and he was going to save himself and his little brother.

Flying as fast as he could, Blaze rushed into the shamble of a building they called a house. The foundation was falling into a pit of sand, all four walls were slowly crumbling under the constant wearing of the weather, and the roof leaked in at least a dozen places. The entryway was just the tiny living room that was home to a single couch. On that couch lived himself and his brother. But it was also inhabited by a score of various insect species. Star was still asleep on the couch, wrapped in his star splattered blanket.

Blaze only stopped for a moment to make sure that his brother was okay, though he tried to be as quiet as possible. Mid-day naps were going to be very important for the younger pegasus. So the white-coated brother dashed up the stairs, through the peeling hallway and into their mother's bedroom. The only bedroom in the house. Luckily for Blaze, their mother was out on "business", and would be gone most of the day.

Once inside the bedroom, Blaze grabbed the only suitcase he had ever seen in the family's possessions, and started grabbing anything he thought he would need. This included Star's favorite teddy, an awful, ragged thing that was missing an arm, an extra blanket, and the only jackets that weren't already in pieces. He shoved all their clothes in as well, making the suitcase thoroughly packed.

And after thumping the case down the stairs as quietly as he could, he then proceeded to go to the tiny area they called a kitchen. He grabbed a small wedge of cheese, one of the only things left that was edible.

"Why do we suffer, oh Princesses?" Blaze asked aloud, staring at the wall, willing the tears away. Theirs was a world of pain, of suffering, and it wore on the will of everypony. He understood that the Sisters were trying to fix the nation, but only so much progress could be made. Some ponies took the hardships better than others. His mother for example, she was forced into the sex business, and then there were the rich and royal. Those who had the luxury of freedom away from oppression.

"Stop." Blaze growled, slamming his head on the wall.

"Brother?" Star asked, weakly floating into the kitchen, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes. This caused Blaze to freeze for a moment, before dropping the suitcase and rushing over to the small blue pegasus. "Are you going somewhere?"

"What? Well, yes, but no. We are going somewhere." Blaze managed a weak smile before wrapping Star in a hug. "It's all going to be alright."

"We're going somewhere?"

"Yeah. We're leaving this place behind. Going somewhere better."

"Why do we have to leave?"

"So you can get big and strong. And we can be free."

"I want to be big and strong. Just like you." Star forgot all about his sleepy eyes. He now beamed.

"Then let's go. Right now, grab your blankie, and we can leave."

"But what about mom?" Star's face dropped into a look of confusion.

Blaze hesitated, then looked down, pawing at the ground. "She won't be coming with us. She is too busy."

"Can we leave her a note?"

"Already did that." Blaze Burn hated to have to lie to his brother, but the thought of breaking his heart would not allow him to be completely honest. Besides, their mother would soon find out. Star just nodded happily and fluttered off to get his blanket.

Blaze watched Star leave the kitchen, smiling to himself; everything was working. They were leaving, and he had been practicing his skills against some of the local ponies. He had amassed a small pouch of bits, as well as a few snacks and smaller items that would go unnoticed.

His heart lifted, Blaze huffed and lifted the suitcase off the floor, cheese in his mouth, and holding onto the case with both front hooves. Floating into the living room, Star was already at the door, holding it open for his big brother. Blaze nodded and they left their world of innocence behind.

The sun blinded Star's eyes for a moment, and then the two pegasi floated into the hobble of broken and discarded buildings, without a single pony noticing two colts with their supplies flying by. After about an hour of searching the ruined parts of the city, the brothers discovered a small community of other homeless ponies taking shelter within a large warehouse. Blaze told Star to wait outside, while he peeked inside to scan the shelter.

A peek was all Blaze needed, he snapped his head out of the warehouse.

"We can't stay here." He said quickly, taking the suitcase and slowly floating towards the street.

"Why not?" Star asked, bobbing up and down, his wings tired from the flight.

"It's. . ., Blaze paused to think about how to explain it to his brother. Eventually, he decided to protect Star; "occupied."

Star seemed slightly disappointed, but didn't question his brother's authority. So the two continued through the ruined city, passing two similar homeless communities. Each one was "occupied". The sun was beginning to cross the western horizon when Blaze finally dropped the suitcase and heaved himself to the ground right next to it. Star had stopped floating an hour before, and stopped his pitiful crawl next to his brother.

"This isn't fun brother." Star huffed, barely audible as his face was concealed behind his pitch-black mane. If Blaze wasn't so Princesses-damned tired, he would have marveled at the opposing color schemes between himself and his brother. The young pegasus was so dark, while he was white and red, the colors just clashed whenever they were together.

Of course, Blaze Burn was too damned tired to care about anything other than the fact that Star was homeless and they were not going to make it. He was to blame, he had taken them away from the only shelter they had known.

"I know brother. I'm sorry Star." He grumbled, picking himself up. He quickly scanned the surrounding housing options. They had managed to pick a fairly intact place. That meant that they were in a region of town that still had real inhabitants, ponies that still owned their own housing.

"Just a little more." Lifting himself off the ground, Blaze picked up the case and made another glancing sweep of the area. He saw a potential alley, and swiftly flew over to it. Taking another of his peeks down the path, he saw something that had eluded the pair; another shelter. Rushing over to the case, Blaze urged them towards the final promise of shelter. Getting to the entrance, Blaze Burn repeated the process of taking a glance inside, only this time he didn't immediately snap his head back out, which instilled in them both a sense of hope. Something they hadn't felt since the beginning of the day.

Opening the old, burnt door a little more, Blaze Burn entered the old, shambled warehouse hesitantly. The place was falling apart, all thanks to Discord, but was still able to shelter those who need it. The roof was intact, it might have been the most structured part of the whole building, but the back wall was the best place to hide from the elements. That was also the favorite spot among the homeless, as countless ponies, pegasi, and unicorns huddled together to keep warm as the sun hid itself for the night.

The place had the feeling of total despair, and the others within looked like death itself. Many were malnourished, their ribs showing through whatever clothes they had on. Manes and tails were drier than straw, often literally falling out of their owner's bodies. Yet many were walking around with a purpose in their stride. The first though Blaze had was that they just walked into a horde of zombified creatures. Only when one stopped to frown at the two did he come to his senses.

"Excuse me," He began nervously, "is there a couple open spots in here?"

The frail grey-eyed unicorn frowned even more, gazing at Blaze, then shifting her gaze to Star. She swept her hazy eyes between the two for a moment, then suddenly dropped it. "Now why would two young pegasi need open spots here?"

"Our . . ." Blaze started, before shutting his mouth closed. How much could he tell her? "We need somewhere to rest our heads. It's late, and my brother needs to sleep."

Puffing out his chest, Blaze tried to look and sound confident. He wasn't sure he pulled it off.

"Oh, dear Princesses." The unicorn sighed depressingly, lifting her gaze to meet Blaze's full force. "Another victim of the tragedy. Well then, right this way. I think we can find somewhere that has a couple areas open."

With that, the unicorn turned, revealing a mottled brown coat, flecked with tiny black spots that probably shouldn't have been there. Her mane was almost gone, with what little remained being a dead blonde color. Blaze couldn't make out her cutie mark, she had a ripped-up skirt covering most of her flank.

"Are we finally going to bed?" Star asked, gliding up to Blaze's side, a look of confusion written across his face.

"Yeah." Blaze sighed. It was over, at least for now. They had a place to rest their heads, to recuperate for tomorrow. It was a long day, too much running around, especially with the heavy suitcase. Unfortunately, he was still dragging that damned case, but it was a short prolonging, as they got to a sparsely populated section behind a crumbling wall of stone. The wood was gone, but the roof was steel, and would keep out the rain.

"I hope this isn't too bad for you." The unicorn said, before disappearing into the shadows.

"Okay." Blaze was a little concerned that that was all, but decided to just shrug it off. He could deal with everything in the morning, because at the moment, he felt like he could sleep standing up.

The area was empty it seemed that they had privacy, though Blaze couldn't guess whether that was good or bad now. He dropped the case on the ground and almost collapsed, pumping his wings to stay up.

"Let's get our rolls out and go to bed, okay?" He stuttered, clumsily opening the case, not caring that it was upside down and most of the components were spilling out. He just rifled through the spreading items until he pulled out two bundles of cloth, their sleeping rolls. Soon both brothers were wrapped tightly in their bags and sleeping, even if it was an unfavorable situation.

The blackness of night was still holding the cloudy sky when Blaze snapped awake.

'What was that?' He peered around, but in the dim, he saw nothing. A minute passed, and when nothing but silence remained, he decided it must have been his imagination.

In the distance, a cat meowed, briefly breaking the silence, but soon the darkness dominated. And yet still Blaze couldn't shake this feeling of urgency. So he quietly stood up, glancing in the direction of Star. Nothing, no movement, no sounds, Star was a quiet sleeper. With this feeling clutching at his stomach, Blaze snuck outside for a breath of fresh air, not that the failing structure impeded on the flow of air as it was, he just needed to see the stars for which his brother was named.

The night was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, but the lights of the remaining city were dimmed. It seemed that nopony wanted to stay awake after the long days that life gave them. With such, the heavens appeared so brightly and alive that Blaze just stood there outside the door for a good several minutes, staring up. Snapping back, Blaze glanced around, making sure he was unseen, and then took several steps into the shadow of the crumbling buildings until he came to the stairs of an old house. Going up, he found the entire second story gone, he walked into a landing that led to an open area, light rather brightly by the moon and stars.

Bright reds and rich purples splashed themselves across the sky, painting a picture more beautiful than anything Blaze could imagine anypony could have ever painted. He silently thanked Luna for her imagination and perfect design of the night sky, and had to tear his gaze away from a star cluster several times. The stars made a shape of a heart, but the colors that bled together made it so eerie.

Flapping his wings to get some air under them, Blaze walked to the right-hoof side, where the buildings around gave a slight ramp for him to take off. He glanced down at the ground, making sure the coast was clear before he took off. Seeing that it was all empty streets below, he trotted to the other side and stretched his legs and wings for takeoff. Rolling his shoulders, Blaze sprinted the length of the building flaring his wings to catch as much air as possible.

Pumping his wings, Blaze gained altitude, though he saw he was heading directly for the slanted roof of a distance house, he knew the drill. Galloping in air, he prepared to use the roof to launch himself into the air.

At first contact, Blaze almost tripped, a bit of loose hay caused a slip in his step, but was an easy fix for him, he sprinted up the roof, then leaped into the open skies. He would have been invisible, if he had his brother's coat, as it was, white didn't blend with the night sky. Because of this, Blaze flew close to the rooftops. He wasn't worried about guards, he just needed to get good at being unnoticed.

He knew thieves never got caught, well the good ones that is. He had to be good, no, he had to be the best. Life was tough enough, but he was going to take from those who wanted to avoid that fact. They were going to be guarding their treasures with a jealous security. He had to prepare.

Blaze swept himself up to avoid a chimney stack, clipping his front hooves on the cracked bricks, knocking a couple loose.

"Buck! Pay attention Blaze!" He muttered angrily to himself, shaking his head clear of all thoughts.

After flying for an hour, Blaze felt sufficiently tired to sleep, in fact, he was so exhausted, returning to the warehouse was difficult for him. He had done an extensive flying workout, putting his wings to the test. He returned on shaking wings and trembling legs. Warily opening the door, he snuck back to his roll, and after a final look at his brother, promptly passed out.


	2. 2 New Dawn's Fire

Chapter 2: New Dawn's Fire

Blaze awoke with a groan, the tapping on his side was extremely familiar from when they were growing up. It really hurt. Star would be asking about breakfast is 3 . . . 2 . . .

"Wake up Blaze, I'm hungry." Star whispered, giving Blaze a gentle push, urging the elder to emerge from sleep.

"I'm up, I'm up." Blaze grumbled, rolling over, and putting his back to Star.

Star wasn't a fan of this, so he jumped over Blaze and pushed his shoulder again. "Get up Blaze. I'm hungry."

Blaze groaned again, and covered his eyes with his wing. Big mistake; his shoulder muscles and wings ached with everything in the world.

It was as if the entire world wanted to make sure he got up, or so Blaze thought. Thus, he reluctantly got to his hooves, falling twice.

'Maybe that workout was too much.' He thought grimly, 'More of that and I'll never be able to get anything. I'll be too damn sore.'

Inhaling sharply, Blaze glanced around the room, yet everypony else seemed to take no notice of the brothers, if they were awake at all. Stiffly walking to the entrance of the abandoned warehouse, the two felt like they were shadows, the place just seemed so dead. The suffering was almost palpable.

Blaze opened the door enough for the two to slip out, then they were off. The first thing he noticed, which surprised him greatly, was that Star had woken him up at the break of dawn. Most ponies wouldn't even be up yet.

"Uh . . . Star," He started rubbing his eyes, "you know it's too early to get anything right?"

"Maybe to buy them. But you weren't going to buy anything, were you?"

Ouch. That cut Blaze deep. How could Star have known that; how could he understand what that was?

"What makes you think that, Star?" He asked nervously looking at anything but his little brother.

"Because. . . " Star began.

"You know what?" Blaze quickly interrupted. "You're too young to care. All you need to worry about is the fact that you can have fun while I get some food from somewhere. So . . ."

Glancing around, while trying to avoid his brother, served another purpose, Blaze was trying to find a way out of the situation. He found one.

"So how about you go on and fly over to the old park and see if you can't bring me any toys that I could fix up."

At the mention of toys, Star's ears perked up, and he smiled a bit wider than before. He was useful, and his brother seemed to want him to do something important. So, Star nodded gratefully and fluttered off towards the old park.

As he watched Star fly away, Blaze started to seriously contemplate breakfast. He knew there were a few shops nearby, but they would no doubt be locked up. There were stalls, but those usually didn't have anything out that was available. He decided to go over to the market anyway, maybe he could think of something along the way. So, he slowly flew through the streets as he tried to get an idea for food. Then, as he rounded a corner, he found out what was on the menu.

An accident involving multiple late-night carriages had left a few crates of supplies lying in the shadow of a building, on the edge of an alley. Glancing quickly to make sure that he was alone, Blaze dashed over to the crates, and sifted through it quickly. The first crate he got to was already busted open, but had few items of value. No food, nothing that he could sell to get a few bits. It was a dud. The second crate, however, was still sealed. Picking up a nearby rock, he managed to bust open the corner, and the pried the lid off.

"What d'ya think you're doin' there little colt." A voice roughly called out from the darkness of the alley.

Blaze whipped around into a crouch, ready to fight. Three large stallions walked into the early-dawn light. All were wearing ragged clothing, but the lead one, a burly grey and brown pegasus, had on an expensive looking hat and bore a gold necklace.

"Looks like the buggar's trying to get into our loot." The pegasus commented to his partners.

'What do I do?' Blaze kept repeating to himself in his head, which was already up and whirling. He might, might, be able to take one down through surprise, but then he'd either run or get stomped on. The two earth ponies wouldn't be a problem to out distance, but that massive pegasus, there was no way around or away from him.

"Look, " Blaze began slowly, his mind racing. "I don't think you can just claim stuff. I was here first. So, I get the first picks, you guys can have whatever I don't want. Cool?"

The grey pegasus smirked a little before turning to the other two behind him. "Well, well, well. It looks like we got a brave little thief."

Turning back to Blaze, his smirked grew into a wicked grin.

"You know what happens to thieves don't you?"

Blaze gulped, but tried not to look to afraid. He was pretty sure he failed.

"I can't say I care. Because I'm not a thief, I was here first." Blaze puffed up his chest, he knew this wasn't going to end well. He just had to intimidate or impress these three enough to get their minds off him slowly backing towards the building corner.

The pegasus was obviously smarter than his friends, as his grin grew even larger as he began to air his wings. He was going to make a drop on Blaze, and he was showing off his control over the situation.

"Now look here, little colt." He began floating over Blaze, making himself shadow the younger pegasus. "I'm going to give you a deal."

As the words fell out of his mouth, the other two gawked at him, but they didn't have long to be confused. Chaos erupted.

Blaze had been slowly getting an angle to leave, but he had slipped on a trash can lid. The lid had gone flying and nailed the large pegasus on the snout. He had gone flipping backwards into his partners, and the three crumpled in a heap.

As Blaze had slipped on the lid, he rolled backwards. It wasn't a good roll, he smacked his head on the stone road, but he managed to keep enough momentum to take off as the others had separated. The punk pegasus bolted out of the alley, giving chase. Unfortunately for Blaze, this pegasus was not a weak flyer. He had caught Blaze within a block, and slammed the colt into another unoccupied alleyway.

The other two caught up within moments, and then Blaze was trapped in a bad situation.

"Not funny." The pegasus growled, knocking Blaze into a wall with a swipe of his hoof.

Blaze took the blow, trying to take as little damage as possible. It still hurt like a son of a-

"Don't think you can just go around hurting ponies. It ain't right." The pegasus kept growling his voice getting deeper and deeper with each breath, his growling becoming more and more like a wild animal.

"Buck, he's losing it." One of the ponies muttered to the other, he took two steps back. "We should get the hay out of here."

"You got this boss." Second muttered, backing away, "We're going to, uh, stand guard outside."

"Yeah. We got the entrance." The first chipped in, turning around and rushing out at a pace that worried Blaze.

The pegasus turned to glare at the others, but when he turned back to face Blaze, the latter's face went pale. A hulking pegasus angry at you was one thing, but when his eyes were bloodshot and his face was _blue_ , that was a different matter entirely. The behemoth snorted once, a ring of smoking flowing out of each nostril, and began stomping towards Blaze.

The poor colt could only crawl backwards, until he hit a trash can in the corner.

'I'm not making it.' he thought as the pegasus raised a single hoof to swipe Blaze from Equestria. Then an image of Star came to his mind, and hope filled his heart.

"Wait." He shouted, jumping back to his hooves, "You ain't got the cojones to hit a colt, even if he did make a mistake. You said it yourself . . ."

Before he could finish his thought the pegasus slammed his hoof at Blaze, who jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow. At this point, he could have gotten his cutie mark for slipping on trash cans, because that was exactly what happened. If only the can was made from steel that exploded on contact. The can hit the pegasus, but this only seemed the make him even more angry.

It was a sight to behold, not only was the pegasus' face now deep red, but steam was actually flowing out of his ears. The steam frightened Blaze more than the pegasus himself at this point.

"You, uh . . ." He began nervously, "You know you're steaming, right."

The pegasus just glared with his red eyes, and leaped at the colt, wings flared, and mouth foaming. Blaze didn't have a whole lot more hope, but at least he'd go down with a fight. Right as the pegasus was on him, Blaze ducked down, and bucked with all his might. He wasn't a weakling, but he felt like it, his kick didn't even faze the hulking figure above him, who was now falling on top of him.

'Not good. Not good.' Blaze motivated himself enough to roll towards to open street, which was beginning to become populated.

The massive pegasus landed mostly on top of Blaze, but the colt was small enough to be able to wriggle free before the older pegasus caught him. He got half a tail away before two shaking hooves picked him up off his hooves and threw him against the wall.

"Now you're done for, you little rat." The pegasus raised himself onto his back legs and prepared to slam the life out of Blaze. He paused at the top to gloat at his victory, absorbing the moment. Blaze took the moment to pray to the princesses to take care of his little brother. He closed his eyes and wrapped himself tightly into a ball. He hoped this would go quickly, he didn't want to suffer any more.

Two breaths later, and he opened his eyes. Why hadn't the asshole moved? Glancing up, he saw the pegasus still glaring at him, though the color seemed to be draining from his head. He stood there a moment longer, glaring, then promptly slumped into a heap in front of Blaze.

The colt took the message, and without wasting any time, bolted for the entrance. He broke out into the street and was caught by another pair of hooves.

"Let me go!" He tried to break free, but the hooves held him tightly. He thrashed around until he realized who was holding him, it was the Royal Guard. Well, he thought it was the Royal Guard, he'd never actually seen one before.

"Hold on there foal. Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." The guard said, in a thick roll of an accent.

Blaze remained stiff as the guard released him, only he was less inclined to take off. He felt like the guards had this under control, but he was still worried. He was trying to start his crime career, and yet, here were guards trying to help him. A sudden wave of self-doubt rushed through him, these were normal ponies off-duty, they had lives of their own. They probably struggled as much as much of the population, and he was prepared to steal from them. The thought made him question what he thought he was going to do. Then he remembered that he wasn't taking anything from them, just the Princesses.

"We're going to have to ask you some questions." The remark brought Blaze's attention back to the matter at hoof.

"Uh . . . " He wasn't sure about how to go about explaining his situation to guards, especially since he was considering criminal choices.

"Tell us why these three attacked you." The guard pulled out a small notebook and a quill, ready to take notes.

"Well, I was walking towards the markets, thinking about breakfast when they jumped out of an alley and accused me of theft." Blaze was panicking now, he had to calm his nerves, he wasn't really lying, just leaving out minor details. "I slipped on some trash and accidentally hit one of them with trash as I fell. I swear it was an accident. But then they threatened to hurt me so I ran."

Blaze felt he was talking to fast, and part of him hoped it was too much for the guard to really question, but the guards seemed to take notes almost faster than the words could flow out of Blaze's mouth. Blaze was relieved when the guard nodded and kept his nose in the notes.

"What happened when you got in this alley?" The guard didn't even look up.

"Well, I was backed to a corner, and the big one was really angry, but I don't really know why. I tried to stand up for myself, but he was just too big." Blaze tried to fake some tears or at least make his eyes watery, for the image of innocence. Blaze's heart was pounding, he barely got out of there, and now he was holding information from the guards.

"Hey, look, it wasn't your fault. They were criminals, they act out of greed and look for trouble." This is where the guard actually looked up and locked eyes with Blaze. "But you stood up for yourself, and that takes guts. Good job kid. If every foal was like you, us guards would be replaced with you youngsters."

Blaze let out a half smile, the guard was actually trying to cheer him up. The sad thing was that it was working, Blaze's half smile turned into a full grin as the guard let him off. He watched as the guards took the two cuffed ponies and locked them in a cart, while the guard that questioned Blaze picked up the unconscious pegasus and threw him inside the cart.

Blaze sighed heavily, then took off for the market, stopping by the crates along the way. He sifted through them quickly and found a few items of value, but the treasure he found was a fat pouch of bits. He slung the items in a little bag he made, he would need to invest in a saddle soon, but the pouch he tied with some rope around his neck. Jogging back to the market, he found Star sitting on the side of the filthy street, frowning as he searched the crowd.

"Looking for somepony?" Blaze happily called as he approached. Star jumped into the air and dashed over his brother.

"Woah, where did you get all that?" Star exclaimed, sizing up the bag of goods that Blaze dropped on the ground between them.

"Just from a couple of nasty friends." Blaze answered forcing Star to sit and wait as he unloaded the bag. "Very helpful friends."

He pulled out a necklace made of silver, as well as a roll of cloth that felt like a foal's bottom it was so smooth. Star was excited about the cloth the most, well, until Blaze pulled off the pouch and Star heard it jingle. His eyes grew as large as saucers when Blaze dumped out several dozen bits.

"WOOOAAAHHHH!"

"Now let's go get breakfast!" Blaze happily said as he scooped them back into his pouch. He also refilled the bag of its contents, giving the necklace to Star to wear. Walking into the slowly populating marketplace, the two brothers sifted through the light crowd, until they came across a little stall that had an earth pony standing behind it.

"Come an' get some delicious famous Apple Family apple products right here!"

"Blaze, can I get an apple pie slice? I just want one slice." Star tugged at Blaze's front leg until he was forced to submit.

"Alright but just a slice, we still need something for breakfast." He sighed as he walked up to the stall, he pulled out his pouch and dropped a few bits on the surface.

"Two apple salads, and a small slice for my brother please." He said the brown mare looking at them, who promptly scooped up the gold and picked up a basket from behind the stall, dropped two apples into a bowl, then replaced the basket of apples with a bag of greens. She mixed the content together, and split them between two bowls. She then proceeded to reach inside her cart and grabbed an apple pie. Pulling a knife out from her apron, she cut a slice and placed it on a paper plate.

"Have a great day." The mare said a little less than happy, the vain attempts of a struggling pony who needed to appear happy, but felt dead inside. Blaze knew the feeling too well, it was so easy to see the daily suffering across the land.

"You too." He replied as cheerily as he could, even flashing a brief smile. He figured she would need it, and she returned an equally brief smile that faded rapidly.

Blaze gave Star the pie slice and one of the bowls, resting his own on his back. Star balanced a slice of an apple on his head as he merrily gobbled down the small slice of pie. It made him feel satisfied that somepony could be happy, the day was going to turn out alright. They wandered through the market for several more hours, with Blaze purchasing drinks for them, until Star began to grow more and more tired.

"We've been walking for ages!" He proclaimed, flopping onto the ground.

"Star, it hasn't been ages, only a few hours. Anyways, what toys did you find at the park?" Blaze retorted, nudging the blue pegasus with his hoof. Star wouldn't move, so Blaze nudged a little harder, before jumping to the other side and began tickling Star relentlessly. Star's laughing filled the streets, as he bellowed for Blaze to stop, which incited only more tickling from the older brother.

"PLEASE! PLEASE!" Star yelped in between gasps as he tried to breath and laugh at the same time. "Stop it!"

Eventually, Blaze noticed that Star's face was turning bluer than normal, so he ceased, allowing Star to roll over, tears covering his face as he began to breathe again. As Star began to regain his breath, Blaze brought him over to the side of the street, where they sat down and watched the afternoon traffic pass them by. With so much time and freedom, Blaze wasn't sure how to secure a real occupation in his chosen field, but he wasn't worried. This was what he lived for; to be happy, with his brother by his side.

"Actually, about that," Star sounded sad, and he refused to look anywhere other than his unfinished salad. "I didn't find anything. Not one discarded toy."

"Oh, well. I'm sorry buddy. Wish I could make it up to you." Blaze tried not to diminish his spirits, this visit meant so much to Star, he'd hate for anything to go wrong on their one free day.

"No, don't say that. I'm just happy you're here with me." Star quickly spoke, trying to cut off his brother. "I just want to sit here with you and be happy."

Blaze couldn't argue with the logic that sprung out of Star's mind from seemingly nowhere. So that's what they did, sat there enjoying the day, watching others go about their business. Star seemed so blissful that it almost hurt Blaze to hide the fact that he was indeed not entirely convinced this was the right path he had chosen. It still disturbed him that the guards had such an effect on him. He took another look at his little blue bundle of love and reminded himself why it was he had dragged Star away from that terrible place.

After another half-hour of idle watching passersby, and Star grew bored, even though Blaze was more than content to sit there the rest of the day. Star needed fun! He began anxiously tapping his hooves together, looking for something fun to do.

"What's the problem, hey buddy?" Blaze looked worried that something really was bothering his brother, and he was afraid of what that would be. He looked down at the little colt, all jittery and looking around like he would rather be anywhere but there at the moment.

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just bored." Star replied too quickly for his brother to like.

"But . . ." Blaze paused for a moment to process the notion of his boredom. "If this is boring, then what do I do to make it fun?"

"Honestly," Star sighed, he looked really defeated. "I have no idea."

"Well, I think I have an idea. But you might not like it." Blaze spoke cautiously, trying not to scare his brother. Star looked at him with eyes that showed a mix of curiosity and anxiety. "How many friends do you have that are your age?"

"Uh, can we not talk about this?" Star looked extremely uncomfortable with this, but Blaze knew it needed to happen, he just wished he knew a way to go about it. He couldn't be the only pony that Star spent time with. He needed friends, it _was_ healthy after all. A young foal couldn't just go on alone in life, Blaze dreaded the thought of Star receiving that fate.

"No, Star." Blaze insisted lightly, pulling in the blue pegasus into a hug, wrapping a wing around the bundle of fur and feathers. "I know it scares you. You've never had anypony besides myself, and . . . and. Never mind. Look, you should find somepony to keep you company in case I'm gone."

"G-gone?" Star asked nervously, leaning away from his protective brother.

"You know, when I find a way to pay for us." Blaze reminded him, "I can't just stay with you all the time. Even you wouldn't like that. And I have to keep buying you apple pie."

Blaze ruffled the blue pony's mane, chuckling as he folded his white wing back against his side.

"Fine." Star looked down at the ground, defeated.

"Oh, stop that!" Blaze nudged his brother on the shoulder, "Besides, we are going to spend a lot of time together."

"Promise?" Star looked up.

"Promise." Blaze nodded, pulling Star in for a hug. "Now let's go back. We should really make that place feel like home."

Star mumbled something, but was the first one up and was already several steps ahead by the time Blaze caught up. The trip back was fairly quiet, as most of the traffic was in the market or other, more repaired parts of town.

The pair was almost back, when yet another group of shadowy characters emerged from the shadows of a nearby alley. Blaze moaned within his head and put himself between Star and the strangers.

"You must be that little colt that got old Box Stifler put in irons." The lead unicorn said, entering the midday sunlight. The first thing Blaze noticed was that the shade of green the unicorn was very dark, almost a murky brown. His head was covered by an old brown leather hat, while his pitch-black mane cascaded down his neck and disappeared, appearing to meld with his black leather jacket.

"Well, I got some good news for ya." He said with a smile, "The boss wants to see ya."

"Well . . ." Blaze thought as quickly as he could, again. He really needed to find some friends or a group that wasn't going to emerge from shadows and demand him do something. "You can tell your boss that I thank him for his interest, but I'll have to decline. I need to get my brother back home."

"Oh, I see. Too bad it wasn't a request, his words were closer to: 'Get that little menace over here', an' I have no intention of pissin' him off."

Blaze crouched low to the ground ready to attack, no guards were going to save him this time. Flexing his wings, Blaze counted the opponents, the unicorn, two pegasi, and an earth pony; not good odds. He needed a plan to dispatch the unicorn and at least one pegasus before the other two could react. He just wished he was older already, he needed to be bigger and stronger

"So, before anythin' gets out of hoof, how about we try to come to an agreement?" The unicorn added quickly, "I'd rather we avoid trouble."

Blaze halted for a moment, then a scream from behind him. Whipping around he saw another earth pony throw Star into a burlap sack, but as he tried to leap to his brother's rescue, he was wrapped in the unicorn's magic, placing him into the grips of the two pegasi, who held him firmly down.

The unicorn slowly walked into Blaze's field of vision. Taking a deep breath, he stared directly at Blaze's raging eyes, while the latter kicked and resisted with fury.

"Now, this is how things are going to work." He began calmly, "You cooperate, and we return you and your brother to your residence unharmed. You resist, and things get ugly. You see, our boss doesn't like it when the unaffiliated intrude on our business."

Blaze slowly forced himself to calm down, he needed to evaluate his situation, Star was at risk here, and he'd need a cool head for this. Eventually, he was able to remain motionless, attempting to impress an image of calm, though his nostrils still flared whenever he breathed out.

"Good." The unicorn smiled, "One thing you might want to know, we don't just show others our base easily, so . . ."

The unicorn nodded to a pink earth pony, who pulled a burlap sack over Blaze's head. Blaze wasn't too happy about it, but when he indicated so, he just got a hoof in the stomach. He felt himself being tossed around, thrown onto a back, and then there was a long trip in darkness.

A flash of whiteness before Blaze shut his eyes. Sudden changes in lighting hurt very much. After a few moments, this effect cured itself, and Blaze opened his eyes tentatively.

In front of his sat a large brown unicorn, with a dusty grey mane spotted with streaks of white. This unicorn was different than the other brutes Blaze had encountered. Those ones were obviously brutes, Blaze didn't feel like they had many brain cells working. This one however, he gave off an aura of power and knowledge. Blaze suddenly felt like he had met somepony who was capable of reaching a completely different level of power.

"Good afternoon, mister Burn." The unicorn said stiffly, taking a sip of a martini glass in one hoof.

"My name's Blaze." He couldn't help himself, he was nervous. The authority this unicorn held, it really frightened Blaze, so he went into defensive mode rather rapidly.

"Of course. My apologies." The unicorn seemed slightly amused by this, though it only showed in his tone, for his face was stone cold, easily downing the alcohol. "Oh, and where are my manners? Since I know your name, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Al Capony, and I run these streets these days."

"Okay, then. Nice to meet you Al Capony, now that we're friends, do you mind letting my brother . . ." Blaze cursed to himself as he forgot about Star. He snapped his head side to side looking for the little pegasus, finding him in a corner, behind an intimidating purple mare unicorn. She had a black saddle on, which bore a crossbow that looked too heavy for her to hold.

The boss put down his glass and nodded at the mare, who stepped aside and Star dashed over to Blaze.

"Are you okay?" Blaze disengaged to look over Star, who was nodding and crying at the same time.

"Can we go home now? I'm scared." Tears were streaming down both their cheeks.

"Almost." Blaze smiled, then held onto his brother tightly as he refocused on the boss.

"I'll let you two go, but first, we have to settle something." The unicorn stood up and walked down from the stone throne he was sitting on. Another unicorn hiding in the background cast a spell that lit the chandelier above them, revealing a large wooden room that was lightly furnished with couches, but had thick rugs covering most of the floor. The walls had the occasional painting of an important-looking pony, but were mostly bare. The room felt very artificial, as if it was trying to imitate a normal room.

"You see, you managed to put Box Stifler behind bars, which is a slight problem. Honestly, he was more trouble than he was worth, but it's the principle that matters. You took a worker away from me, and now I will be at a loss because of it."

"No." Blaze said very decisively, "I'm not going to work for common thugs like you."

Al Capony chuckled lightly, but it was cold, cruel almost. "You say that like you have a choice. Well, surprise, you now work for me. Do what I say, and not only will you be rich, but you will be protected. All debts must be paid off, you understand?"

"I owe you nothing."

"I hoped it wouldn't have to come to this, you showed promise." Al sighed, all warmth leaving his body, "I'm not going to be harsh in front of the little one, so you've used your only free pass. So, we're going to try this again."

"I can't just join you. I have others that rely on me to take care of them."

"But you will. You see, obligations to others must come second. Although, for your brother, I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement."

Blaze hesitated for a moment. He was offered a job, one that could pay him, but his priorities were towards Star first and foremost. He didn't think he could trust this criminal overlord, but he was offering to at least protect Star.

"So?" Al asked, cocking his head to one side, "Are you going to help your brother or not?"

"You already know what the answer is." Blaze growled.

"Ah, maybe. Maybe not. I want you to say it."

"Fine. If you promise to protect Star, I'll join you."

"You know there are no negotiations, right?" Al said, a smile breaking through his demeanor.

"Promise me." Blaze demanded.

Al didn't immediately respond, he was enjoying this. A little colt thinking he could run things, it was greatly amusing, and under different circumstances, would have made him die of laughter. As it was, he was down several workers, and he needed those numbers back up. Crime never stopped, and you had to seize every opportunity, and this Blaze had great potential.

"Fine, we'll take care of your brother." Al decided out loud, offering a slightly sardonic smile, just to unsettle the recruit, "Welcome to the club, kid."

Star looked up at Blaze, worry written all over his face.

"Don't worry, buddy, I'll make sure they take good care of you." Blaze reassured him, though he wondered how he could enforce such a thing.

"If you say so." Star snuggled closer to Blaze, trying to forget the day, he was tired, and ready for a nap.

"So, can we go home now?" Blaze directed his attention back to Al, who was standing there waiting for one of the brothers to do something.

Al appeared to think about it for a moment, eyes glued to a spot in front of him, then nodded, "I did say that, so go on and head off to bed. I want you at the market at dawn tomorrow."

Blaze didn't even hesitate, he scooped up Star and flew off for the door. Once outside, he climbed until he was above the roofs, and tried to figure out where he was, which was easier than he thought. The most unsettling thing about where he was, was that he was only a couple blocks from the warehouse they were residing in.

Star was asleep before Blaze could even get them back to the building. Unfortunately, the sun was close to setting, and the sky was turning a wonderful mixture of oranges and reds and pinks. They were in there dealing with those thugs for entirely too long. They didn't even get supper. Thinking about that reminded Blaze's stomach to work again, and it started protested the delay of food consumption.

Blaze glided into the warehouse, deposited his brother on his sleeping bag, then quickly remembered something important. Those bastards stole his money!

"Buck!" He cursed under his breath. At the rate he was going, he'd be a master thief in no time. He just had to go out and find food. Taking the royal food was tempting Blaze but, it was too risky. He had no talent for theft, yet he had to get food without paying, so . . .

He trudged out of the building and gazed down the streets, looking for something to focus on, his head was racing, his stomach was growling, and he needed to concentrate on food. The sky was getting dark, as the sun began to fade behind the mountains, casting a rainbow of colors into the sky. He had better move quickly before the shops get locked up, and he gets left without food. He only took two steps.

As he stretched out his wings to speed up, a blindly white light enveloped him, and he slammed his eyes shut, narrowly avoiding a painful experience. But just as quickly as the light had appeared, it vanished, leaving the growing colt very confused. He stood there for a moment, before shrugging and crouching to launch into the air. He cast a single glanced back to make sure Star was still inside, and he froze.

On his haunches was his very own cutie mark.

"Jibba wha?" He blinked three times, but the mark remained, a white shield outlined in blue. Emblazoned on the shield was a heart with a pair of blue wings.

He stayed there for longer than he had hoped, staring at his cutie mark. Highly confused, he ran through the possibilities of what it could mean. In a few minutes, he worked out the shield; protection, just like he promised himself he would do for Star, but the rest? He was about to start working on the heart, when he was reminded by his stomach that he had a job to do. So, he finally managed to launch himself into the air, pumping his wings to get to the market as fast as possible. He doubted any shop would still be open, and he couldn't pick a lock, he had no lock picks.

Much to Blaze's dismay, the market had indeed closed for the night. He glided into the empty street, just as the moon peeked above the mountains, brightening the market in its pale light. He landed softly, and slowly walked to a doorstep, sat down and lowered his head. He wouldn't cry, he had to be strong. Star depended on him, and the money that he had wouldn't have even lasted forever. His eyes welled up, but he managed to force the tears back, as least for the moment.

He was still sitting on the same doorstep when he heard hoofsteps in the distance. As he listened, he began to slide back into the shadows of an overhang, behind a couple of water barrels. There were two or three ponies, too many steps for a single pony, but they moved almost quietly. It was like they were trying to be quiet, but had not mastered it yet. Either that or they were just heavy.

The mysterious late-nighters were at the edge a corner turning into the market, so Blaze decided to wait it out before he headed home empty hoofed again. He didn't want to draw unwanted attention to himself this late at night.

So, Blaze found himself waiting in the cold dark as the three strangers slowly made their way through the market. He held his breath as they passed the barrels in front of him, though they didn't even break stride. He peeked around the side of the barrel when he heard them stop. Curiosity beat his caution.

The three were quickly glancing around, looking for signs of others, before one of them pulled out a knife and picked the lock to a jeweler's stall. The shadowy figure reaching inside, grabbed a couple valuable items, before shutting the door, and nodding to the other two. The thief ran off with the loot, while the remaining ponies stole from two other carts. As the thieves ran from the market, Blaze had an idea. He crawled his way to one of the stalls that was hit, and tried the door. It was locked, but barely. He pulled slightly, and the lock slid out of place silently. In the pale moonlight, Blaze had trouble seeing anything, but he fumbled a hoof inside before feeling a small pouch.

The pouch jingled slightly, and Blaze scooped it up before quickly reclosing the door, and locking it lightly with a stick he had found. He had no idea how he locked the door, but he was in such a rush that he didn't care. He also checked the other two stalls. The first one to fall victim was locked tightly, as if nothing had happened. The other, however, wasn't even locked, so Blaze took a quick feel around. To his surprise, he felt bread. Not just normal bread though, these were the graining kind. The delicious stuff, Blaze always went for the 9-grain bread, it was his favorite.

Blaze took two loaves, though they were cold, they were better than nothing. But with the pouch, he'd be able to get breakfast in to morning.

'Speaking of morning.' He thought to himself, remembering the time. He needed to get back.


	3. 3 To Leave the Flames of Youth

Chapter 3: To Leave the Flames of Youth

Blaze's eyes shot open, and not for the first time that night. The moon was almost at the horizon, but he felt restless. He was worried about the morning, and he was unsure about what he was going to do. He knew he needed to go, but he was worried about Star. He might be able to make him a note, something to tell the little guy what to do. Eventually, he decided to do just that, he snatched a scrap of paper lying on the ground, and using the house quill, wrote a brief message to Star, explaining that he had work that morning and to spend the day making some friends. Blaze also spared some bits for Star to get some food, though he cautioned the young pegasus to not just buy sweets.

When he finished the note, he placed it on his pillow before turning to leave. With a sigh, and one final glance back, Blaze left the building to walk the pale streets, and ponder life. He slowly walked down the streets in the general direction of the market, not taking a direct route though.

'Will I fall in love?' He thought, turning a corner, 'No. Only Star matters.'

"What troubles thou?" A deep, regal voice asked from above. Blaze leaped forward before doing a 180 and facing the sudden stranger. He slightly calmed when he noticed the Princess of the Night, Luna herself floating above where he had stood a moment ago.

"Why would you care? You're too busy being royal to worry about us common ponies." He stood defiantly, flaring his wings to make himself appear larger, more capable of defending himself.

"Surely thou would not believe so is true?" She flinched back slightly, looking and sounding slightly hurt by his words.

"Have you taken a look around. This Tartarus-hole is basically digging itself down there, yet you think we could care about politics. We need food, better systems of transportation, repaired buildings. We struggle to make ends meet, to feed ourselves, while you two sit up there all cozy and with full bellies. Yes, I do believe it."

Luna was slowly backing herself away with each word that Blaze spat out. He was working himself up, and she was beginning to question how she could respond.

"But, thou hath not the understanding of what thou's Princesses do for thee." She decided to defend herself and her sister, "Thou hath not the knowledge of rebuilding a nation, of how much we suffer as thee suffers."

"Oh, spare me the royal language. You have no idea just how much we suffer, how could you? All you do is sit up there, look regal, and then work to make the rich happy." Blaze snorted out, trying to keep his emotions in check. "You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. While I must starve myself so that my baby brother can be slightly less hungry! I work my ass off to feed others who have been forgotten by the rich! You have no idea what that is like, no idea!"

Luna glared at the white pegasus, how he looked ragged, his ribs were showing, yet he was but a little colt. Her face softened, and she took on a more saddened appearance. She glanced over Blaze's defensive stature, obviously ready to defend himself, but he was right. She had no idea what it was like to be that hungry. She stayed there until she noticed his cutie mark, then she realized he was already claimed for his purpose. She would not be able to help him.

"Then I must apologize to thou, to think one of such stature as myself would be able to assist thee." Luna sighed, "Here, as a Princess, I bestow upon thee this pitiful bag of funds to feed thee's brother."

She conjured a bag of bits and threw it on the ground in front of Blaze, who looked at it in astonishment. He poked the bag with a hoof, and upon hearing the jingle of gold, snatched the bag, bowing for Luna. "Thank you."

Luna nodded before teleporting away in a flash of blue magic. Blaze was once again alone, and he trotted off, happily thinking about the future.

"Love, but for my brother." He whispered to himself, thinking about the blue wings, Star's wings. He felt like he had finally understood his destiny, and it was invigorating. He began trotting so fast he was almost sprinting, and he had to stop to collect himself. After a few deep breaths, he managed to slow his heart, but a massive grin was still stuck on his face. He decided to walk towards the market, in a couple of hours, the sun would be up, and he needed to get a head start to the market. With all the gold he was acquiring, he'd be able to move Star somewhere down south, somewhere that's always warm, where they can live in peace.

Blaze found himself on the road to a very successful life, with all his natural talent in manipulating others. He could convince others that they needed to leave for emergencies that didn't exist, though he targeted the tourists and moving caravans. He never stole from locals, unless they had wealth that could be spared. That was one of many notes Al Capony received from other field agents assigned to observe Blaze's ability to collect wealth for the creed.

Though he never told anyone else, Al was greatly impressed by Blaze's eagerness to steal. He also had a little tick in the back of his head that was worried, though he couldn't really place the anxiety, so he just ignored it as best as he could. He did express his pleasure that a colt was better than most of his thieves, more so for their displeasure than for the fact itself. It was a fact; however, he was right to test Blaze, the colt had charisma that slipped past most guards, and he knew how to use it.

'He could take my position.' The thought erupted into Al's head one day, and he suddenly realized where his anxiety came from. Blaze was a great thief, too good for Al's liking.

"Kid, tell me about that fat unicorn you outwitted again. I can't get enough of it." Al commented as Blaze had finished collecting his cut from the previous job.

"It wasn't that good, I just lied to him. He had money, he didn't live here, I told him he was invited to a party, and that I knew a great place to hide his stock. He was gullible, we got more than just money." Blaze stated calmly, though he was curious why Al had taken so much interest in him.

"Oh, c'mon Sweet T, you're a natural! Tell us how he lost himself to the sensibilities of yourself." A pony shouted from the crowd of thieves and cutthroats behind him.

Blaze chuckled to himself as he tied the pouch of bits around his neck, wearing it as a collar. He was still unused to the nickname, Sweet T. He was told the T stood for Talker.

"Well, I had just swindled another tourist out of his money by giving him a fake vase that was "ancient" and "invaluable". As I turned around, this hulking blob of money flopped into a corner of the market. It was rather disgusting, flashy and rich, but disgusting. I spent a moment or two to learn who this living blob was, then I made my move. He was wealthy, and he like food way too much." Blaze paused to take a swig from the cider the creed produced. Rich stuff, with heavy amounts of cinnamon, and a dash of pepper. Woke the drinker up.

"I told him that there was a party to be held in half an hour. His dumb haunches believed me. Guess I used some of that charm a skinny colt has on adults. Anyway, I told him it was on the other side of town, but I knew a shortcut that would allow him to get there quickly, and was a convenient location to hide anything one didn't want to get stolen." Blaze glanced out at the crowd that was gathered to hear his story. He peeked at Al, who had an interested looked, but Blaze saw the nervousness behind his eyes. As soon as Al noticed Blaze's attention, the emotion vanished.

"I led him to an alley that had suffered little abuse, but it did shorten the trip to the other end of town. Damn shame for him, he gets into residential; no parties, he comes back; no mobile cart of expensive goods."

This got a loud rout of laughter from the crowd, even the quiet mare that hid in the back. She never really spoke, nor did she show emotion often. She was just a silent burglar. Blaze was glad he made her laugh. When he first arrived at the market they had run into each other, and she had given him a couple lock picks. She did it perfectly though, accidentally bumping into him, and sliding them into the folds of his wings. At first, he felt the metal and thought it was a knife, but when they didn't pierce he cast a swift glance, but she had already disappeared.

In the weeks he had joined the creed, he had learned the roles and lobs that were offered to various talents. After the market trip his first day, he got the generic thief, almost a pickpocket, just not so personal. He didn't mind, in the event he was caught, he could escape more than easily enough. Shame he never got caught.

"I just slid the cart down a side alley, and through the courtyard leading here. Nopony none the wiser, and we are significantly richer." Blaze paused to stand up and he raised his mug into the air, "Long live the creed!"

"Long live the creed!" Shouted the crowd in cheers.

"Looks like your finding your place here." Al remarked, taking a swig from his own mug.

"Eh, it pays well, and some of these guys ain't so bad." Blaze shrugged, putting his mug down.

"They ain't so good either."

"Which is why I like them. Not afraid to put those rich bastards down." Blaze grinned.

"That's what I like to hear." Al chuckled, finishing his drink, "Hey, listen. I got a special job, one that I think you and someone else might be able to pull off. I just need to find that pony, as soon as I get the details worked out, I'll tell you the rest. Take it easy tomorrow, you've earned a break."

Blaze nodded, downing the rest of his cider and sliding the mug to the center of the table. He got up, and with a giant stretch of his back and wings, walked down through the group between him and the exit. The warehouse they occupied was just a few streets away from the market, in the opposite direction of Blaze's new home.

Passing into the market, Blaze used his cut to purchase bread and fruits from the local stalls, exchanging greetings with the few ponies who recognized him. He also bought a few blankets and some rough fabric. Hauling all the items on his back, he marched heavily towards home, anxious to see his brother, who was trying to make friends. Key word; trying.

As Blaze stepped through the threshold into the ruined building, he sighed. The group accepted him and Star, but the place still felt, well, not right. It was still in need of a great many repairs, despite himself and another older pegasus attempting to fix up the place. The two had begun their repairs by filling the holes in the roof with some thatch that Blaze had purchased with his first cut from the creed.

Two weeks later, they had mostly made the roof waterproof, and the ceiling now had proper supports. The whole community had spent one of Blaze's days off cleaning the place, removing most of the rotten hay that was their bedding, and had replaced it with some clean, fresh straw. Not the most comfortable, but Blaze saw how happy the group was with the improvement. In a couple of weeks, those two weeks the brothers had lived there, the community seemed to welcome the innovation and much needed restoration.

Blaze dropped off the load he carried, and watched as the elder mares took the groceries into the makeshift kitchen they had. At Blaze's request, and through much work persuading the group, he managed to get them to agree to share the meager things they had. The community had an official kitchen for each other, they worked together to provide the necessities they needed to survive. Blaze felt like he did the most work, every bit he earned from the creed went into either this building, the community, of Star. Not that he cared, Star was getting bigger, he was still struggling to make friends, but Blaze knew he tried.

Star, on the other hand, hated how much Blaze did for the community. He constantly asked the other ponies for help, but they seemed to be too busy, so he ended up doing a lot of chores himself. Star did find a couple of children who seemed to enjoy playing games with him. One was an earth pony, he was really shy, but he smiled at Star's attempts at jokes, so Star considered them to be friends. The other friend Star made was a unicorn filly, though she seemed too sad to really try in their games.

"Can we just go back inside?" The earth pony asked, hiding in his usual hiding spot, under a table near the door to the warehouse. "I mean, it's pretty mean out here right?"

"Yeah, the sun's really bright. It hurts." The unicorn remarked, turning to the door.

"Come on, it may be a little harsh out here, but it could be so worse." Star pleaded, gliding to the unicorn. "But if you want to go back inside, I've still got a couple of chores to finish. Your choice." He said, cocking his head to the side, this had to work. They liked games.

"What chores?" The pony asked, slowly creeping out from under the table.

"Really? You want to do chores instead of playing Dragon in the middle?" Star stared at him.

"Yeah . . . " The unicorn started slowly, "I have to agree with him on this. Chores may be better than being out here. It's dangerous."

"Well, I guess I could use some help with these." Star sighed, heading back inside to finish the never-ending task of keeping the place clean.

Blaze noticed Star walking back inside with two of the smaller kids in the community, he tried to remember who they were, but he'd just been so busy lately, that he couldn't place them. He smiled and let the elder pegasus take care of the last leak in the roof, flying off to greet his brother.

"Afternoon Star." Blaze said, taking the blue pegasus in a large hug.

"Uh, brother . . . " Star gasped, "Can't. Breath."

"Right, " Blaze released him, "Sorry."

"What did you get?" Star said, trying to drag him away from the two foals that stood at the doorway.

"You'll find out later. Now introduce me to your friends." Blaze laughed at his brother's attempts to pull him away. "I won't judge you or them. It's good that you have friends."

Star sighed, he slowly turned around and began the introductions.

"Blaze, these are my friends, Sweet Flower and Muffin." Star pointed at the unicorn then the earth pony respectfully. The former waving from halfway across the room, while the latter hid from behind his mane shyly.

"Well, it's good to meet you. How do you like Star?" Blaze questioned, casually walking towards the two little foals.

"He's great." Sweet Flower said, her horn fizzling brightly before she managed to spark off a spell, floating at eye level with Blaze. "Brave, too. He gets us to go outside, even though it's not safe . . ."

As she continued to talk about him, Star was getting nervous behind Blaze's back. He tried to stop Sweet Flower before she said something that would get him in trouble. He was waving his hooves in the air trying to get her attention. When she glanced at him, he hinted that her stop, but she gave him a confused look, which broke her concentration, and she dropped to the floor with a slight scream. When Blaze glanced back, he readjusted to look like he had done nothing. Blaze didn't know he snuck out at night sometimes, and if he found out, he'd be doing a lot of extra chores. But she just kept on chatting, and Blaze seemed to be happy that his little brother was doing stuff to make friends, really anything to take attention away from her incident.

Well, he was happy until the poor filly mentioned how they spent a night roaming the streets on a hunt for fun. His face turned from amusement to stern disapproval the moment Sweet Flower realized what Star had been trying to signal to her. Her lips zipped quickly, but not fast enough. Blaze turned around and looked at the pegasus who was blue a moment earlier. Star's face had gone completely white.

"Did you really go out all night for a game?" His voice was cold.

"Um, " Star shifted on his hooves sporadically, "we might have spent an hour or two after dark. But nothing bad happened!"

"You know the rules, Star. Why did you do that?!" Blaze burst out, "You could have been seriously hurt!"

"No, we wouldn't have!" Star snapped back. "You said it's all bad out there, but when we were gone, nopony else was out. No one, not a single other pony. We were alone out there."

"Because everypony else was smart enough to stay inside." Blaze remarked. "Star, these are dangerous times . . ."

"No, they're not!" Star interrupted. "There was no danger out there, and we went back inside because we were bored."

Blaze was silent for a minute, staring into the air, his gaze unfocused. He remained sitting in front of the three young ponies, gazing at nothing until Sweet Flower stirred and murmured something under her breath before leaving. Muffin followed shortly, leaving the two brothers to wait in silence.

Blaze took a deep breath, blinking several times, then he got up. He walked into the kitchen and came out with a couple apple pies.

"Put these in the dining area." He said, handing Star the pies before trotting towards the door.

He was about to leave the building when the only other male pegasus in the community dropped next to him. The two left the building at a comfortable trot, heading in no particular direction. Once the warehouse was out of sight, the elder pegasus spoke.

"Not so easy raising a kid, is it?"

"No. I just wish he'd listen to me." Blaze replied, surprising himself with how tired he sounded. "I want what's best for him, but it's just not safe around here. . . "

"I had a foal once." The elder spoke after a pause.

"Really?"

"A long time ago, life hasn't been kind to me though."

"Oh, sorry."

"Eh, don't worry, I've made my peace. Besides, you here with Star, it makes me feel good to see that not all things in life are bad. Your 'work' means you can provide for him. That's all that matters."

"Yes. But if Star found out what I do, I doubt he'd ever see me the same way again."

"That's life, ponies' views about you will change over the years." The elder commented, "Besides, you've got a reputation around here. Others look up to you, you're a doer, and they need that. Star has heard all that they say about you, and that says something. He hears them praising you, and I think that is worth it. He'll find out eventually, you may be better off telling him yourself, though."

With that, he flew off, heading back to the warehouse, while Blaze stood in the middle of the street, staring at a lamp. He was extremely reluctant to tell Star, but the way the old one put it, Star needed to know. Was it really better if he told Star?

He was thinking about it, wandering through the streets, until he stumbled across an old, crumbling building. He stared at it for a moment, it looked familiar to him. He stared at it for several more minutes, thinking about what it was about the ruined house. Well, he thought it was a house, it looked small enough to be a house.

After about half an hour, it dawned on him, this was his old childhood house, the one he saved Star from. Where he learned the harsh reality of life. A fit of uneasiness surged through him as he stood there. This place was bad, he knew that, but then again, it was where he met Star . . .

He shook his head, reminiscing on the past wasn't going to do anything for anyone. He turned around slowly, giving the building one last glance over, then trotted off. He hadn't gotten four blocks when he felt a presence nearby. He stopped and looked around. The sky was still dark, a new moon was in phase, offering little in the way of light. Shadows enveloped Blaze, he was used to being in the darkness, but something about this was not right.

He continued to look around, though he knew that nothing around was going to pop up. After a solid minute standing there in the nightly breeze, the shadows had remained, but all else had remained silent. He shivered inwardly before stepping forward. Heading down the street, he had the feeling that he was being watched, but nopony ever showed themselves, and he knew that the district he was in was not a target of the creed.

'It's nothing.' He kept repeating to himself as he wandered through the darkness. He stopped at an intersection, realizing he hadn't intended to go in this direction. He wanted to return home, but had turned the other direction.

Flying above the buildings and out of the pressing shadows, it dawned on him just how far he had wandered. He was still half an hours' walk from the warehouse, but his wings would be better. He decided that walking was not good, those shadows seemed good to avoid.

A pair of eyes formed within the masses of shade, watching the young white pegasus as he flew away. Narrowing, the eyes followed the shape until it vanished amid the houses, then form began to take shape around them. Luna slowly peeled away from the surrounding shadows, standing there in the empty street.

"Why is he so feared?" She mumbled to herself, staring off into the distance.

She waited another moment before taking form in the shadows and leaving. After she had vanished, the thickness of the shadows slowly diminished until they were no more than the absence of light within the world again.

Blaze quietly opened the door to the warehouse, now that the squeaks had been removed. He walked through the main area, past the few ponies who had no other place to sleep, and into the kitchen area. He almost jumped when he saw Star sitting on a stool in the corner, but managed to stop himself just in time.

"It's late buddy." He whispered, walking over to Star. "Why are you still up?"

"I was worried for you." Star replied, hopping off the stool and embracing his elder brother.

"Really? Well, you don't have to worry about me." Blaze said as he led Star to bed. "I'm going to spend tomorrow here, if you want any help."

"The whole day?"

"Yep. The whole day."

"Awesome." Star mumbled as Blaze tucked him into his bedroll. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep within moments, a smile still on his face.

'So happy.' Blaze thought as he rolled into his own bed. 'If only I could keep him that way.'

 _Blaze walked through a pair of richly decorated doors, only to see Al Capony sitting upon a throne of blood-red stone. He stopped at the doorway, but the rug pulled him to the base of the throne._

" _Where is my brother?!" He shouted, opening his wings to meet Al at the top of the throne._

" _Somewhere close. Somewhere safe." Al replied, in a singsong tone. "Somewhere I'll never live in chains."_

 _Blaze shouted as he leaped into the air. Al seemed unconcerned with his headlong flight, and just when Blaze thought he'd hit Al, he found himself in a black room. He wasn't even flying, just standing there._

" _Blaze?" Star's voice came from within the darkness._

" _Star? I'm here buddy!" Blaze replied immediately, "I'm right here!"_

" _Run, Blaze! Run!" Star's voice was panicky, which made Blaze's heart skip a beat._

" _Where are you?!" Blaze shouted into the void in front of him. He turned in rapid circles, trying to find Star._

" _Run!"_

" _You better run." The voice that ran over Star's was deep, dark, and foreboding._

" _Where is Star?!" Blaze yelled again._

' _Close." The voice calmly answered, with a tone that shook him to the core. "Safe. Free."_

" _Give him to me!" He demanded, leaping into the air and flying loops around, trying to find Star. He had to find him, Star needed him._

" _In time. Perhaps in time." The voice trailed off._

" _Give him to me!" He shouted with everything he had._

 _After several moments of silence, Blaze began furiously flying, pumping his wings to the limit. No amount of yelling or pleading would get the voice to respond. He swooped around in any direction he thought he heard something. But he never found anything, just the blackness that was the void he was in._

 _At some point, Blaze started hearing chanting in the distance, nothing loud. It sounded like a whisper in the wind, though there was no wind. Eventually, he managed to chase it far enough to hear what it was._

 _Close, safe, never in chains._

 _Close, safe, never in chains._

 _Close, safe, never in chains._

 _It repeated until it got so loud, he couldn't here himself think. He stopped flying and slammed on the ground. Laying on the ground and covering his ears, he started to feel colder and colder. A chorus in his head chanting, and a body freezing, Blaze thought he had gone insane._

" _Blaze?" Star's worries voice sounded through the maddening chants._

"Blaze?" Star shook him harder this time, "What's wrong?"

Blaze woke with a start, yet again. He was covered in sweat, and a group had gathered around him. He sat up, noticing the worried looks on the ponies around him.

"What's going on?" He asked, looking around. He swiped a hoof over his forehead, noticing just how much sweat he was covered with. It was dripping down his face. His bedroll felt like it had been rained on.

"Son, you've been yelling in your sleep something awful." The nameless aged pegasus replied.

"I have?" Blaze asked, as Star leaped into his lap and embraced his in a bear hug.

"Are you okay?" One of the other denizens asked from within the circle of ponies around him.

"I'm fine." He answered quickly. "Just a bad dream, nothing serious."

Star stepped aside to let Blaze stand up, and the two stayed there as the group dissipated, with each member sharing their good wishes for the brothers. After the crowd has separated, Star looked up at his brother.

"So . . ." He began.

"Breakfast will be in a moment." Blaze beat him to the question, giving him a light chuckle. "I just need a moment."

He took a few breaths to center his thoughts before starting to head for the kitchen. He smiled down at Star and the two walked into the kitchen, where a number of the other residents were preparing the community breakfast, oats and juice; the bounty of Blaze's last cut. The pair of flying ponies entered the kitchen to be greeted by the nameless pegasus that took in Blaze. Walking over to him, they asked about the state of affairs regarding the repairs throughout the warehouse. Upon hearing a need for the walls to be repainted, Blaze prepared for a good day of honest, hard work with his brother. Maybe they would go out for some treats, play a game or two. He grabbed two bowls of oats and took a seat next to Star, handing him one bowl.

Star ravenously accepted the bowl of oats and began to immediately chow down, not even noticing the spoon Blaze was offering. The white pegasus just shook his head, glancing at the elder pegasus, who was himself chuckling. Blaze tore into his breakfast with a happy sigh. It had been so long since he was to spend some quality time with Star, he was so glad Al gave him this day off. The creed had been putting him through a lot of assignments. Sure, he loved being able to do something, and the bits were definitely helping him restore this place. But still . . . he hated that he had to steal, even if it was for the good of many. He felt dirty nonetheless.

Others relied on him, and he found himself jumping to that reason whenever he thought about his current line of work. Despite that little whisper in the back of his head, encouraging his thefts, he managed to stop thinking about the jobs after he justified taking from the rich. They had enough money, they could replace anything he took. Besides, this building had at least a dozen residents within it, not including himself and Star, and each of them had been rejected from the rest of society for some reason or another; disabilities, instabilities, injuries. These were the rejected, the ones who couldn't help themselves, couldn't support themselves. He _had_ to find a way to help these folks out.

He had to repay the kindness that they showed him by taking in Star and himself. He believed that he was well on his way down that path, with all the money he had been pulling in from the creed, he could give these rejects something that would show them _he_ hadn't given up on them. He wasn't going to abandon them, not after they offered their home to another pair of hungry mouths when they couldn't even feed themselves.

"I have to help. . ." He murmured to himself, "Have to."

He thought about the castle, and how much food was in it not even thinking about the gold and priceless jewels that were held within. He could fix everypony he ever saw suffering if he had access to those funds. Why did the Princesses hoard all the wealth, when Luna swore they were trying to help? It made no sense to him, it just baffled his mind why such wealth could be tucked away and how royalty always held on to it. If they were so kind, where did all the money go? Nowhere, it went bucking nowhere. Celestia ordered cake after cake from her personal cooks, but surely they wouldn't be compensated for their efforts: Celestia need not give out gold. She only had to put them in rooms, they had all the food at their disposal, so they didn't have to buy any.

But then he thought about the castle, with all its wealth and riches hidden inside those cold, grey stone walls, locked up tight by guards, all for the royal Princesses' enjoyment, but nopony else's. He remembered his end goal why he joined the creed in the first place. He remembered his promise he had made in the past, he would take that store of treasures, and he would give it to the suffering and the neglected.

It just felt so good to finally be making some progress towards what felt like an impossible task. He was going to make the Princesses see what it felt like to be poor. He would show Luna what it meant to be in his hoofprints for a change. He could feel the mix of emotions beginning to rise anger, jealousy, disgust. Thrown in there, he knew, was a bit of confusion as well, but he had no idea where it came from.

'I'll have to think about this tonight.' He decided to himself, trusting his mind to put it on the back burner but remember it was there as well.

Just then his brain snapped back to the present, and he noticed that he had barely touched the bowl of oats in front of him. He glanced over at Star, glad that he still had food in his bowl to hide the fact that he had been too preoccupied to eat. Blaze hastily resumed eating his own breakfast, he was going to need to get as much as energy as he could for today and tonight. Something told him he wasn't going to be sleeping well tonight, he had an itch in the back of his mind that told him danger was approaching, and fast.

Blaze inhaled what was left of his oats as he saw Star getting up to put his own bowl in the kitchen to be rinsed, but it was Star who took the emotion from him. Star had glanced over at his older brother, who had half a bowl to finish, yet the white colt had finished at almost the exact same time.

"And you thought _I_ was eating fast." Star said, shaking his head as Blaze caught up with him. "I guess you really want to do some chores. Can't imagine why, you get to spend all your time out there, doing whatever it is you do. Whatever it is you won't tell me."

"Hey, chores can be just as interesting as my personal business. Besides, I have a reason for not telling you. Maybe when you're older you'll understand." Blaze retorted, though not unkindly. He could never stay mad at his little brother, the one and only reason why he was here in the first place. It was him after all, who inspired Blaze to take action and to attempt to put an end to this tyranny. Ponies needed someone to lead them, someone who would actually try to rebuild the crumbled empire, not hoard the limited resources from the struggling masses.

"And as of now, we have some chores to get done, so put on your happiest face and let's do this!" He added happily trotting out of the kitchen, putting his unhappy thoughts behind him for the moment. Star followed close behind him, and while he was happy to have a day with his big brother again, he didn't exactly hope to spend a chunk of it doing chores. Never ending chores. Seriously, he had hoped to see others working with him, well, outside of Sweet Flower and Muffin. Those two seemed generally interested in helping him, he never told Blaze this, but he was grateful that the elder encouraged him to make some friends; they made life inside this warehouse so much more bearable.

'Why chores?' He thought grimly, 'Of all the things we could do, he chose to do chores? It's like I don't know him at all.'

Blaze went over to the wall that was mentioned earlier, noticing that the walls were indeed lacking proper paint. Whatever paint was left on the cold plastered walls was peeled or rotted out with mold, and after one look, he put a hoof in front of Star, keeping them both a safe distance from the deathly surface. His eyes scanned the black fungus, trying to figure out how in the hay the other ponies hadn't dealt with this before hoof. Or how any of them were still alive. But most importantly, he wondered how he could have missed this. Black mold was deadly, very, very deadly. If he had focused more on the warehouse and keeping it in top condition, maybe he would have known about this sooner. He felt sick, keeping his brother inside with this.

"Go ask somepony for a knife, a pair of thick disposable gloves, and a bucket." He said to Star without even glancing away from the mold, as if staring it down would keep it from suddenly growing and killing everyone in the building.

Star stared at the black splotches on the wall, he didn't know what it was, but it seemed to make Blaze very nervous, so he figured it was important and something that he wasn't going to question. He ran off towards the kitchen to get the asked of items, not wasting a moment, this was going to get done today, and he was _not_ going to spend the day painting some stupid walls in some stupid building because a bunch of stupid ponies forgot how to take care of the place. Blaze was important to him, and Celestia be damned if his time wasn't important.

While his little brother hurried around to find a bucket and gloves, Blaze took a trip around the building to find any other patches of mold within the building. Almost at once, he found two other significant swathes of wall covered in the nasty mold. Upon discovering the infestation of danger into his home, Blaze immediately called for everyone to leave the building. When so many of the confused ponies crowded around him to ask why, he just couldn't hold down the urgency in his voice.

"Everypony is in danger!" He shouted to the unruly crowd of ponies. "There is mold EVERYWHERE! Now get out while I take care of this mess!"

Instantly, the crowd began funneling towards the door, trying to not stampede the younger ones. Blaze watched them leave, glad to have gotten them out of the mold, but anxious about the duration in which they had been living with it.

"That was, well, mighty fine leadership." Blaze nearly jumped out of his skin, and whipped around to see who had stayed behind. He groaned to see who, cursing himself for figuring the eldest pegasus would just leave him to do all the hard work. "Though it could use some more . . ."

"More work." Blaze finished for the elder, looking down, "I'm not a leader."

"Don't worry about it kid. We got work to do."

"We?" Blaze didn't like this. He really appreciated all the help the elder gave him, but he didn't want to risk it, age meant difficulty fighting stuff off. "Look, don't take this wrong, but I think it may be for the best if you stood this one out. It's not really going to be that hard, and I can take care of it myself."

The nameless pegasus just huffed and walked towards where Star had laid a bucket with a knife and a pair of rubber gloves. He took the knife out of the bucket and started walking towards one of the moldy sections of the wall. Without any hesitation, Blaze leaped forward and snatched the knife out of the elder's hooves. With the elder grumbling audibly, Blaze sat down in front of him, a look of impatience in his eyes.

"Did I mention it's _black mold_ , deadly stuff. And you were just going to walk over to it and try to remove it?" He was extremely unsettled by the fact that the elder was being so reckless. However, he wasn't going to ignore his own statement, he walked around the elder, giving him a look that said 'this is how it's done'. He went over to the bucket, putting on the rubber gloves, and carrying the bucket over to the wall. Taking a deep breath and holding it, he began the tedious, difficult process of removing the toxin from their home.

As Blaze worked, the elder pegasus walked into the kitchen, and grabbed a couple of ragged strips of cloth. He soaked them in water and tied one around his face. He walked over to Blaze, offering him the other soaked cloth, who gratefully took the rag, appreciating the makeshift bandana. He had also grabbed another knife, and assisted with the painstakingly tedious duty of removing the mold from the building.

"So, how did you guys not know that this stuff was spreading?" Blaze hated to ask, but it really worried him that this mold was going unnoticed, and it was starting to show in his voice.

"I'm not too sure. I thought that _I_ would have noticed this, but . . " He trailed off, looking around at the amount of mold was appearing in the empty building. "I guess I was too busy trying to give everypony a home, not caring that it was really in good condition."

"Well, either way, we've got to get this stuff out. The sooner the better." Blaze said, returning to scraping off mold and tossing it in the bucket, a little bit at a time. If it were an option, he'd of just burnt the building to the ground, or at least to the steel structure, and then rebuilt the building. As it was, he had neither the time, nor the resources to replace the building. So he would just have to settle with spending his time off purifying this old, downright shitty building.

"Buck!" Blaze cursed as he tossed another chunk of mold into the bucket. "The bucket is full, again."

"I got it this time." The elder said, wiping sweat off his brow. They'd been at this removal for the better part of three hours, and the sun was making its way towards its full height, and they had barely gotten over half way done. He took the bucket by the wire handle that looped over the top and went out the back door, to where they had established a burn pile. Star had come up with the idea, since Blaze wasn't too sure about how to deal with the mold once it was gone. The nameless pegasus suggested burning it, but neither knew a good place to burn it. Star suggested they use the trash heap out back.

And so, when he returned, he dropped the bucket in between where the two had just been working, it was a rather thick patch of mold that really refused to move. Blaze started swearing the mold was growling at him. It was getting on his nerves just how much effort this was taking, but he was happy to be doing it. It needed to be done, and he had his silent companion who worked just a diligently as he did. Thus, it surprised him when he also put his knife in the bucket, taking a step back and adjusting his bandana to sit more comfortably over his muzzle.

"What do you say we take a break, eat some lunch, and come back to this in half-an-hour?" He suggested, letting Blaze land on the ground, folding his wings. The white pegasus was about to protest when his stomach decided to side with the elder, growling rather obnoxiously at the hard work and lack of food he'd been eating.

"Guess that answers that. I'll buy us some hay burgers from that little corner joint we go to." The elder chuckled, walking out the back door, tossing his bandana over an iron railing that was along the way.

Blaze sighed, looking at the work that still needed to be done, and he couldn't help the uneasy feeling in his gut. He couldn't stop thinking about how long the others had been living with this so close to them. It actually explained some of the others, the really sick ones that didn't . . . didn't.

'Shut up!' He yelled at himself inside his head. 'Over-thinking this won't bring back the dead, and besides, the living still need your attention.'

"You're right. They still need me." He sighed walking towards the back door, following the elder's steps exactly; he threw his bandana on the same rail, near the other ragged filthy cloth soaked in sweat and water, mostly sweat at that point.

He opened the back door and stepped into the sunlight, welcoming the warmth it brought. Sitting inside there, working with what he had, he hated it. But he was doing the right thing, and that was the important part.

"Sonny." Nodded one of the mares, he thought about talking, but just ended up returning the nod instead. He walked over to where the rest of the group had been sitting down, dropping down on his rear heavier than he had expected. Scraping mold for hours on end was considerably more taxing than he would have liked.

"Blaze?" Star walked over and sat down right beside him. "You really don't have to do all this work."

"Well, it has to get done, so I might as well get it over with." He huffed, exhausted.

"Then why not ask for help?" Star looked at his brother, they were supposed to spend the day together, but this was off to a bad start.

"Help? No one wants to help." Blaze spoke with a defeated tone that Star thought he would never hear from his brother, who had always been the supportive one who never gave up. The two sat there for a moment in silence, Blaze was about ready to head back inside and just try to get this project over with. He knew he was sulking, and he could feel his brother right next to him, watching this. So he pulled on the best smile he could and stood up.

"Hey, buddy. After this, we're going to get ice cream. Okay?" He said cheerily, pulling his brother's chin up so they could look each other in the eyes. "After I get this finished. I promise."

"No." A voice interjected from behind him. He turned around to see who was speaking, to see a group of ponies standing in a group, looking at him. The leader took a step forward, looking him in the eye. "You aren't going to finish that job. _We_ are."

Blaze looked a bit confused, raising his eyebrows in doubt.

"We've been taking advantage of your generosity for too long now. I, for one, am tired of being pampered by a kid, and I am going to do something about it. You promised Star that you would spend the day with him. Well, that day starts right now. You two have done so much for us ponies, that we have to give something in return. We will finish the cleaning, and when you finish lunch, you and Star are going to leave and not come back until the day is over. That's final."

Blaze stood there staring at the pony who spoke. She was a purple earth pony with a short honey gold mane and tail, and her jade green eyes had flecks of gold sprinkled in them. She had on a white paint-stained apron and was already letting other ponies enter the building to finish the job. As Blaze watched the ponies enter, a thought sprung into his head.

"Thank you for volunteering, but do you even know how to remove the mold?" He grabbed the mare's front leg, asking her before she turned to enter the building. When she shook her head, he began explaining the details to her. He covered the water soaked rags, how to thinly cut the mold, so to avoid taking the plaster with it, then he instructed her on how he thought to burn the mold. He thanked her again as she herself went inside the buildings to help.

"Well then." He said, a little confused over the whole incident that just happened. He was happy that the others were stepping up, but why now? He turned to Star, who had a rather large grin on his face and was looking at him with eyes that said it all. "You put them up to this didn't you?"

"I may have encouraged them." Star answered deviously. "But they made the decision. All of them it seems."

Blaze looked around the clearing, surprised to see that Star was right, they were totally alone. Every single resident was in there cleaning the place up. He was grateful, very grateful in fact, that they had taken over. He wasn't looking forward to another waste of several hours, he had a day to spend with Star, and he nearly lost it in his stubbornness. He turned back to Star, with a massive smile spread almost ear to ear.

"Thanks buddy." He murmured, throwing a wing around the blue pegasus, embracing him in a warm hug. The two broke apart when they heard somepony clearing their throat, glancing in the direction where the noise came from. Blaze walked over to the nameless pegasus and helped him with the bag of food; hay burgers and some fries.

"I take it the others volunteered." Blaze just nodded, dropping onto the ground next to Star, munching down on the burger. The aged pegasus chuckled softly to himself, sitting in a chair at a table, slowly eating his own hay burger. As Blaze ate his own burger Star took a single look at the deep-fried fries, and then swiftly snatched them from in front of Blaze's own eyes.

"Hey!" He said through a mouthful of hay, trying to hold back a laugh as he watched his little brother scramble away with the particularly large serving of fries. Star muttered something inaudible, and began shoving as many fries in his mouth as he could fit.

"Oh, come on. You're not _that_ hungry." Blaze called to Star after he had finished his own food. He motioned for the blue colt to follow, and slowly began walking around the building to head towards the street, leaving in the same direction that the nameless pegasus had returned from. Star stuffed down the few remaining fries and glided down from the tree he was perched on, staying in the air as he made his way around the corner.

Blaze was already at the street, turning to take them towards the market. He stood there waiting at the corner of the warehouse so Star could catch up, and when he had, the two set off at a slow walk, making their way slowly towards the market.

"Now, since you are so anxious to get about in the city, how about we go on a tour of the features of this _unique_ city? Hmm?" He asked, glancing at Star, who was obviously mulling it over. He understood that he told Star to not go out, but it was not the middle night, and he was here to boot. Surely Star's curiosity would get the better of him, and it's would give them something to do. Blaze really wasn't in the mood to repair toys, and they were not in the best of places to support the games they played at their mother's house. They needed a walk.

"Ooh, does that mean we get to go around the neighborhood?" Star had tried to keep his excitement controlled, but after two seconds of impossible containment, it all burst out. "I've always wanted to get out of here!"

"After we get some proper food into you, because you won't last long without something good, and I still got some bits left for us." Blaze replied, thinking about where to go, and what they really could do, he might show Star the proper castle. He still needed to get his eyes on the inside of the castle, needed to figure out the routes of the guards, where he could sneak in and out of, and how to stealth into the kitchen. "What sounds good for lunch?"

"Hmm." Star rubbed his chin like he was thinking very hard, eyes focused on the road in front of him. "How about we get some salad?"

"If that is what you really want, I won't stop you, though I was hoping you might be interested in something a bit more," Blaze playfully nudged Star with a wing before continuing, "eh, substantial."

"Food is food." Star replied, grinning up at the white pegasus as he fell back beside him. Blaze just shrugged and led the way into the bowels of the market, sliding through the crowded marketplace with Star holding onto his tail for guidance. They slowly slid through the mass of bodies, winding back at the apple stall, with the same brown mare standing behind it. Her golden hair pulled back and tied with a red strip of cloth. She smiled warmly as the two pegasi approached her, remembering customers and hoping to see some company.

Blaze just walked up to the cart, glancing at how the cart was open, revealing all the shelves within, bare, empty shelves. The last time they were there, the shelves had pies on them, which meant that business must have been going well for the mare, her apple products finally getting around the city.

"City finally getting you business?" He asked cheerily, flashing a smile of his own as he put a hoof on the cart, the other holding him up. As the words left his lips, he saw her warm smile slowly fade away, replaced by a slight frown.

"'Fraid not partner." She answered, pulling out a rag and wrapping it around her hoof. She reached inside a small oven in the side of her cart, pulling out a steaming apple pie. The pie found a new home on a cooling rack in sight of the oven, which was releasing another freshly baked pie. "It seems that some thieves took most of mah pies just through the night. Darn rascals stole nearly all my quality pies and several other goods ah needed real bad."

"Oh." Blaze took his hoof off the cart and let Star go, looking around the market. "I sure hope it didn't affect you too badly. It looks like you are already preparing some more pies."

"Well, ah need to get this here cart filled up so ah can empty it and fill my pockets with gold. Mah family needs this here money to keep us goin'. Besides, ah got more than nuff supplies to replace what ah lost. It'll hurt mah stock, but ah'm sure us here Apples will make due."

"Well, then allow me to help you out. I think my brother and I are interested in that fresh apple pie you got there." He pointed towards the steaming pie that was cooling on the rack, tempting the brothers with a trail of delicious steam that flew directly into their noses, teasing them.

"Sure thing there partner. Hope you think it's as good as flowin' stream under the burning summer sun after a day of apple buckin'." She replied, her smile returning to its original warmth. She reached a now bare hoof and grabbed the pie under the pan, gently placing it on the counter, right in Star's nose. Blaze put down a few bits, watching in mild amusement as the blue pegasus grabbed the pie and gently placed it on his back, using his wings to stabilize its balance.

The mare scooped up the bits and put them in a pouch, before tossing the gold under the stall. Blaze nodded his goodbye, met with a returning nod, and the two began a slow walk towards the nearest curb to eat lunch. They wound through the crowd, some of the ponies parting gently to allow the burdened Star to walk with ease, finding themselves under the shade of a tree.

"Just save me some, I'm not that hungry, and I know how much food you can put down." He spoke, but the words were barely heard after he said hungry. Star just dropped his face into the pie, with Blaze flinching back from some pieces of pie flying around. He just smiled as the pie began to disappear within Star's maw, staring in wonder at the raw devastating potential of the blue pegasus' appetite. Within seconds, the all that was left of the delectable treat was an empty metal pan, licked spotless. Star looked up from the pan, smiling with his newly formed apple pie facial hair.

"Well, you just got several years older." Blaze chuckled, hitting Star with a wing, knocking the smaller pegasus off balance. Star just giggled before using his tongue to clean his face, swallowing whatever was left of the apple pie. Blaze just sighed; "So much for leaving me some."

"Well, that was delicious!" Star exclaimed, leaping to his feet, and hopping onto his elder brother. "So, where we going first?"

Blaze inhaled and rose to his hooves, taking Star with him, and took a single glance around the market. It was as busy as ever, but he needed something to focus his thoughts on. Gathering his thoughts, he was stuck deciding between the castle, and the outer district, near the wall. The castle was getting covered on this trip, but it could be useful to see the rest of the city to get their bearings on where everything else was. Blaze repeated his glances through the crowd, trying to make his brain pick a location to scrounge around first. They had the whole day, so it wasn't like they were going to miss something major by going through the castle first. However, he did want to make sure to visit the castle around the time of the rest of the common rabble that relied upon the royal sisters for guidance.

Star crawled his way up to Blaze's mane, grabbing a wad of the elder brother's white mane in one hoof, while the other held onto a section of red mane. He held onto the mane as he leaned over and peered into Blaze's navy-blue eyes, an upside-down thoughtful face stared blankly away. He waved a hoof inches from Blaze's motionless eyes, trying to capture his attention, but Blaze was just totally zoned out, trying to figure the best approach to this. Eventually, the blue-coated pegasus decided to try a different method of distraction, leaning back up, then launching himself like a pendulum, smashing their snouts together.

Blaze reeled back in shock and pain, trying to shake loose the attacker and clear his head to evaluate the situation. His head felt heavy, and when his eyes stopped watering, he saw a certain Star holding onto his mane, grinning sheepishly.

"Well?" Star tilted his head and stared Blaze down.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Blaze pulled Star out of his mane, gently prodding his little brother to release his vice grip on the important mane. He held Star under his front legs, at eye level before growing a grin of his own. Star was opening his mouth to ask about the grin, when he suddenly fell the remaining distance to the ground, the only noise coming out of his mouth was a startled 'eep'. "We might as well head to the castle, since neither of us had seen what either princess looks like or what is inside there."

"Okay!" Star jumped back to his hooves, brushing off the dirt and dust he had just acquired.

Unfortunately for the brothers, they were in the market region, which was somewhere closer to the northern edge of the outer walls. The castle was the southern border of the city, on the other side of another wall, separating the wealthy districts from the common regions of residential and production/storage. Walking from this zone would take them close to half an hour of fighting through traffic just to get to the walls, not to mention how they would have to get through the gate guards. Blaze had a plan for the second phase, he just had to either start pushing as soon as possible, or fly at a slow pace for Star.

He was most definitely not looking forward to his journey across town, but it did help ease his mind when he remembered that he was spending the day with Star. So his ears perked up a little and he nuzzled Star and they began trotting into the masses, Blaze leading just a few steps in front of Star.

As they reached near the midway point from the market, a loud commotion caught their attention, of course it also caught everyone else's attention in the process. Blaze turned to see what was making all the noise when he was hit by a piece of fruit. An orange had come out from the crowd, following a string of angrily shouted words, slamming full force in between his eyes. He was stunned for a moment, before he looked down and just watched a particularly heavy merchant huffing his way rather slowly towards him. He recognized the trader, having stolen an entire cart from him earlier, but hadn't figured the guy would still be in town.

"YOU STOLE MY MERCHANDISE!" The lard-wrapped merchant shouted, making his way down the path the others were quickly making for his size. He got about half-way before he put up a hoof, wheezing. He was on the verge of slumping to the ground, sweat beaded from his face, and the lavish purple shirt he wore stank of sweat and fat.

"I'd love to sit here and wait for you to catch your breath, but I got things to do." Blaze replied, not moving from his spot in front of Star, a smirk barely hidden under his calm appearance. "Besides, how could you even know I stole your stuff? This place is crawling with hungry thieves, and you wouldn't surely be so cruel as to think I would be so desperate as to join with them, would you?"

"And it's not like I would have been able to just walk around the city with a cart of stolen goods, the guards would have found me within an hour, had I just stolen your goods, walking around with them." He continued, though the merchant was still wheezing several stalls down, the watching crowd seemed to have swarmed around in an oval shape, leaving us in a clearing, all eyes trading between staring at the trader and himself. "Would you truly believe an innocent little colt like me would steal an entire cart, yes I said I'd take care of your cart, but where I left it apparently wasn't the best hiding spot. I'm sorry that circumstances have led to this, for what it is worth."

The merchant had finally caught his breath, and as Blaze finished those lines, the trader's face turned beet red. His jaw was working itself, and Blaze thought he could _hear_ the merchant's teeth grinding. But the important thing was that he hadn't lied, the cart itself was well taken care of, being given to a needy local farmer needing a display/travel case for her goods. The city was crawling with thieves, Blaze saw two within the crowd encircling them, and he never actually denied any involvement within the creed. In so little time, literal information was so fun to play with. And it was true, had he walked around the city with that cart after it was reported stolen, he would have been caught very fast; there weren't that many guards patrolling as most were busy, but there were a few. On top of that, he had left it in an almost perfect hiding spot, a little pocket of space that the mages within the creed developed for high value loads that took a bit of space. Perfect for hiding things from others, though every pony within the guild had known that it was occupied with the cart. Then there was that little deal about the circumstances, all true; Blaze really wished he hadn't been forced into this line of work to support Star, but it had to happen. Their mother was not going to support them forever, not with the funds she could scrounge up sleeping with stallions.

The merchant just glared at Blaze, though he did nothing to attempt to stop Blaze, as he knew there was no proof that he had actually stolen from him. Then, it appeared that the fat merchant had an idea, as his face went from red with a passionate rage, to a normal smug expression that oozed over confidence.

"Well, if you're so sure that you didn't steal it, take me to where you had hidden it."

"Ok." Those two letters broke into his demeaner, shifting it slightly for all of but one second before he hid any doubts he may have discovered that moment. So Blaze just led Star to an alleyway not far from where he had given the directions to the merchant for the party that had ended an hour before he arrived. Not that the merchant could prove anything, there obviously was a party. Tucked within three buildings was a quiet little park that seemed all but abandoned, as there was little sign of use within recent memory.

"So where is the cart?"

"How would I know?" Blaze replied curtly, "You might want to talk to the thieves that took it from here, its current whereabouts are unknown to me."

The merchant was once again ready to explode, his face turning another shade of red, until Star looked up at him, and his rage seemed to melt under the little foal's puppy-eyes. He stared at the bundle of blue fur and wings before returning his gaze back to Blaze, who was ready to continue on with his day; he hated distractions like this, where little seemed to get done. The merchant's gaze swapped between the two brothers before shaking his head and turning around. He shuffled out the park, through the mass of ponies standing in the streets in a mob. They parted as the merchant walked away, most seemed to shun him, as many of the traders had seen Blaze and Star around as frequent customers.

The brothers waited a minute before they, too, left the park, with Blaze wrapping a wing around Star, appealing to the masses as the protective brother. When he saw just how many others had swarmed into the cramped alleyways to see what passed, he wasn't all that excited, and neither was Star, who started shaking from the pressing swarm of bodies. His eyes swept over the crowd that he could see, and he imagined that was at most half of the total number there. Dozens had crammed to see the event, and it was making Star nervous, so Blaze just shook his and pulled Star closer to him.

"Really?" He called out to the crowd, staring down the members of the mob in front of the park entrance. He was frustrated at that point, not that there was a crowd, but the sheer size of the crowd had meant that others had to have convinced others to join the rally, maybe. "Well, what are you all standing around for?! Back to work!"

At that, the crowd murmured to those in the back, trying to disperse in the crowded alleys was not easy, but they made due the best they could. The dozens there disappeared within ten minutes, leaving the now calm Star standing under Blaze's wing.

"Do we still have to go to the castle?" Star asked, after wiggling his way free from under Blaze's wing. "I'm sure we can find something to do instead. Like getting a pie!"

"You just ate!" Blaze responded, taking the lead to get them back out onto the main road leading up towards the palace district. He continued; "Besides, if we can get into the castle, nopony is going to bother two little foals. Though we aren't exactly little anymore."

Star just sagged his head, stepping in line behind his older brother as they returned to the road proper.


	4. 4 Burning Life

Chapter 4: Burning Life

A short hour later, the two were standing in front of the lowered portcullis of the inner wall, separating the castle grounds from the rest of the peasantry. Unfortunately, several guards stood in front of the gates, passively watching the hoof traffic that passed by, barely looking at any one pony for any given time. The six guards present had two representatives of the three races; unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, each bearing the golden armor bore by the day guard.

Blaze hesitantly walked up to the nearest of the guards, an earth pony, and cleared his throat. The guard was a burly brown with golden eyes, staring into the crowd, watching for potential threats. He didn't even notice the little white pegasus staring up at him. Blaze cleared his throat again, but it was met with a similar result as the last attempt, so he thought of another way to get the guard's attention. With one in mind that didn't involve touching the soldier, he flapped his wings to get eye level with the guard.

"Um . . . Hello?" He asked tentatively, waving a hoof in front of the guard's face. When he caught his attention, the guard just stared down at him. "Can we get in?"

"Do you have a meeting with the Princess?" The guard asked roughly, it almost sounded like he was bored, or tired of dealing with commoner ponies.

"Psh, of course I have a meeting." Blaze lied quickly, running a hoof through his red and white mane, nervously chuckling. Star began to say something, but was cut off by the guard.

"Well then we will open the gate as soon as you hand over the token. After all, visiting hours are not available at the moment, and the Princesses are quite busy dealing with the royal duties of rebuilding our nation."

"Oh yeah . . ." Blaze looked around for a moment, before realizing he didn't even have on saddlebags he could search to fake it. "Well, damn. It looks like I may have forgotten them in my haste to get here. Mind if I just head on in, and come back with the token tomorrow?"

"No. That is most unacceptable." The guard shook his head. Then pushed Blaze back down to the ground. "Unless you find that token before your scheduled appointment, you will just have to take your brother back home. Sorry kid, but those are the regulations. If you somehow managed to misplace such a useful item, it may be best to head back to the Regulations Building and request another."

Blaze felt like this guard probably knew more than he was letting on. But he kept his mouth shut, because even if he was caught lying, this guy was being pretty respectful about it. He just settled on letting loose a sigh and turning around, looking at Star.

"Come on. Let's travel and find some way to mend this." He started walking back into the bustling crowd of ponies. Star just silently followed. The two followed the flow of traffic, heading towards the small river just southeast of the wall. A part of it was used as a border for the wall, and this was the docking zone, and also served as the larger market region. The two followed the road for a few minutes, before Blaze turned down a side alley way, much to Star's confusion. They continued on in silence until they broke away from the sight line of the main street.

"Uh, Blaze?" Star's voice was slightly straining as he tried to keep his fear down. He unconsciously stepped a little closer to his elder brother. "What are we doing in here?"

Blaze wasn't entirely paying attention, due to his focus on the wall above the building to their left. He was watching the top of the heads of the guards patrolling, noting where they were placed, and how they moved. Eventually he stopped, turning to Star, who was looking really confused, with a bit of fear mixed in. His brother was slightly shaking, but it was barely noticeable and as Blaze hugged him again, he visibly calmed down.

"I said that I would take you to the castle, so we are going to visit the castle."

"But the guard said . . ." Star was looking more confused now.

"I don't care what the guard said. _I_ said that I would take you to visit the castle, so that's what I'm going to do. Just because the guards say we can't go in, doesn't mean we won't. Besides, they said that we can't visit the princesses, but we aren't going to visit them. We are studying to castle, so we aren't going to need to do anything special to get time with princesses we aren't going to visit." As he was saying this, Blaze had been leading Star down another alley that was leading closer towards to the wall. The section Blaze had chosen appeared to have a single guard that paced a length of the battlements, who happened to be going a different direction. "So we are just visiting the wall on our own time. So it's not like we are doing anything wrong, because we will not take the princesses' time."

"Okay." Star sounded unsure, but he wasn't resisting, so Blaze figured he would keep up with the idea that was growing and formulating in his head. He jumped into the air, floating just above his brother, motioning to the crenellations on the out edge of the wall. Star jumped into the air, hesitantly following the white pegasus, who crept up to the edge of the wall, peering over the side. He watched for the guard, who was nearing a tower, where he would gaze out over the city, before turning around and continuing his path. Blaze wasted no time, he edged himself back behind the wall, turning back to face his little brother.

"So, here is the plan. Once that guard passes us, I'm going to quickly fly over the wall, and hide on the other side. Watch where I go, because I'm going to be scouting the field inside, looking for a place where we can rejoin the rest of the non-guards inside. When I give you the signal, join me on the other side, but be quick and quiet about it. Okay?" Blaze rushed through the instructions, occasionally glancing at where he imagined the guard to be, his ears twitching as he tried to listen to the hoofsteps above the two. Star stared at him for a moment before his ears fell flat against his head.

"What is the signal, again?" He whispered.

"Oh. Right, I am going to whistle, but it is going to be quiet, so be listening real carefully. Okay?" Star just nodded, allowing Blaze to return his attention to the battlements, where a set of hoofsteps loudly paced towards their position. Blaze thought about the speed and assumed distance, figuring he had about fifteen seconds to get ready, when the guard would probably pass over. He knew he had to be quick, the guard would only have to walk so far before he hit his turning point. Blaze took a deep breath, holding it in until the guard's steps sounded out of the path Blaze was going to take. Upon hearing that, Blaze carefully raised his head over the side, watching the guard slowly pace towards his next watch point, then quickly launched himself across the wide stone path. His silent wing beats flew him to the bare inside strip of the wall, where he'd have to slide his way down a portion of the wall to remain unseen. As soon as he hit the other side, he whipped his wings to force an immediate 180-degree turn. Once he was facing where he needed to, he saw Star staring at him, waiting for the signal. Finding Star undetected, Blaze shifted his attention towards the guard, who was now turning his gaze back out towards, the city, so Star was stuck on that side until the guard could pass.

"Buck!" Blaze muttered to himself as he thought about what to do. He figured Star would be smart enough to hide from the guard, seeing as how he had just done it a few seconds before, so maybe he could get Star to hide just a few moments longer, which would give him time to find a spot for them to unite with the rest of the petitioners and whatnot. As soon as the guard began to turn his head to begin his rounds again, Blaze motioned for Star to duck, then tightened his wings against his body, dropping halfway down the wall in a second. He hoped Star would understand, and he still needed to do the recon. His ears twisted to listen to the guard, he turned his eyes to observe the grounds he would land in. IN front of him stood a small stone building, presumably the smith or some manner of military building, as the roof was thatched with large ceramic plates, not hay or another flammable material.

Peering through the archway that connected the building to a cobblestone path, Blaze saw that he was not all that close to the main road, which was to be expected, given their wrap around the inner wall. Blaze studied the courtyard until the noise of the guard's hooves against the stone above reached its peak. Blaze returned his attention to the matter at hoof, and slowly began climbing the wall, wings silently brushing against the stone, raising himself up the side. Once his head cleared the path, his eyes ran along the wall, noting where the guard was, and when his eyes returned to where Star was, he was greeted to see a nervous-looking blue pegasus creeping his head into sight. Blaze gave a low whistle, and when Star's ears perked towards the sound, he tentatively pulled himself onto the path, before he saw the guard nearing the tower. When he noticed that, his wings shot open, and he barreled his way straight to Blaze, who barely had time to side-sweep and catch Star from shooting straight into the building and causing a loud ruckus.

He pulled Star into an embrace, using the sweeping momentum to fling them both lower into the enclosed courtyard they found themselves in. He used his wings to control the descent enough for him to land gently, silently placing Star on the ground next to a bed of flowers. The two had landed in a miniature garden, with plenty of flowers in bloom, and a few vegetables growing around the center and up poles placed near the wall. Ivy clung to the lower sections of wall, and a single orange tree grew in front of a wooden gate that followed a path leading to the other side of the building.

"Not a blacksmith, that's for sure." Blaze mumbled, letting Star get his hooves back under him. The blue brother took but a moment to reassure his balance was under his command before looking around the garden that they were in. Blaze just shrugged before leading them out through the archway, and deeper into the bowels of the beast, into the beating heart of the Capital.

Not ten minutes later, and after following two main roads, the brothers breached the maze of streets and found their way onto the main thoroughfare inside the gates. The broke out of a side street and found themselves standing amidst several busy-looking ponies, some hurrying towards the castle, while a group was slowly shuffling their way back towards the gate, heads hung low. The retreating group nearly crashed into the brothers, but were moving slowly enough for Blaze and Star to back away enough to let the depressed party pass unhindered. Blaze was half tempted to ask them what was the matter, but he felt like he could make a few guesses about it, and voicing them would not be any kind of support. He looked over at Star, who he could see was visible struggling over something in his head. Blaze assumed it was the same thing he had been thinking.

"Come on, Star." His attention snapped back to Blaze when he heard his name. "Remember, we are not going to the Princesses, we're just going to pay a visit to the rest of the castle grounds. Anypony else that came here to see the Sisters probably didn't even expect to get anything other than an audience. Those two royalties don't care about us."

"But everypony says that they are trying to help." Star sounded a little concerned about that.

"Don't listen to everything everypony tells you. I don't care about them, all I care about is you." Blaze thought quickly, he didn't want to risk hurting Star's feelings, but he knew he needed to get this conversation over with. "That's why we are here, and not outside. I'm going to get you something from the kitchen if I can. Royal food is always rich and tasty."

Star's ears perked up at the mention of kitchens and food. Blaze just chuckled and continued leading Star towards the castle, though they were heading away from the main entrance, as it just led into the throne room, and there was no escaping the guards, so they would enter from one of the rumored side entrances. Used by servants and those that want to avoid direct interaction with the royals. One such side door appeared about two minutes after the brothers passed the main entrance, unguarded and unlocked. Blaze slid it open, the door swinging inward on silent hinges.

Star took a deep breath before stepping in after his brother, and found himself next to Blaze in a long corridor, with a deep purple carpet covering the sun-warmed stone leading away both direction. Blaze looked down one end of the hallway, seeing a large, closed wooden door, and he knew that on the other side was the throne room. Looking down the other way showed that the hall split off in two directions. Walking that way, he led Star deeper into the heart of the beast.

"So . . ." Star sounded unsure, so his voice just trailed off into silence as they continued following the purple carpet.

"The door led to the throne room, and we don't want to talk to either Princess, remember?" Blaze filled the silence, answering the unasked question. "And we _do_ want to see the rest of the palace, so why not get the tour out of the way, then stop by the kitchens on our way out. Don't worry Star, I got your back, and have it all planned out."

"Really?" Star scoffed, then rolled his eyes. "I thought you were just making things up as you went."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, brother." Blaze sighed, shaking his eyes before bumping Star with a wing. "But yes, I do have this day planned out. We are going to visit as much as we can before dinner, then I'll buy us something from the kitchens. After we get dinner, we are going to spend the rest of the day walking around the city. Just like I promised."

Star didn't reply, so they continued on in another moment of silence, walking down the halls, opening a door every now and then. They found the library, though Star wasn't too interested, he had yet learned how to read, though Blaze planned on changing that sooner rather than later. Blaze, however, was quite interested to see just how many books were in the building, and how much he'd be actually able to read if he planned on stealing from the kitchens. Maybe he would be able to check out a book or two, grab some food, then leave, repeat the process until he got caught, then just start stealing books. He would return the books, of course, but he wanted to learn as much as possible. His head was stirring as they made their way through the library to the other side. Opening the doors, Blaze found himself staring directly at another guard, though this one looked quite surprised to see the doors open as he reached to do so himself. The two locked eyes, then Blaze's brain caught up with the situation, so he whipped around, grabbed Star with his front legs, then launched himself into the air, pumping his wings to take the extra weight.

The guard just watched in utter confusion as a random little colt bolted away, carrying what was to be assumed a brother away with him. He stood there for a minute before his mind finally settled, making the decision to ignore it and he continued his way into the library. He got halfway inside as a thought came to his mind.

"That kid had to have some wings to fly that fast while carrying another pony, huh." He spoke aloud as he re-continued his way into the library to check out a book or two himself. He just got off duty, and he had time off.

Blaze didn't stop until he had gotten out the library, down a hall, where he turned the corner, shuddered to a stop, then dropped Star on his hooves, landing next to him. He peered around the corner, but was confused to see the guard had disappeared; he knew he was fast, but that guard should have been able to keep up with him at least a little bit.

"Blaze, what was that about?" Star was staring at Blaze, who had finally turned back around the corner and was standing, wings dropped onto the ground, panting for breath. He tried to speak, but all that came out between breaths was a series of incoherent noises.

After a minute to catch his breath, Blaze slowly looked up at his brother, and started to giggle. Star just looked at him like he was losing his mind, staring with mild horror and confusion. Blaze caught his breath when he saw the transformation, then his giggles burst into all out laughter. Blaze kept up his fit of laughing until Star started smirking and joined with a light giggle of his own. For half a minute, his laughter carried its way down the halls of the castle, echoing through the halls, until it finally started to lose its strength.

Blaze let the moment fade away, before his laughing died down into the occasional giggle, and he took a deep breath. When he regained his composure, he looked at Star, who's face had finally taken on one of mild confusion, with a small smile starting to break through.

"We aren't going to tell anypony about this, okay Star?" Blaze started uneasily, Star's smile dropped and his confused look grew, Blaze found that extremely adorable. After Blaze collected the remaining floating thoughts, he pushed through and continued. "We are here to look around the castle, so we can explore what the royalty live like when we struggle. I overreacted, thinking the guard was here for us, so I grabbed you and ran. I'm sorry, and I'll make sure that this doesn't happen again. We are here to have fun, not be constantly running from guards, and I'm only here to make sure that that is what is going to happen. We are going to enjoy this day off, so how about it, Star? Want to go see the rest of the castle and then we can get some food from the kitchen, then go out and see the rest of the city. I know we have time for it, and I'm more than happy to spend some time with my little brother."

Star perked right back up, his confusion washing away, melting into a face that would most closely resemble what some would call bliss. Blaze just figured he'd be as non-fancy as possible, and went with calling the face pure joy and happiness. The two turned around and kept walking around, allowing themselves to relax as much as possible, though Star seemed to take to comfort a lot more easily than Blaze did.

They passed through the nearly silent hallways, neither joined nor hindered by any staff, and Blaze felt jumpy. He tried to relax, but the castle was just too quiet for him to like; they never passed any other guards, and only a single servant, who happened to appear and disappear within the blink of an eye.

An uncomfortable hour later, the two found themselves back in the same hallway they began in, just at the intersection coming from the other direction. Along the way, they had stopped at the kitchens, which would have made them both happy, as it was nearing time to eat, but the room was completely empty. There was no chef, no guard, not even any staff cleaning the place. It was obvious the room was used recently, a few pots and pans lay in one of the sinks, but other than that, there was no sign of any life. So the two had to continue on hungry, though Star was considerably more audible about it than Blaze felt necessary.

"You can keep complaining all you want, buddy, but it isn't going to change the fact that you haven't eaten. We're leaving now, so we can get food while we walk around, okay?" Star just sighed in response, Blaze shook his head. "Star, I get you haven't eaten in an hour, but seriously, you ate a whole freaking pie! How in Equestria can you still be hungry? Seriously, you are a bottomless pit that eats everything, a void in which nothing returns!"

Star giggled at the mention of the pie, then hopped to catch up with his brother, who hadn't stopped or slowed when he did, his ears perked up with a smile perched widely across his face. He fell into step beside Blaze as the two walked down towards the beginning hallway, to the side entrance to leave before their presence was noticed.

Blaze took a couple of steps around the corner, until his mind caught up with his eyes. But when they did, they made up for the lost second, making his heart skip a beat, his hoof froze mid-step, and he stared down the hallway. Star didn't realize anything wrong until he bumped into Blaze, who had frozen completely, staring at something Star couldn't see. Star decided to fix that, so he leaned to peek around Blaze, and gasped when he saw what happened. His mouth quickly followed Blaze's split one, nearly slapping the floor before reeling up about halfway to his skull. In front of the open doors that led to the throne room, stood Princess Celestia, flanked by two royal guards who were staring at the brothers, with mild confusion contorting their eyebrows. Celestia wore a small smirk, but had stayed right at the entrance, her gaze slowly floated between the two brothers several times before settling on Blaze. Neither Blaze nor the guards moved until Celestia took a step forward, startling the guards back to the moment, snapping them into action. They were both pegasi, so they darted in front of the Princess, each flying to close the distance between them and the brothers. That got Blaze out of his stupor, he grabbed Star by the hoof and spun, building momentum before throwing Star back around the corner before following himself.

The guards wasted no time giving chase, and they rapidly closed the distance, as Star was still not quite sure how to act, so Blaze wasted time trying to drag the resisting body of his little brother, who weakly tried resisting.

"What are you doing?!" Blaze shouted as Star finally shook out of his grasp. Star didn't reply before the guards crashed into them, sending three of the four into a heap in front of a door, Star being the fortunate soul to avoid the painful pile. Blaze shot his way out of the pile, then launched himself over to Star, grabbed him under his front legs, then bolted back down the halls leading towards the kitchen. He got exactly two doors away before a golden wall inserted itself into reality in front of them, causing Blaze to wrap himself around Star and crashing into the wall, grunting as he hit it.

Blaze slid down the wall, still holding onto Star. The guards slowly walked over to the brothers, who were forced to rest by Blaze's aching side, wearing victorious smiles as they roughly pulled the brothers onto their hooves. The guards turned them around and took two steps to bring them back to the Princess before she turned around the corner and began calmly walking to the group of pinged ponies near the foot of her magical wall. She stopped a door short, and the guards quickly made up the last distance by pulling Blaze and shoving him forward, into an awkward kneel. Star followed shortly after, though his kneel was slightly less forced, namely, he willingly moved to be next to his brother. Only when the two were before her and her guards behind them did she take her eyes off the brothers, their places to be replaced by her guards.

"Why hast thou doth been aggressive to thee subjects?" She asked, in an almost cold voice. Blaze shivered when he heard her words, he was never a fan of how the royalty and nobility spoke. It just felt so condescending to him, that they felt they needed to try to separate themselves from the common peasantry in every way possible. The guards must have had a different reason for disliking how she was speaking, because they immediately began trembling, but they had enough sanity to stay put. After a moment of extremely tense silence, one of the guards finally spoke up.

"We apologize, your Majesty. We meant no harm, just to stop an intruder from fleeing the scene of the crime." He spoke with a waiver in his voice, bowing as deeply as he possibly could.

Blaze took the moment between the princess and the guards to take in his surroundings, he really needed to get Star and himself out of there. They were still in the side hallway leading off to the kitchen, and Blaze felt hope breeze over him, well, it was at least the summer breeze seeping into the castle. Blaze looked over the walls, scanning for the open window; which was precisely half-way covered by Celestia's barrier. The window was open enough for Star to easily fly through, but Blaze wasn't so sure he would fit through it. He carefully watched it for several more seconds, trying to judge its size from the distance and angle he was; he dully noted that trying to measure something while looking between one's legs was not an easy task. He then heatedly noticed how wrong that sounded and his head shot straight up as Celestia responded to the guard, a slight red tint covering his face. He recovered enough to listen to the sun-princess in front of him, but decided that he had better act soon rather than later if he wanted to get Star out of Celestia's grasping hooves.

Just as Celestia was opening her mouth to speak, Blaze's wings ripped open, while his front hooves wrapped their way around Star's midsection. Before either guard could react, Blaze flapped his wings once, doing a backwards loop over them, touching down just one room short of the window. As he landed, Blaze pulled Star back, and used that motion to launch the blue pegasus back half the distance.

"Star, go!" He shouted over his shoulder, lowering himself into a defensive stance to give Star time to get away. Star didn't move, he was just staring at Blaze from behind his back, while the guards retaliated by spinning around and one dived towards the white pegasus. Blaze hooped back to avoid the armored guard, then leaped onto his back and yanked an ear, forcing the guard to back away from Star. He continued to pull the ear, maneuvering the guard backwards towards his companion, buying as much time as possible. "Out the window, NOW! GO HOME!"

Star took a moment to hesitate before his ears sagged and he turned to the window he had been forced near. Star's wings slowly opened, revealing a slight under-glow that had been previously absent, then he brought them down with all the force he had, the effect being much more than he had desired or suspected. With the draw and pull of his wings, Star not only shot out the window in the perfect center, but he had created a concussive wave that knocked Blaze off the guard and both guards off balance.

When Blaze regained his hooves, the remaining guards flanked him, forcing him to back closer to the princess. She was gaping at the now empty window, trying to process what had happened, until Blaze spun to face her. As his back turned to the guards, one of the latter leapt forward and slammed Blaze to the ground, removing all the breath from his chest. As he struggled to get his hooves under him, Celestia lowered her gaze until it fell upon the struggling heap that was an exhausted Blaze Burn. Her steady pink eyes rested on his hardened blue ones, she peered into him, trying to find something that appeared to be hiding itself well from her.

"Thou hath a name. What is it?"

"I don't think it matters any more, Star got away. That is all that does matter." Blaze managed to force one of his front hooves under him, so he thought he could try to get another. He struggled against the significantly heavier guard until said guard forced him back down flat against the carpeted floor. "Blaze. My name is Blaze Burn."

"Blaze Burn . . ." She tapped a hoof to her chin for a moment, in the typical thinking fashion that aristocracy drove for to make another medium to segregate themselves from the peasantry, Blaze felt all warm and fuzzy inside knowing the royalty encouraged such methods. "Why would thou sacrifice himself to save the other? This, Star, as you would call him."

"He is my brother, not that you actually care. How about you just skip over this useless talking about and get this over with. I have to make sure he gets to see the rest of the city before nightfall. I promised him it and I'm not going to wait around on some far-off royalty like yourself." Celestia stared blankly down at him while the guard slammed a hoof into his back, popping his spine in several places, making a nasty cracking sound. Nothing broke, so Blaze knew he'd be fine, it was more uncomfortable than anything else. The guard seemed to be able to read his thoughts, because he raised his hoof again, and slammed it down harder this time. There was no popping noise, just the sound of Blaze screaming out in pain.

After a second for Blaze's screams to die off, Celestia's expression went from blank to mildly annoyed. Her head cocked to one side, causing her flowing main to shift and wave as it got pulled into a new direction, and she stared down at him in silence.

"Thou shalt regret making thee's decisions to allow a fellow criminal to escape." She spoke softly, though her voice lacked any emotion, sounding not all that different from the whispered pain of a vengeful spirit in the wind at night. She faced the guard standing at attention, who stood straighter immediately. "Return to the barracks, issue wanted posters to be placed around the city, alerting the citizens of the criminal that escaped."

The guard nodded, saluted, then ran off down the hall to carry out his orders. Celestia turned to the guard holding Blaze down.

"Take him to the holding cells outside the dungeon. I wish to speak with him before I sentence and punish him for his crime." The guard saluted with his free hoof, forcing his weight to shift, making Blaze grunt in pain at the added weight to the remaining hoof on his left-wing joint. Celestia just spun around elegantly, following the hallways that led to a section of the castle Blaze refused to see any part of. That section included the royal bedrooms of the princesses, as well as their personal recreation rooms, not that those ones in particular got a whole lot of use during the current struggle. Once she was around the bend, the guard shifted around so that he was firmly planted on either side of Blaze, though he was no longer standing directly on top of him. He lifted a hoof to his belt, then pulled out a length of tightly woven rope, dangling it in front of Blaze's face.

"Now, you are going to do this the easy way. That is only because we have heard about you. You give back to those that are struggling, doing this community right, that also means we know about you, and your little games with the visiting merchants and nobility." Blaze just slumped himself even lower to the ground. "I'm going to let you up, and then you are going to stand there and not resist while I secure you so you don't do anything stupid. Okay?" 

Blaze didn't reply, so the guard cuffed him with a hoof before stepping to one side to let Blaze up, that was the exact moment he had been waiting for. As soon as the guard had shifted his weight, Blaze flung both wings up, one hitting the moving leg, while the other hooked onto his armor and pulled the guard off balance even further. The result was as Blaze had hoped, the guard had no weight moving in the right direction, so he toppled over enough for Blaze to pull himself to his hooves and leap into the air. Pumping his wings as hard as he could, he barreled through the halls, heading directly for the open window, but the guard was already up and in the air. Blaze gave one last pump of his wings before clamping them shut and doing a tight barrel roll, spinning as the guard tried to grab him. Right when the guard's hooves wrapped themselves around Blaze, the two hit the window. Blaze went easily through the opening, but the guard nicked the metal framing, knocking his grip 'out the window'. Blaze took the opportunity to force his wings open enough to completely break free, then continued on his way down to the city below.

Glass showered off the two pegasi as they split, the guard began a descending dive, while Blaze continued his flight straight out above the battlements. His wings stung badly as he pumped them to their limits forcing himself away from the castle, hoping to have had enough time to get away before the princesses found out that he escaped. Crashing through the window may not have been the best method of escape, but he was short on options and even shorter on time, what with that guard trying to actually obey orders from a Princess. The nerve.

Once Blaze got outside the castle air space, he slowed down enough to catch his breath, mostly gliding on the currents as he left the castle behind. His white feathers had flecks of crimson blood dotted around, and the glass refused to make its way out of his muscles, flaring in pain whenever he shifted his wings. Feeling better about his distance, Blaze let gravity do its work and pull him down to street level, where he landed near a surge of ponies trying to get their deals done before closing time. It was nearing the end of dinner rush hour, and there was a number of hungry ponies trying to get food before it ran out completely. As he slipped into the crowd, he got several long glances spared his way. He studiously ignored them, trotting back towards the warehouse, anxious to see if Star had made it back, hoping particularly badly that his little blue brother was safe and sound.

He limped into the renovated warehouse, and his first impression was a blast of cool air coming from inside, not chilly, but just like a nice breeze. His next impression was that the main hall no longer had shuffled, sickly ponies scattered about. Through the time they had been gone, not only was the mold removed, but they had put up some temporary walls, screening off bedrooms. A lavender scent drifted throughout the main hall, as several earth ponies fed the blazing fire in the middle of the room, surrounded by the remaining residents. Star was sitting in between his two friends, the unicorn and the earth pony. Blaze whistled softly.

Star's ears perked up at the nearly silent sound, then his head whipped towards Blaze, soon followed by the rest of his body as he launched himself over the crowd and tackled him down to the ground in a hug. Neither said anything, embracing he fact that both were alive and safe in the moment. Blaze rolled onto his side, breaking the hug and slowly got to his hooves.

"I'm going to get cleaned up, then we can head on out if you are still up for it." He said as he limped to the kitchen for a wash cloth. Star was at this side before he could even blink, putting a hoof on his wing to stop him in his tracks. "Yeah, buddy?"

"You need to go to bed. I don't want you to get hurt, and walking around would do that. Go to bed, and maybe tomorrow we can go around the city." Star's face was completely covered with concern, while his voice was shaky and had cracked.

"Won't hear me complain. We are still going when I see get the next chance, whenever that is. I made you a promise." Blaze spoke slowly, the pain in his wings suddenly flaring up.

'Maybe jumping straight out of that window with a guard hot on my tail wasn't the best of ideas.' He thought dryly as Star let his wing free. Then the blue brother took it upon himself to lead his elder across the room and into the kitchen, where a local resident had taken it upon himself to go to get the medical kit they kept there. The nameless pegasus stood near a stool, indicating it with a hoof for Blaze to sit on. He quietly obeyed, sliding carefully onto the worn seat, his body sagging inwardly with the promise of rest, his wings immediately unfolded themselves, creating a miniature cascade of glass shards that clinked to the bare stone floor noisily. Blaze hissed slightly, painful relief washing through him as some of the intrusive glass started removing itself from the folds of his wings. As soon as the glass stopped falling at the pain faded to a manageable level, his wings raised back up, leveling with his shoulders, offered up to the eldest pegasus in the room. 'At least I won't be doing much tomorrow, these wings aren't going to fly well for at least a couple days.'

The nameless pegasus took the closer wing in one of his hooves, inspecting each slice within the feathers, using a small knife to remove the remaining portions of glass. He labored in silence, a silence that hung to the kitchen like a heavy blanket, only broken by the occasional hiss or muttered curse that escaped Blaze's mouth. Star stayed by his side the entire time, offering silent support for his struggling brother. Finally, when each wound had been cleared of glass, Blaze attempted to stand to leave, but the nameless one pushed him back into the seat with an aged hoof. He silently put the knife on a counter nearby, then picked up a ragged cloth dosing it with the contents of a clear bottle full of a viscous, green liquid that stank like rotting vegetables. The moment the cloth contacted Blaze's wings, he reacted by leaping off the stool before the old stallion could hold him down.

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a sissy!" The first words to come out of his mouth in the fifteen minutes that he had been working, probably the first he'd spoken in some time, they came out a bit more labored than what Blaze normally heard. As more words came out of his mouth, it began to remember how to function and reset the tone, "Sit back down and let's get this over with. The sooner I clean and wrap those scratches, the sooner you can get to bed. This is to prevent infection, so suck it up and deal with being a little uncomfortable for a few seconds."

Blaze reluctantly returned to his seat, while Star put what he had hoped was a reassuring hoof on his shoulder opposite the wing that was being disinfected. The two around Blaze traded places, allowing Blaze's remaining wing to be cleaned and bandaged. Once he was all patched up, the nameless one nodded, then turned and left without saying another word. Blaze tried calling out to him, but his words went unheard; "Thank you!"

Blaze got out of the seat and began walking out into the main hall, where the group had resumed conversing among themselves about this or that. Once they spotted him, Star's friends rushed over and bombarded him with questions about his health or what happened, but when he told them that a guard had chased him, the rest of the group formed a semi-circle around him, listening to his explanation of what happened. Star offered with details where he could, but most of the story was told uninterrupted by Blaze Burn. An hour passed by a question and answer session in which he tried to dissolve many of the rumors about him being a murderer or the information leaking about his thief occupation, but the few number of foals that were still living in the community were amazed with his heavily modified mentions of the guards and his interactions with them. He made a mental note to talk to them later to prevent them from forming or joining an anti-enforcer gang, peace was better than dissolving the guards, significantly better. After that hour of speaking with the group, he mentioned how he sent Star back, and his unmodified conversation with the Princess of the Sun herself, though he never hesitated to include his own opinions of her. He finished his tale with his escape from the guard, as well as speaking shortly about his injuries. Upon realizing he was hurt, several of the ponies offered to take him to his new room, but he declined, deferring instead to have Star take him.

Two members of the group didn't accept the refusal, and led the brothers back to their room anyways. One was an older-looking colt, probably about ready to find a real job soon, the other was the mare from earlier, honey golden hair now curled as much as she could get it with its shortened length.

Blaze's head was started to feel thicker than usual, so he was mildly surprised to notice his eyes drifting to places they probably shouldn't have. At first, his eyes were following the golden mane as it idly bounced with each step, but his gaze slowly shifted down to her purple neck, and he couldn't stop his wandering closing the gap, homing in on her rump. His brain kicked, and he snapped his eyes back to the door they seemed to be heading directly to.

Unfortunately, he was still suffering from the day, and he was too tired to really focus much, and he again noticed himself staring. It worried him; he never really cared much for others, except Star, and he never really cared for what they looked like. It was a waste of time when he had so much to do, but thoughts were slowly flaring into existence in his evaporating thought processes. He shook his head, trying to gather himself, and remain composed enough to call it in early.

Blaze's eyes stuck glued to the door for the remainder of the trip, and only removed them when he passed through the threshold into the room. Blaze looked around the sparsely decorated room, his mind finally clearing, he as many thoughts into the back of his mind as he could. He didn't really know how to feel about the room; on one hoof, it was nice to finally have total privacy, but on the other, how in the hay did they get this much done in a couple of hours? The room only had two beds in it, actual beds, not the rolls they had been sleeping on, and a night stand in between them. Blaze took another step into the room, allowing the door to slowly close itself, and stared at the only thing he could; the beds. Star took the opportunity to trot over to the bed to the right of the night stand and hopped onto the bed. He sat down and looked back at his brother, flashing his biggest and brightest smile.

"So, " He began slowly, "what do you think?"

Blaze took a moment to remember what he was supposed to be doing, but his body beat him to the mark, reminding him that he needed to sleep. Blaze eyed the barren room, thinking, or at least, trying to think. After several silent moments, Blaze just limped over to his new bed and collapsed into it, groaning in delight at the soft blankets, the cloud pillow, the light springs within the mattress itself. Never had he known that a sore body could make a bed feel this good. Of course, he was so tired that he doubted it had anything to do with the bed itself.

"Soft." He muttered, his voice muffled because his face was stuffed within the pillow. His thinking was slowing down rapidly, and he began drifting into the depths of sleep. "I think I will sleep now."

Star just sighed and rolled out of his bed, and walked over to Blaze's. He helped his sore brother under the covers, then began to tuck him in. Blaze was still coherent enough to stare half-angrily at him as he did so, but eventually allowing the soreness and exhaustion of a long day drag him into sleep. Star whispered something into his ear, but he was so close to sleep that he never registered anything, before leaving him to rest as he went back to the main room, softly closing the door behind him.

'How in the hay did life get so confusing so fast?' Was the last thought Blaze had before drifting finally into the folds of sleep, into his troubled subconscious, where dreams and nightmares intermingled and memories stalked in the darkness, waiting to haunt the present.

 _Under a new moon, Blaze stood before both of the Sisters, standing at attention, awaiting his orders. The three were standing in a hidden garden that the Sisters used to meditate upon their problems. He felt heavy, weighed down both physically and mentally, slowed by depression and armor. His wings idly brushed his plate armor, hidden under his black cloak that was reserved for his particular status amongst those who have earned the favor of royalty. His hood was pulled back, revealing a red and white mane brought up tight in typical guard fashion, though he knew he was no common guard, no idle protector of the leaders of Equestria. Celestia stood in front of him, grim faced and worried, she bore a look that implied she was trying to come up with something to explain what was happening, while Luna was pacing behind her, visibly worried. Anxiety was starting to build up inside him, he knew that if both Princesses were this worried about something, then it was most likely a dangerous threat to their power, and that he would probably be sent away to deal with it._

 _At least he had nothing to come back to; Celestia made sure to break all his ties with the peasantry, even separating him from the guards, as she felt he needed no connections with anypony else. He would not be missed._

 _Luna suddenly stopped pacing, she returned to Celestia's side, seemingly resigned to whatever fate was approaching, and when the sisters locked gazes, she nodded once. Celestia sighed and looked down to him, turning her eyes to peer into his._

" _Captain, we are in need of thou's assistance."_

 _Blaze stiffened, but nodded once and bowed._

" _Lord Sombra of the northern Crystal Empire has decided to take matters into his own hooves, rejecting any assistance we offer. We need thee to scout the location, and provide us with information for our army, for we march north in two weeks. We trust thou will understand the nature of thine mission?" Blaze nodded._

" _Infiltrate and observe." He spoke calmly as he returned to his original position. "Remain undetected and gather intelligence, stay my blade."_

" _Correct." Luna returned, she calmed a little, but was still clenching her jaw. She took a moment to breath before relaxing a bit to speak less formally; "Blaze. We truly hope you can find a way to end this peacefully. You may not agree, but we consider you a great friend of ours. If hostility is the only way, then we cannot guaranty that we will persevere: Sombra uses dark magic."_

 _Blaze shifted uncomfortably, ever since his power was revealed, he felt uneasy about magic, even though he was around it all the time. Magic was common enough that unicorns could accomplish anything they desired just by willing it so, but other races didn't have that luck, and then he was told every race had magic, magic that was tapped by so few, he didn't want the complicated life of magic. Mundane work was where he excelled, and yet he had to deal with magical problems almost weekly that the Sisters declared matters to be dealt with quietly. Magic was a bitch, and dealing with harmful users of it was his occupation now. Dark magic popped up rarely, but when it did, one sister would usually take care of it themselves, to make a public appearance to staunch the fires of doubt before they ignite past control. Now they were calling the army together, and it was because of dark magic, and Blaze was going to stalk it. He really hated how his life was now, all the backstabbing and infiltrating and murder. He was a blade in the darkness, to cut out competition and to silence voices that would cause trouble, one of the select few that could accomplish the Princesses' wills._

" _Dark magic." He spat out, then he proceeded to bow and turned to leave. "I will make notes of the Crystal Empire and its King. I will return in a week and a half."_

" _Take care, Captain." The Sisters said in unison, allowing the Shade to prepare for his journey._

 _A flash of white, a spiral of black, and flecks of green, then Blaze found himself sitting on a train seat, slowly riding his way to the far north, every second getting him that much closer to his goal. He had spent an hour to get himself food and bits to get him through the week, but spent several more scrounging every book he could find on Sombra. Unfortunately, Celestia had exactly one book concerning said tyrant, and it was a genealogy book, specifying that his family had been banished from the kingdom before he went mad. Now that he was nearing the Crystal Empire, he knew he was in for a rough week. He had done missions on less information, but they were shorter, and mostly capture or kill missions._

 _Blaze found himself standing in front of the massive crystal tower, housing the King himself. He was severely concerned, Sombra's troops had fought ruthlessly, using as many dirty tricks as they could against Celestia's advancing army, but they just couldn't stop the force with Celestia leading the ground troops and Luna commanding the air force. What concerned Blaze the most was that Sombra refused to make an appearance, remaining within his tower of resistant gems, awaiting the arrival of the Sisters._

 _The infection must die!_

 _Celestia and Luna were fighting a lone Sombra, who bore his black and silver armor grinning as he fended off every thrust and jab both Sisters sent his way. His bone scythe parrying every blow they delivered, until he gained an advantage from a desperate Luna, disarming her sword and encasing her in black crystal. Celestia launched her spear forward, emblazoned with the Sun's holly fire. The spear caught the scythe near its head, wrenching the weapon in half. Sombra's grin turned wicked as the head of the scythe swung out and clipped Celestia's golden armor, burying deep into her shoulder._

 _Blaze smashed his way through a window, flying straight towards a disarmed Sombra, who's back was turned to him. Before he made contact, Sombra disappeared in shadows and reappeared behind Blaze, wrapping his armored hooves around blaze's midsection, forcing shadows to clamp around Blaze's wings. Sombra chuckled darkly before throwing Blaze to the ground._

" _And there is our little soldier." He shouted into the halls, still laughing as he used magic to levitate himself above the downed Blaze. "My, my, the darkness in you is almost palpable."_

 _Blaze knew there was nothing left of that broken stallion, who had allowed darkness to consume him. But he was worried; he had turned to the darkness. Just as that thought came to his mind, Sombra's laugh broke the silence again._

" _Yes. You see now! This infection has broken into you, penetrated your very heart. Allow this demon of ours to eat you alive. Let the voices laugh, let them inside, Blaze Burn! Let them take the ache away!"_

" _No!" Blaze returned a shout, "This infection will not take me alive. I am not going to give in."_

" _You are already gone, Blaze. This beast will eat you alive, just allow it to enter your heart. It will release you!"_

" _If I am to survive, this darkness will die."_

" _Murder the darkness, Blaze!" Celestia shouted from where she had been forced down. "He must die! This infection must DIE!"_

" _Silence, you cow!" Sombra's horn lit up bright green, and a wave of black crystals cascaded over her. He turned back to face Blaze, who was struggling to free his wings. Blaze tried kicking the King when he lowered himself to stand over the pegasus, but his legs were wrapped in magic. The King chuckled again as he leaned in close to Blaze's face, grinning and staring directly in Blaze's blue eyes. Blaze stared back, glaring defiantly, resisting the urge growing inside him to headbutt the armored king. Sombra stared for two second before his horn lit up green and a cloud of black and green began to condense around the two of them. Blaze panicked and started trying to fight his way free, but the cloud began to force its way inside of him, entering his mouth, his nose, and his eyes. As the last of the clouds began to fade inside of him, his vision started fading, the last image he caught was Luna raising her sword with magic and cutting off Sombra's head._

' _If I am to survive, this infection must die.'_

Blaze woke up with his heart pounding, sweat dripping from his forehead, soaking into his new sheets, eyes strained against the darkness, trying to piece between what was real wand what was dream. Unfortunately, what he was able to register was a very upset looking Night Princess face inches from his own, which almost made him jump straight out of bed in fright. Because of her proximity to him, he decided to yelp instead, immediately moving to push her away. She forced him still and silent with magic, staring directly into his eyes.

"That was no normal nightmare." She stated anxiously, voice barely above a whisper as she tried to keep from waking Star up. "I am a master of knowledge of all things to do with the dream realm, yet I have never seen anything like that. What was that?"

"A bad dream. None of your concern." He responded after she freed his voice. She stared at him silently, glaring daggers of ice that attempted to bore through his skull. He was having none of that. "And it is not the first I have had, so if you would kindly leave my home in peace, that would be peachy fantastic."

Luna scowled darkly at him, before floating above him a bit more, her icy stare turned just a tad colder, as if a single look could encase the world in a layer of ice. Her wings flapped slightly before the two of them appeared in a new room, slightly furnished with black couches and a single high-backed chair, which now supported an irate looking Princess Luna. Blaze popped into a couch directly facing the Princess, though he had to roll onto his stomach so he could sit up. The room was dark, nearly impossible to see in, despite the weak moonlight peeking through the opening in the curtains. Once he was sitting on his haunches, Luna lifted a hoof and indicated that he started to talk, and if her face was anything to go off of, he found it wise to do as she commanded.

"It really was just a bad dream, or at least, as far as I can tell it was a bad dream. I had one some time ago about Star being gone, but he's still here with me. So it had to be a bad dream, besides, I would never let anypony ever take my little brother; he is all I have." Luna's scowl lightened a shade or two, but her eyes still glared at him as he continued on. "All I know is that when I went to sleep I had what appeared to be a bad dream, it may have been really bad, but I don't think you have any control over how those form, do you? I know you can help ponies dream good dreams, but you are busy enough that it doesn't surprise me that you could have missed mine. It's a bad dream, leave it at that and send me home. I have a busy day tomorrow, and I really need to get back to sleep, I know that if Star suddenly woke up right now, he'd be really scared about where I was. So if you could send me back, I'd be really grateful."

"I have some things to inform thee about, before I return thee to thee's home." Luna began slowly, her doubt evident but not intruding yet. "First, thou's assumptions of my influence on the dream realm are true, I hath the ability to influence nightmares and pacify them. To bring me to my second point, I had not the influence over thee's visions on this night. It was as if a veil of powerful, primordial magic protected thou's slumbers from my intrusions. My dearest sister, Celestia, believes thou may be of ancient blood, of the Gold Vein blood. If such an assumption were true, then thou would be within both our Princesses' consultations about how to remove this problem of thine primordial blood, and an investigation will be constructed to test thou's brother as well."

"Let me just stop you right there." Blaze hastily interjected when the Princess stopped to take a breath. "What the hay is a 'Gold Vein'? And neither of you are going to lay a hoof on my brother."

"Such insolence will not be tolerated, if either myself or my dear sister declare something shall be, then it shall be! Thou stand not the slightest of chance of resisting our wills, not would thine have the capabilities of stopping either of us should we decide action is better than words. But we are under the impression that thee art of the rare blood of pegasus known as Gold Vein, whose wings are uniquely gifted with power and delicacy. It has been rumored in ages past that only those of the Gold blood would have had the truest of success in battle, and those soldiers were gifted with wings that made them unmatched in any airborne attempts they made. Thou and thine brother are the only ones with whom we can begin to assume have the Gold blood." The Princess leaned back in her chair, relaxing in the warm folds of silk that draped across the back of the piece of furniture. "If my dearest sister's descriptions are true, then we are safe in believing that thine's brother is indeed of the Gold blood, and will be of great use in rebuilding this nation, either through protection or through civic duty."

"No." Blaze slid off the couch and stood in front of the night-colored princess, defiance held his posture firm, though deep inside he felt terror at facing one of the sisters there, though he had a difficult time seeing her, as he could barely make out the form of the chair in the dim lighting. He had to focus his thoughts on Star to keep himself from raging right there, to protect Star from the abuse and manipulation of the Princesses. He managed to prevent himself from shouting at Luna, resolving instead to continue his calm approach, hiding his distaste within himself, where he stored all his other strong emotions. "Star will not be a puppet, to be used by either of you. If I am a 'Gold Vein' or whatever, then I guarantee that I will fight you both every step of the way as you try to take him away from me. I will keep him safe, and if that means I start a war, then you best be betting on me coming out victorious. If you are both wrong, then I will still fight you every step of the way."

"Thou's resolve is strong, and if I must admit, quite impressive. I hope thou will consider the opportunity in serving one's rulers, especially when the result will benefit the whole of the future Equestria. It is not often the day comes that my dearest sister is wrong." Luna sighed before nodding to herself. "I will return thee to thine home, but consider this, should a conflict arise, then thou will stand no chance against the might of two Princesses, Gold blood or not."

"Try anything and we'll be able to prove you both wrong." Was all Blaze had time to say before he popped out of the room in a blue flash and reappeared on his bed, now cold and clammy from sweat. His waited for his eyes to adjust to the complete darkness within the room before he rolled out of bed and walked over to where Star slept, his little form curled up under the blankets for warmth. Blaze put a hoof on his brother's side, giving himself a moment to center his thoughts before he walked back over to his side of the room, and sat on his bed. His thoughts were still uncontrollable, and he felt that between the dream he had and his conversation with Luna, he'd be getting little more sleep that night. Still, his wings were still noticeably sore, though the rest of him was recovering quickly enough for a night stroll.

He abandoned the room quietly, leaving Star to dream whatever it was he dreamt at night, and instead chose to relieve himself of his racing thoughts by tackling them head-on during a long walk in the quiet of night. Walking through the streets of the Capitol at night allowed him to clear his mind, tackling each doubt and worry he had, one at a time, until he had managed to contain his worries through logical and progressive thinking. He solved each worry and scenario he imagined by breaking it down and thinking about how he could and should react, as well as resolving doubts by answering the questions he was afraid to ask himself; where was he going to take life after Star was old enough to start his journey? How would he handle Star's dependency? What was he going to do about the Princess problem? Each question he worked through until he had arrived at a peace of mind he was trying to achieve, so he went back home, and in a state of exhaustion, collapsed into his bed, drifting into blissful sleep for the rest of the night.

The next morning greeted Blaze as one of the calmest he had had in a while; no unpleasant dream to shock him awake, no hoard of ponies worrying over him, and a loving brother sitting across the room, eating a small waffle. He yawned greatly, stretching every muscle he knew he had, and a few that he didn't know he had stretched as well, happy that his wings were no longer in pain. Though he was still wrapped in bandages, his body no longer felt like it was torn apart, and he sighed in relief when he was able to get out of bed and not be limping around. As soon as his hooves hit the floor, Star shot out of bed and tackled him against the bed frame.

"You're up!" He exclaimed, burying his face within Blaze's chest, nuzzling him softly. "how do you feel?"

"Morning to you too, buddy." Blaze laughed, returning Star's hug, putting his head on top of his brother's. "And I feel great. No more pain, and I feel like I could race around the city all day!"

"Good." Was all Star said, leaving the two hugging in silence for several more seconds, before the little blue pegasus finally broke off. "What do you want for breakfast?"

"Just give me whatever, I'm not too hungry." Right as he said that, his stomach decided to argue, growling rather angrily at his attempts to deny his body what it needed. The brothers both looked down at it in surprise, Blaze more so than Star, who had a slightly smug look on his face. "Right. Well, then, I guess I am hungry, if he has anything to say about it. My original statement still stands, though, get me whatever; I'm not in the mood for anything in particular."

Star happily trotted out of the room, but his presence was soon replaced by the eldest resident pegasus, tolerated if not beloved by all. The grandmaster of all things under and above the clouds, ruler of the warehouse with an iron hoof, whose words are headed by few, respected by all. Whose ramblings are mostly unheard of ignored, for the addled minds of the elderly make little to no sense to the young and firm. He walked into the room like a king, looking over his young subject with concern and appraisal in his eyes, concerning himself with the welfare of his protégé.

"What's happening, old dude." Blaze nodded in his direction before sitting on his bed, ready for a talk while he waited for his surprise breakfast from his adoring little brother. The elder just sighed and shook his head, losing his image of an elder monarch, he closed the door behind him and moved himself to the center of the room.

"How do your wings feel?" He made it a habit to cut out the nonsense, useless short talk, an approach that Blaze found quite refreshing. His work required savvy thinking and talking, and sometimes it drained him, he much preferred straight answers and conversations, they were useful and convenient.

"Pretty good, actually." He replied, pulling his wings away from his body, though he couldn't open them just yet. "You mind if I take these bandages off?"

The nameless one casually walked over to him, lifting a wing with a hoof, he poked and prodded different parts of the bandages, with Blaze giving no response. After several pokes with his hoof, the elder repeated the process on his other wing, resulting in silence from Blaze. He rubbed a hoof against his chin, thinking about what he learned, Blaze just sat there letting the senile old pegasus do whatever a senile old pegasus will do in these situations.

"That's really strange, most of your wounds were small cuts, but they should have at least been sore." He stopped poking and took a step back. "I think we should take them off, just to check the wounds and see if they've scabbed over or even started to scar yet."

The process to remove the bandages took less than a minute, as Blaze was anxious to free his wings from the bonds. When his first was free, he immediately stretched it, some of the feathers sticking together, but freed themselves as fresh air passed through them. The elder paused after he had unwrapped it to star in wonder. No evidence remained that there was ever a wound, no scratches, no scabs, no scars; nothing.

"How?" He mumbled to himself after he had confirmed the facts that both wings had completely healed over, leaving nothing as much as a scar in their wake. "You had some bad cuts on this wing, but there is absolutely no evidence of injury."

Blaze let the elder back away before flapping his wings, reveling in the feeling of air flowing around his wings. He pumped them lightly a few times getting the blood flowing again, then hopped off his bed, just in time for Star to come in with a plate of waffles stacked with maple syrup. He floated over to his brother's bed and put the plate of breakfast on the table.

"Good news, buddy!" Blaze said cheerily, grabbing his brother and hugging him tightly. "I got my wings back!"

Star yipped, but hugged his brother after a moment. The elder just sighed in confusion and walked out of the room to do old pegasus things.

"Good. Now you need to eat. I got you waffles, and you're going to love them!" Star said, braking the embrace and pushing Blaze backwards towards the plate of food. "I know you're going to be gone for a long time today, so eat up, you never seem to eat whenever I'm not around."

"Look at you! I can almost see your ribs!" He exclaimed when Blaze had put up a hoof to combat that. Star shut him up by grabbing the plate and forcefully placing it in Blaze's hooves. "You're going to eat, and that's final."

Blaze just shook his head, muttering in defeat, and when he looked back at his brother, he saw in that little blue face a look of pure determination. His gaze dropped to the plate he was holding, and his nose reacted to the scent drifting up from the steaming pile of waffles. His stomach reacted next, rumbling and complaining about a lack of dinner from last night, putting it out there that the food was more than welcome. He wasted no time diving face-first into the waffles, syrup sticking around his muzzle as he went to town on his breakfast. He finished quickly, patting his bulging stomach with a sticky hoof that had wiped syrup from his mouth. He frowned at the fur that stuck together on his underbelly, then used a ridiculously unreal tongue to lick himself clean, basically cloaking himself with pink flesh.

When he had finished his impromptu bathing session, he was led out of the room by his younger brother, and into the strangely empty main hall. The fire pit reduced to slowly dying embers and ash, but the room was warmed by the early rising summer sun, which bled through one of the eastern windows, causing the plastered and wooden walls to glow slightly. It still bothered Blaze how much the group had accomplished in the little time they had, nopony could have done what they did fast enough. To him, the group had either become super-powered, capable of working with unimaginable speed, or they must have hired a group of workers or found volunteers; it was inconceivable that they did all the work. Star led him through the hall and into the kitchen, where he deposited the plate before turning around, facing his elder brother, his body sagging slightly.

"Don't you ever do that again! You hear me?!" He shouted, performing another body slam, pulling Blaze to the tiled kitchen floor. He managed to pin his Blaze's wings to the floor, holding him down with his hooves. "Why would you think that that was okay?! I could have lost you!"

Blaze took a moment to stare into Star's eyes, but his gaze was forcing its way down towards the floor in shame. He had acted quickly, maybe he didn't make the best choices, but he had to do what he did to keep Star safe. He would stick by that reasoning, even if Star didn't like it or agree with it. Blaze looked back up at his little blue brother, determination and love strengthening his resolve, he pulled his shoulders free of Star, and pulled him into a hug, before rolling over so that he now stood over him, smiling weakly.

"Star. I love you. Nopony is going to make me leave you. You are everything to me. I'm not going anywhere, and there is not a single thing in all of this world that can tear us apart." He ran a hoof down the side of Star's face, before pulling his chin up; "Nothing. You hear me? I will always be there for you, and you will always have me there for you. Celestia herself could try to tear us apart, I would force her to stop. Luna could try any dirty mind trick she has, and we will prevail. Discord could return, and I'd stop him, I would send him to the deepest cavern in Tartarus before he could take me from you. Star, I want you to repeat this: We will survive. We will stay together. Say it Star."

After Star had repeated it, Blaze let him up, but not before taking another long hug. When the two had separated, Star just walked away, a massive grin stuck plastered on his face; so very happy to get his brother invested in remaining at his side. He had been worried that something bad was coming; Star kept having these horrible nightmares of the two of them torn apart forever. He woke up late into the night regularly, often finding that Blaze had snuck out of the warehouse, probably to go on a walk. He understood these were difficult times, but there just seemed to be a blackness in the future, or at least he felt that way. Blaze was important to him, they were the only thing each other had; and the thought of being apart was more terrifying than anything else. Star had been scared when he first met Celestia, but he'd yell and scream at her if it meant his brother was with him. But when he knew that both of them were willing to take the same risks to remain together, well, he felt more reassured than when he thought Blaze had everything under control.

Blaze was happy, too, but he kept his smile to a reasonable size, not willing to partake in the revelry that Star was surely to do with Sweet Flower and Muffin; Muffin, such an odd name for a colt these days. Well, he had eaten and he also had a very long day ahead of him, what with all the shit the creed had him doing now that he had proven he could earn his keep. He had tried to prove his use, but it may have come off as too eager to show off; he didn't necessarily earn all the others' respect yet. There were a few that tried to understand him, most of those were at it for weaknesses though. Still, he proved to be a source of entertainment, and that meant he still got bits for it; even if he knew he was a joke to them behind his back. He would have to change that, somehow, he would change it. He's been busting his ass off for years, no need to stop now to boast. Work had to get done.

Blaze sighed inwardly, dark thought intruding on his happy mood, Star being happy meant he could be happy, maybe he could earn enough money to head away from this city, maybe Saddle Arabia, or head off to Trottingham or some other place, far from here. He wanted to get an honest job, one that would help them stay alive, and not take from others, that was the dream.

He refocused his thoughts, then went on out of the main hall, happily trotting his way towards the abandoned building that served as the creed's entrance; thinking all the while of how nice it felt to say those things to Star.


	5. 5 Great Fire-Pain

Chapter 5: The Great Fire-Pain

Blaze walked into the main chamber of the creed, still happy that Star was happy, and the few others that were still inside looked at him curiously. They had seen him satisfied before, maybe something like content, but he doubted they had ever seen him look happy. He just went straight past them and went to Al's desk, which was oddly placed in the center of a short corridor with a door on the other side. The corridor was open to the main hall, but the door led nowhere; literally. The door opened, but behind it was just a brick wall, when he knocked on the wall, it was solid: nothing behind it, not even empty air. The creed had used it as a sort of prank for newer members, one he had admittedly fallen for. He felt that the reason Al put his office in there is because he enjoyed rubbing it in new ponies' faces whenever they met with him, it did fit with the feeling Al gave off. Snarky, cruel, only slightly sadistic; fitting descriptions of the chief of the creed of thieves.

Blaze walked into the office hallway, and sauntered right up to the desk, silently waiting for Al to do his 'thing', where he'd look you over, make a comment about how you needed more food in you, or how he felt you needed more money to buy better clothes. He often just spoke to you to make you feel bad about yourself, complaining about this detail or that, smirking and noting how his clothes were much better and more stylish. Or he would comment how he managed to afford enough food to keep himself 'fit' though he had gained a bit of weight since Blaze had started, and it had only been a short time.

"Mornin'." Al spoke without looking up, he had a stack of papers on his desk, and hidden under the piles, Blaze knew that there would be a ledger book, where Al kept all the creed's exploits recorded. Al was currently occupying his attention by sifting through a stack of papers on his desk, but as Blaze took a stand near the desk, he finally looked up at the young recruit to the creed. "Heard about your little scuffle yesterday. Not bright."

Blaze wasn't even surprised Al would have known about that, the creed used the beggars as spies, eyes and ears all over the city. It made sense that they would have some contact or another in the Castle, it's just what they would do.

'One day. One day I'm going to understand what these ponies have done to build this group up.' He thought to himself, noting that he had nodded silently to the observation. He shrugged before deigning to reply.

"Bad luck. Scouted out the Castle a bit, though. Not sure if you have that done, but I know where the major places are." He mumbled the last part, doubting whether or not his contribution actually mattered; surely the creed would not have ignored the potential of stealing supplied from the Castle. It may have been dangerous, but there were a lot of valuables hidden away within that building. "Anyway, I'm here for work, doubt there will be much for me right now though. My work is spare, I get it; I'm the new guy, I haven't found my place."

"Actually, I have a task for you." Al said, rubbing his front hooves together. Blaze's ears perked up a little bit, wondering if he had earned enough respect yet to get more missions, rather than being sent outside and trying to find work for himself. Freelancing, or at least improvising, was not a strong skill he had acquired regarding larceny yet. But the prospect of finally getting working assignments tasted well for him, as it symbolized he was making steps towards stepping into the creed's good graces.

…

Blaze was _not_ happy with his assignments, not in the slightest. Oh, he really wanted to kick himself for being so naïve. He walked down to the sewage grate, dumping the contents of his rinse bucket into the mass of filth below. Not only had he built up his hopes, but he truly believed them, and he had thought that he was making progress: obvious mistake. What did he expect, that these hardened thieves who valued somepony who took care of themselves and were opportunistic scavengers, would dare to welcome him into the folds so easily? He had proven that he had the potential, but no doubt they would still be wary about him, he was still fresh on the scene, and had yet to prove his full talent in their business.

Now he found himself using a mop and a bucket of soapy water to clean the aged wooden floors around the warehouse. Of course, he would get this assignment, why would he not? The new guys did all the dirty work, all the nasty cleaning business nopony else was willing to do. He dropped a wet mop head onto the floor with a disgusting soaked plop, and renewed his efforts to get this chore over with. He supposed it could have been worse, he could have been sent to the latrines, or to clean something else, so it wasn't all that bad

"Sweet T." A common greeting now that he had become noticed by the elder members of the creed, something many of them muttered as they walked past him, grinning at the sight. He wondered just how many of them had to do this same thing when they were initiated, not that it really mattered, he was here now, doing this job. Who could have ever guessed, a young thief, whose skills lied not in larceny, but in mopping and sweeping.

He nodded back at any who dared acknowledged his presence.

The day had started good, and now he had to clean a massive, nasty, filthy warehouse, mopping and sweeping, moving and replacing, it was boring work. He doubted he would have even gotten anything out of this, other than earning his place among the others, but he knew that the latter was more of a long-term acceptance thing. Of how he dreaded the idea of staying here long enough to be accepted just through sheer determination and stubbornness. He didn't want to stay here in the capital longer than necessary, unless Star wanted to. It just wasn't that good of a place to stay in, but he doubted there would be many other places they could go to. That, and Star had started to make friends. Maybe this place wasn't going to be so bad, if they could avoid the Princesses' attention, then the brothers would be fine; and therein lies the problem, they were already under the Sisters' gaze, being potential objects of interest. That had bothered him a lot; they were interesting to the Princesses, yet they had little idea why. Well, he had little idea why, Star had no idea they were even under observation.

Was it wise to keep it that way, to keep Star in the dark? He would have to think about it at some point tonight before going to sleep, because if Star knew, then they may just have to leave, but they might not. His head was beginning to hurt, so he stopped mopping for a moment to grab a drink of water. Cider this early in the morning would cause problems.

'What a waste of a day.' He sullenly thought to himself as he walked home after cleaning that filthy building, satisfied that he had at least survived the day. He may have not been afraid of work, but he held no joy for intentionally covering himself in muck, he was positively covered in filth. He vowed that the first thing he would do when he got back was to take a very long and thorough shower. 'At least I won't be doing that again, not anytime soon.'

After a cold shower comprised of dumping well water over him via bucket, scrubbing himself clean with a bar of soap, he let himself be dried by a persistent blue pegasus brother. Being later in the afternoon, nearing the evening, Blaze accepted that he was not taking Star on a tour anytime soon. So he allowed himself the comfort of spending time with his little brother by learning about his friends. And that is where he soon found himself, chatting away with Sweet Flower and Muffin, with a happy Star sitting right up beside him, keeping his wing pleasantly warm.

The four spent the afternoon and some of the evening talking, as the community had noted the interaction and chose to not interrupt, instead offering them the peace of silence. Blaze was thankful for the thoughts, and was happy about the day's turn of events. He would ask a question to one of the foals, and they would answer. It helped him to get a sense of where his little brother was developing with these two, and he was not disappointed. Either they learned how to lie, or they had taken to his instructions with ease, as they avoided going out after dark. That and they were really getting along, as he had noticed by the genuine friendliness he saw within their eyes. He then knew that these would be good friends for Star to have, Muffin may have been a little on the shy side, but he was a loyal companion. Sweet Flower being on the opposite side, she had a lot of energy, enough to keep them all awake. She may have been a little oversimplifying sometimes, but he had yet to be proven that she was too narrow-minded. In the tales they had provided, and the information Star himself had passed on, she was rash, but she had a level head when needed.

A very long, and admittedly enjoyable conversation later, Blaze and Star were eating their evening meal in the kind and caring company of several community members, each relishing the hot stew that they could afford. Blaze and Star said nothing, cherishing each other's companionship sitting side by side, as the others spoke between themselves.

Blaze felt nothing but bliss at the turn of events; sure, he didn't have an honest job yet, but he was still young, and wasn't expected to enter the work force just yet. At least he had gotten a roof over them both, helping the community rebuild their lives in return for their kindness. It would help them find a place within the capitol, as he now understood that he couldn't just leave, Star had a life here now, and he would never tear that kind of happiness away from his younger sibling.

Blaze finished his stew rather quickly, welcoming the warm vegetables to heat his stomach, which was full and happy. Just as he set his bowl to the side to embrace Star in a hug, a familiar aged pegasus walked over and sat down on a pillow next to him, staring at the fire that was steadily eating a log within the confines of the iron bars.

"I hate to intrude, but I had a few things I wanted your opinion on, Blaze." He began slowly, his gaze not moving from the flames devouring the hunk of wood, while his words seemed slightly rough, as though he hadn't spoken much in some time. "First, and I believe I speak for the rest of the community on this matter, is that I would like to thank you for everything you've done. In just a few short weeks, you have given us all a reason to return to the world. Most of us had given up hope, believing that we were to be forgotten and abandoned. Thank you, Blaze Burn, for offering us another chance at life.

"Second, we need to discuss your contributions to this building at some point tomorrow, along with Scaled Equilibrium, whom you've only spoken with on occasion. We wanted to ask you if there was anything you desired of us, so I thought it would be wise to give you time to think about it. Don't reply now, like I said, we want you to think about it, after all that you have done, it only seems fair that we return the favor somehow. Anyways, I wanted to speak with you about the renovations; what do you think?" Blaze took the moment to glance around the room, observing the wooden walls and scrubbed clean walls with a critical eye. He nodded once, and the elder sighed at the approving gesture. "I hoped so, we know that privacy was never a huge concern amongst ourselves, but having you here to encourage us, we thought it would be nice for the younger ones to enjoy personal space."

Blaze tightened his wings around Star, who was also sitting there silently, listening to the conversation with a blank expression. He hoped that his younger brother would help him in making this place more of a home; he felt like he desperately lacked the skills to make this house a home, and Star had the heart.

"Oh, and Blaze, " Said pegasus looked his way: "I wanted to congratulate you on earning your cutie mark. I know it's a bit late, we have been just so busy, but it still stands, you figured out what your purpose is, and that is something important. Few things in life are nowadays, keep that in mind, as I have no idea what yours means, nor is it my business."

The elder rose to his full height speaking words of departure, excusing himself from the group and heading through the corridors, presumably, to his own room. When he was out of earshot, Star let out a breath that he had been holding, eyes traveling up to meet his brothers, before a massive grin spilt his face in half. "So, does this mean you are going to spend more time working on this place? If so, then does that mean we are going to be graced with your royal presence more?"

"Buddy, you know I ain't no royalty, I just get done what needs to get done. But yes, I think it is long overdue that I begin to rebuild any semblance of civility within this household." Blaze said with a firm nod, his gaze passing around the other occupants of the room. "I think there are a few more things to get done, as it is, and you got chores to complete mister."

"But . . . " Star began, his jaw opening to spew more words out, but Blaze just closed it with a hoof, chuckling the whole time, his mood slowly seeping into Star's, making the blue brother smile in return. "Fine. I'll get Muffin and Sweet Flower to help me!"

"Good, I know with all the hood-traffic we are going to get, these floors are going to need a good sweeping, and the replaced windows are going to need a dedicated caretaker. When those are done, I want a word with you, in private." Star nodded, his grin dropping just a hint, before he saw Blaze's facial features, his face returning to its previous appearance. The blue brother trotted off to speak with his friends, while Blaze returned his attention inwardly, to reflect upon where his life was going. What could he do to make this place better? Aside from the usual repairs and renovations, but he expected himself to do those anyways, as long as they helped the community, he would do it out of compassion towards the needy. So that brought him to his current predicament, what in Equestria could he possibly do to make this building a home for Star and himself?

Feeling anxious, he stood up, and promptly walked outside of the building, embracing the fresh summer evening air with a large breath. He held it in for several long moments, enjoying the freedom he had acquired, then released the air back into the world, feeling slightly more relaxed. He started slowly trotting down the street, allowing his hooves to take him where they pleased, while he contemplated how he was going to make this city the home Star deserved. As he thought it over, his eyes glazed over in concentration, his body slowly took him through the city, nearing the Castle. When he realized his destination, he briefly wondered why, but quickly resumed thinking, as his mind was heavily under duress.

'What to do? What to do?' His mind kept reeling over and over, flashes of ideas springing up instantly, but his conscious mind snapped them down almost as fast. Every single one seemed to reinforce the negative behavior he had accomplished lately, stealing from the rich, using that wealth to build himself an empire under the noses of their 'gracious' rulers Those thoughts whispered for him to rise above the creed, to take over and make himself the true _King_ of this city. Feeling slightly worried about thinking down this path, Blaze slammed a hoof through his forehead, restraining the unwelcome thoughts before they gained any purchase. 'Where in the hay did _that_ come from?'

Thinking about Star, he managed to regain control over his mind, again realizing his hooves had taken him somewhere slightly unsettling: The Castle Kitchens. He briefly wondered how he had even gotten inside the Castle to begin with, but then the thought was banished by the sound of hoofsteps approaching.

"I promise you, Princess, this will be the best cake you have had yet!" Interesting. One of the royals thoroughly enjoyed cake, enough for chefs to kiss up to them about it? "The idea came to me one day, as I was sitting in here thinking of ways to make her Highness even happier, and them, Bam! The idea surged forward. I have combined the excellences of your rulership, with your all great wisdom- "

Blaze reframed from smirking as he quickly dived into a cupboard for cover. "and brought those two together with your radiance into this edible delicacy."

Blaze held his breath as the baker was accompanies by one of the Sisters into the kitchen, oblivious to the unwelcomed guest hiding just behind them, within an awkward cupboard barely large enough to stay hidden in. If he moved at all, he would bump into something inconveniently placed, making a lot of noise, thus alerting the others to his presence; so he refrained from so much as breathing anything more than short gasps through his muzzle. He sat in the silence, listening as who he presumed to be Celestia, devoured said cake, surprised by just how fast the Princess could ingest a whole cake. He had but a glance at the thing, and it was not small by any measurement; how she would have eaten the cake that fast, she couldn't have swallowed, it baffled his mind.

"As excellent as always, you do indeed live up to your reputation." Ah, so it was Celestia. Of course: The Fat One, as put by several of the creed, he supposed it made sense that Celestia would have massive cakes baked just for her to eat. How she maintained any semblance of a non-spherical figure was completely beyond most of the ponies he had ever interacted with, though many shared their doubts in rather subtle ways. Opposed to others who just blatantly wondered in astonishment over the pure amount of food they had seen brought into the castle. Himself? Blaze just glared in disgust whenever he saw the shipments brought into the building, meaning that more and more food was being used for pointless pleasantries, while the clear majority of her citizens were slowly starving to death. Why would she not want to horde the best food for herself? Once a noble, always a selfish noble. He stopped himself from snorting in disgust as the conversation continued.

After some time for the chef to basically grovel over her _Highness's_ hooves, vowing to provide only the best of baked goods for one greedy monarch, the two left to do their separate tasks. The former to his personal chambers to work on some previous assignment, the latter to sit upon her throne and do nothing. Even in these days of trying, the rulers found ways to astound all, for him, it was their clear lack of work. At least Luna fought nightmares, sometimes, but what did Celestia do again? He honestly didn't care, he just sighed as he relieved himself from the cupboard, glad that that whole ordeal was over with. The last thing he needed was the Princess to know of his unwanted intrusion, so he quickly tried to remedy his location in the castle. But . . .

Who could resist the temptation to do some good for the whole, even when it may come at some risk to one's self? Blaze checked over his back, noting the saddlebags he wore, not registering when he had put them on, but mostly checking to make sure nopony was going to disturb him while he set to work relieving the Castle of some of its sugary bounty, stuffing as many cookies and pastries as he could into the bags on his back. When his bag could carry no more, he quietly removed himself from the kitchens, finding himself working his way through the corridors of the Castle, making his way for the servant's entrance. He had gotten half-way outside the Castle when a guard's cries from inside startled him into stopping. He cast a quick glance inside, and much to his dismay, spotted a guard rushing towards him.

"Intruder, halt!" As if he was going to stop for a guard, funny.

Blaze had his fill of annoying guards for the week, returning to the task at hoof, he shut the door behind him and took off over the unguarded section of the wall, near the richest sides bordering the wall. Presumably where guards felt like nopony was desperate enough to intrude. He leapt into the air, skimming the path on the wall before taking to the air again, only diving just over the rooftops. When he heard a guard behind him, he let his wings guide him down, through the maze of building, taking sharp twists and turns, hoping to lose the guard amongst the commoner ponies. He used his wings to deliver short bursts of speed in the stretches between corners, his wings would flare open, halting him enough to take the turns at dangerous speeds, before they would surge him forward enough to get going and repeat the process. Within ten minutes, he was certain that he had lost his pursuers.

When he was confident he had freed himself from their annoyances, he reached into the bags on his back, pulling out a cookie as he settled to walk the way back to the warehouse. The sun would be setting soon, so he had a little time to make his way back before he needed to be back. Might as well enjoy the temporary peace that was instilled after that rush of adrenaline.

Munching happily on the cookie, he took a moment to enjoy the quiet crowd of ponies also heading home for the night, while his thoughts returned to the musings of earlier. He knew he had to do something to make Star feel loved, but he also didn't want to force his brother into anything. As long as Star was happy, he could be happy, too. But that was the problem, as much as he loved him, he still had no idea what to do to make him truly happy. Spend more time with him, obviously. He was going to do that eventually, but he wanted to get himself and Star a proper education, and he would still need an honest job to earn his keep. He thought of what had made Star happy since they had arrived at the warehouse, and after a brief contemplation, he figured it out. Hopefully.

Star wanted to find a home, and that meant somewhere permanent, but Star needed more family than just him, while he loved that his brother relied on him, he also feared it. That meant that Star would struggle to form relationships with others, but now that he had begun to make friends, maybe he had finally gotten past the dependency. Friends. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew that Star had to branch out, for friends were the key to solving this problem. If they had solid relationships to keep them here, then they would have a sound reason to stay. A sound reason to be happy.

Blaze nodded to himself as he reached the warehouse, finding himself pleasantly surprised that his musings had taken long enough for him to contemplate this while he returned. At the door stood an anxious-looking Star, whose anxiety disappeared when he saw his favored brother returning home after an hour of disappearance. When he was within a respectable distance, Star chose to close the gap by charging forwards and wrapping his hooves around his dearly beloved brother, muttering coming through his muzzle unheard into Blaze's chest.

'Missed you too, buddy." Blaze chuckled, returning the gesture, though he had another cookie already pulled out of his bags in one hoof. He pulled apart from Star, the cookie held out in an offer of apology; "Cookie?"

Star raised his eyebrows at the cookie held between them, his eyes staring at the cookie as though it was some complex equation that needed to be solved. Eventually, his gaze returned to his brother, and his eyes spoke for them both, sparkling with happiness and joy, sprinkled with incredulity. "Seriously?"

"What?" Blaze asked in mock innocence as Star accepted the cookie and began munching on it. "Is it wrong to offer a cookie out of love?"

Star replied by shaking his head, finishing the cookie swiftly and pulling Blaze through the door and inside as the sun finally touched the mountains in the west. Inside, they were greeted by a mostly empty room, though one or two stragglers were still hoping to catch some warmth by the fire. One of said straggler was one that had Blaze more confused than anything before: Scaled Equilibrium. He really hated how his body was reacting to just the mere sight of her, his heart beat increased, and he felt his face warm just a few degrees. He considered where these feelings were coming from, before quickly shoving them down, trying to move past them, he had more important things to be worrying about at the moment. Like getting this weight off his back, mostly by offering the stragglers in the main room if they wanted any, then to proceed by dropping the rest off in the kitchen for anypony else to eat when they felt like it.

Still, he hesitated at the door, anxious to ask that mare if she wanted a sweet, sur it was late, but that wasn't the source of his hesitation.

'Damn it! Buck this damn gut wrenching nervousness! Just get it over with then leave!' He yelled to himself, slowly fighting the urge to stand there and stare at her, he tore his gaze down to the floor, while forcing himself to breath. 'Blaze, what is the matter with you?'

Star must have sensed the hesitation, because he turned around and faced him, concern clouding his normally happy features, and walked up to him. He placed a hoof on his brother's side, giving him a supportive, if concerned, smile. "Is everything alright?"

Blaze felt his nervousness fade away at the sight of Star, and he forced a smile onto his face, not wanted to have his little everything worried over himself. He nodded, wrapping a wing around him and nudging him with an elbow. They continued walking towards the remaining inside the building, stopping only for Blaze to ask if the others wanted any cookies or other sweets, and when they declined, the two continued into the kitchen.

"Everything is already better, buddy." He said happily, dropping the sweets onto the counter, sighing as the weight was taken off his back, relief spreading up his spine, his wings unconsciously flapping before returning to their original position at his sides. "There is nothing to worry about when I see you."

Star nodded happily, doing his best to suppress a yawn as he rested his head on Blaze's shoulder. "I love you, Blaze."

"Love you, too, buddy." Blaze whispered, watching as his brother's eyes slowly drooped lower and lower. Must have had just as busy of a day as he had. "Let's get you to bed. It has been quite the day, and you look like you are going to fall asleep at any moment. Come on."

Blaze led his brother back through the building, to their own room, before gently tucking Star underneath the covers, himself feeling the effects of a long day and an early start, still, he felt no urge to sleep just yet. He kissed Star on the head, watching in amazement as the blue bundle nodded off quickly, before quietly walking out of the room. He only felt winded, really, not quite exhausted, and felt no need to go to sleep. His mind occupied, he walked outside, and gently flapped his wings, pulling himself skyward; having had some time since his last true work-out. He started gently, slowly circling the warehouse, before he picked up speed, slowly expanding the circle until he had enclosed an entire city block within his route. He then decided to push himself a little further, pumping his wings and gaining altitude rapidly.

The sky was clear, not a cloud in the sky, so as he rose higher and higher, the stars seemingly indifferent to his attempts to reach them, he glanced at the world below. The struggling country that he hesitantly called his own, the country which held Star. He knew he could change it for the better, and for Star's sake, he had to. He was under that obligation to make this world as good as possible for the only one who could ever truly hold a spot in his heart. He slowed his wings to take in the sight, relishing in the beauty that only the stars could reveal, the blissful quiet of night, the dark peace that enveloped the world. He controlled his breathing, imagining just what he could do to preserve this moment, to keep this quiet resolve when he was faced with the tasks sent forward by the creed. This was where he belonged, as a pegasus, in the sky above the world, using his wings to help those that needed it. He should not have so readily taken to the idea of being a thief, regardless of the need at the time. If only their mother had not neglected her children, she could have been there for them all, and they could have been a family.

Blaze sighed, there was no point in dwelling on what could have been, not what should have been, there were things in the now that required his attention. Nodding at himself, he allowed his wings to lose air, gravity doing its duty to pull the air-born object back to the earth. The wind whipping into his ears, he let himself drop down, before his wings snapped open to resist the lure of the drop, and used his momentum to glide around the city, well enough above the city to remain hidden within the folds of shadow, despite his white coat. He observed the serene city, sleeping through the night, a long day over and resting through the calm of night. The night patrols below him were most likely scanning the streets below for trouble, while unaware of the trouble above them. Blaze chuckled to himself, embracing the fact that these guards had done so much to keep order, yet they were themselves forcing others to embrace chaos. He was briefly tempted to do something to remind them of who the true rulers of this city were, but decided the creed were likely to protest any resistance against the royalty and their subjects like that.

No, chaos would not be the best answer here, so he left the guards unhindered and gently flapped his wings, propelling himself around the city, following the despicable wall, crumbling and deteriorating against the ever-pushing Everfree forest. For but a moment, he wondered why the Sisters had chosen this site to be the home of their capitol city, as well as their home. This forest that completely surrounded them was a danger to everypony, as seen by the constant injuries from guards who pulled the unfortunate duty to patrol within the edges of the forest, which was resisting any civilized intrusion. Guards who had to tackle the beasts and monstrosities within.

Blaze permitted his gaze to wander over the black trees just outside the walls, hearing the howls of nocturnal predators, hunting their prey through the light of the moon. He saw nothing through the canopy, but he had no doubt as the danger posed through that forest, yet he was confident in the practicality of the guards, as Celestia had done nothing to prevent the forest's attacks. The guards, however, they had earned his respect. The city guards at least. The ones who actually did stuff to help.

Blaze had finished a single lap of the city, being careful as he flew above the Castle, being in its own little corner, he flew much higher, hiding himself against any watching sentries. But now, he was again gliding over the main body of the city, leaving the wall behind as he lazily flew around, observing the peaceful cityscape below. Giving his wings a chance to ready themselves for the coming trials he was about to force upon them. When he had reached the other side of the city, he turned and began flying over the wall in the opposite direction as last time, though at a higher altitude to accommodate his test.

Pumping himself again, he felt the wind rushing through his ears, blood coursing through his veins, he felt the joy of racing at speeds few dared go. He was so young, he knew, yet he had already proven that he was special, that he had the potential to destroy records, to use this power to build a life, that he had the _blood_ to make this city truly returned and resurrected from the destruction wrought by that abomination of chaos. He increased the rate of flapping his feathered essential limbs, rising higher into the air to avoid arousing suspicion from the guards on the walls and throughout the town, and felt the strain tighten. Had there been clouds in the sky, he was sure he would have been far above the, the air felt slightly thinner up here. His chest was heaving, the added difficulty of breathing making his movements harder. But he was a fighter, and he would not give up to something as insignificant as less air!

Giving himself just another few moments to rise higher, feeling like he would be able to reach up and touch the rising moon, he stopped resisting gravity. At the peak of his climb, he felt lighter, as if gravity itself was far below, attempting to grab him back before he broke away forever. Then, his wings felt the current change, and gravity, once again, reclaimed his body, tentatively pulling him down. He rotated his body in a lazy turn, from facing the stars peeking from the fading rainbow of colors in the sky, to facing the eastern horizon, before finally settling on the city far, _far_ below him. In a moment of brief stunned silence, not even the air daring to make a sound, Blaze appreciated the knowledge of just how high he had flown. Not even the Princesses dared to soar this high. He raised his gaze to inspect the horizons, noting that he could see miles in every direction, with nothing but unbroken forest in every direction. When he noticed the whipping of air in his ears, he returned his focus into the dive he was engaged in. So invested was he in this dive, that the air around him left thick stream-lines, following his wings as his body forced the air aside for its true master. He had fallen for a minute, yet the city seemed no larger than it had at the height of his ascent, adding to the wonder he felt at his achievement.

He tightened his wings to his body, relief blossoming in the reduced resistance from the wind, and yet, he felt apprehensive at the speed at which he was going, as if he would tea through the fabric of reality itself. When he focused on his height, he relished that the city was rather lazily growing in appearance, yet he knew he was miles above the city. He had made that connection when he felt a jolt as the energy in the air around him suddenly burst, and in a bright flash of light, he had broken some barrier he had unknowingly been resisting, and a loud crashing boom echoes throughout the area. The booming noise was rapidly proceeded by a burst of color, a rainbow halo bursting forth from where he was moments before, reaching out across the sky perpendicular to his flight path. The rainboom radiated outward, but what had his attention the most was the trail of white and blue that was following his movements, as if obeying his speed and mastery over the force of movement.

Now he noticed that the barrier holding him back was gone, as well as the drab preventing him from descending much faster. The city, briefly lit up by the rainboom, was approaching at an alarming rate, sparking fear momentarily within his chest, before he realized just who was master over this moment. He forced his wings to open, though the wind very much protested his efforts to control his descent, and he flared them enough to pry his direction from directly over the city, towards a clearing just to the north of the city, where the roads separated from the capital to several of the other pony settlements around.

He pulled himself into stable flight, losing massive amounts of speed as he tried to stabilize his altitude, grateful that his wings had extra strength in them. As he slowed, the trail following his remarkable feat died off, fading out of existence, only to be replaced by a squadron of pegasi chasing after the mysterious trail of color that suddenly erupted above the city.

He tried his best to look for a place where he could avoid the troops, but he knew, that with a clear sky, he had little chance of escape. So he just focused on controlling his breathing, having fought gravity like that, the force pulling his body around with that kind of momentum exhausted him. He stopped putting effort into flying, just allowing whatever energy he had to glide outside of the city, giving the anxious guards no reason to suspect mischief.

"Stop!" The leader of the guards called as soon as they noticed that it was a pegasus behind the eruption of color. He didn't obey, as he was still recovering from the shock of having pulled off what he was sure was a feat completely unheard of. He was sure his wings would be feeling this in the morning, yet he was not numb yet, which meant his muscles weren't totally ruined from the effort, so that was a good sign. Not so good was the squad of armored soldiers proceeding in circling around him, nervously staring uncomprehendingly at what was going on. "Come with us."

Blaze just nodded, weakly following the guards as they led him down through the empty night sky, though the city was beginning to wake up from the shockwave. The guards took him to a tower along to outer edges of the wall, where there would be a barracks and a temporary spot for him to be interrogated.

He really hated it sometimes when he was right. The guards had a small prison cell for emergency detainment of criminals. Luckily, he was just asked to take a seat at the wooden table in the main room of the tower, where the guard captain sat on the other end. The entire squad was visible confused and nervous at the same time, confused as to what to think about what had just happened.

"Start from the beginning, kid." The captain began harshly, though he was still visibly confused. "And before we get into just whatever the hay that was, why the Tartarus would you even be out at this time of night?"

"Alright, why I was flying." Blaze began slowly, taking a deep breath and trying to center his mind so he could come up with a good excuse. Wanting to make himself appear good in the eyes of the creed, he would have to show the late-night observers that he was willing to offer false information to authority. He had to take this opportunity to raise his view in the eyes of those who had the power to make his life in the capitol different. For better or for worse: that was entirely on how he could make them see him, if he could earn their trust, or reward himself their dislike of him. "Well, I was trying to get some fresh air, ya know, just wanted to feel the wind beneath my wings. Being out at night soothes this urge to fly, like, it is the best thing ever. If I am in the air, it just feels right. Then I thought I saw somethin' up there, and thought to myself; 'Eh, I am up here now, might as well investigate.' I figured that I could do some good for this city."

Blaze was conflicted now, he had not told complete lies until those last few sentences, and they tasted nasty. He had no problem twisting the truth a bit, but to flat out lie, it didn't feel right. Still, he had begun spinning this web, and to turn back would prove ruinous for his health; no turning back from this path, the only path lay in trying his best to earn the guards' favor enough to escape into the night. "I got up there, only to find nothing, until a big gust caught me by surprise, and then I began falling. I kept falling faster and faster, and I was spinning out of control, until a bright flash of light, and I was going really fast. I guess I was going fast enough for the current of air to right my flight, and I managed to fix my path."

"But we saw just how fast you were falling, and there is no way a normal pegasus should have been able to correct a descent like that. You are obviously hiding something from us, now what is it, kid? You know you can trust us, ain't nothin' bad going to happen to you, so long as you cooperate and give us the truth."

"Sorry, but I really have no clue what happened up there. All I know is that I was falling, and then there was this bright flash of light, then I was going straight down and I knew that bad things would happen to me if I didn't do something about it." Blaze felt the words flow out of his mouth faster than he could come up with any coherent story, yet he was glad that he was not lying, he truly had no clue as to what was going on. "I want to know what that was just as much as you do, but I just don't. Sorry."

He felt the tension ease off of the guards that were within the room with him, and he knew that his 'charm' was working, combining with his honest statements to work on the guards. His hopes were picking up at the motion of the guards gathering outside tower room, to discuss the events and the proper procedure to follow, as they had no idea what to do. Blaze sat there at the table for what felt like an eternity, though the sky hadn't event begun to move, so it was most likely closer to just a few minutes to wait, before the guard captain came back into the room. Blaze jumped up at the blank expression on the officer, though he was dreading what the response to the questioning would be. At last, his hopes were affirmed, as the guard opened the door, motioning for the young white pegasus to take his leave. However, just as he left the structure, wings unfolding in preparation to take off, the guard cleared his throat.

"When we deal with this whole situation, we will make sure to get back into contact with you. So, for the sake of making things easier, what is your name, kid?"

"Tea Sweetener." He said, pausing for a moment, trying to come up with a name to give the guards, as he had no idea whether the Sisters had handed out a warrant searching for one 'Blaze Burn.' He really hoped that neither of the Princesses had begun to seriously investigate him, but that hope was rather small, as Luna herself had shown great interest in him, well, greater interest than he had known her to show in any other. But still, he was hanging onto the hope that these guards would not have been provided any information on himself.

The guard nodded, allowing him to proceed and Blaze was more than happy to oblige. He had the feeling that the remainder of his workout was going to be cut short if the rest of the city had woken up to that thing he did. Some curiosity did linger, however, as to what exactly that was that he had performed; never before had he even remotely heard of anypony ever doing that. It was like a rainbow had boomed across the sky behind him, and the speed he felt! He had never imagined he could have gone that fast in his life, it truly felt like he had broken some kind of barrier, allowing himself to break the bonds he had been unaware he was shackled to.

He leapt into the air, pumping his revitalized wings as he gained the altitude needed to break away from the tower as quickly as possible. He was anxious to get home, but more so to get away from prying guards and unwanted questions. Though he really wanted to know what happened, he doubted going to royal guards, really guards in general, about it. He would ask some of the fliers in the creed about it when he saw them again, he knew there were a few pegasi within the folds, some of whom were decent with their wings. Yes, the creed was definitely the place to try to get information. But as of now, he had awoken most of the city with those moves of his, and he had better get back to his brother before any more guards attempt to investigate, or worse yet, one of the royals. Celestia was probably heading off to bed, if not asleep already, but Luna, well she seemed more than happy to interfere with the lives of the common folk.

'Eh. At least she shows more effort than the other.' He thought to himself disinterestedly as he let an updraft of warm air carry him farther into the heart of the city, nearing his home.

Blaze considered himself lucky, having reached the warehouse without further incident, until he opened the door and the populace within realized who he was. It took half a second before several connected some dots from somewhere, and rushed to his side. An incoherent mess of multiple voices trying to dominate the room for his attention, he felt his ears press firmly against the back of his skull, pain already beginning to blossom. His mind filled with relief, however, when the rescue came from none other than little ol' Star himself. The crowd parted like a tearing seem before the brothers, allowing the younger to approach unhindered to his elder.

"What is going on?" The voice, so full of innocence, barely withheld the tired yawn threatening to overtake him in his exhaustion. Blaze couldn't help it; a smile broke his features upon noticing the curiosity fighting for control from Star's obvious desire for sleep. His hair was frazzled, his eyes bleary, yet there was definitely a spark of interest behind the tired haze, and his muzzle parted for a gaping yawn. He continued slowly after that; "I heard a boom, then the window lit up behind the curtain."

Blaze closed the remaining distance between them, embracing his tired brother in a hug. "Nothing to worry about tonight, let's take you back to bed, then we can talk in the morning."

Star resisted briefly, before he had to stop to give another large yawn, and then he finally relented, allowing Blaze to pick him up and carry him back to the room. After Star had been properly re-tucked in, Blaze began to silently creep out of the room, no doubt in his mind as to the curiosity that would engulf the community as they began to think about what happened. He would have to quell rumors fast, before word started getting around that something happened, even though something did happen, he wanted to keep a lid on this as much as possible. He didn't mind the town talking about it, but few would be able to understand that it was he who was behind this to begin with, and he wanted to keep those who knew under oath. Or something at least. He just had to make sure they were silent.

Walking back out into the main room, he was greeted by a host of colorful questioning ponies, many of whom were visibly tired, and all had very confused looks on their faces. Blaze understood why, and he figured that honesty would be the best approach here, hoping he may get some answers from one or two of the pegasi here, though only one could potentially hold the answers he hoped for. He motioned for the group to gather 'round the fireplace, taking a seat himself, as he figured he would be bombarded with questions.

Thus, with that in mind, he slowly began to recite as to what had occurred after he left the building to perform a night-time training session. He held nothing back, though he decided to start his story from the point of his ascension over the city, thinking the actual training was irrelevant. When he explained just what had happened to cause the color explosion in the sky, he received an equal number of curious looks as proud ones. He figured they would be somewhat impressed that one of their own had achieved something unheard of, while many of the ground-based ponies would be completely confused.

"Old dude, " He turned to the eldest male pegasus in the building, a small smirk on both their faces at the remark. He let the smirk die off before he continued, facing the group of residents, addressing the crowd: "I have something to tell you all about that rainbow explosion earlier, and a few questions as well."

He walked over to the seat offered to him, and sat down in preparation for a long night, if he understood the interest that this new family had for gossip-worthy events. He settled in then began; "I guess you should know everything, so I think I'll start with where I went after I left earlier. I have this thing that I do, where I exercise my wings at night, sometimes it is just flying over the neighborhood, others I will go around the city once or twice. It lets me stretch my wings, as well as helps me focus on things I need to think over. Well, tonight was one of those nights that I decide to go for a workout, and I happened to be flying around the city walls this time. Well, just a short time into my flight, I decided to fly really high up, incredibly so. I was surprised by just how high up I had gotten, and that explosion was the result of me falling back down. Old dude, you know anything about that? Somepony going that fast as to cause something of the like?"

The elder thought about it for a moment, then shook his head, inciting Blaze to sigh before turning back to the rest of the gathered community. "If any guards show up, please tell them that I am not here, I may or may not have aggravated the royal Princess Celestia over some unknown interest. It may be best for you all to ignore the guards as much as possible as well, I would hate for any of you to get into trouble for me, and I don't want any of you to have a run-in with some guards over finding me. If you need to, tell them where I am at, and I will try to deal with them, just hide Star if they come for me."

"Sorry, sonny." Scaled Equilibrium walked up to the front of the group, the gathered ponies separating to give her a path to the center. "We can't just let you take all the heat for somethin', regardless of who comes for ya. We will stand behind you for any reason, even if Celestia herself shows up, well, we will certainly try."

The crowd nodded in confirmation, some chuckling at the idea of Celestia prying their defenses apart. Blaze just nodded, and attempted to thank her and them all for their loyalty, but she beat him to the point. "Don't be trying to make excuses either, you have done so much for us here. I know it has been said a hundred times, but I could say it again, we have to repay you for the kindness you have shown us here. You are one of us, and you taught us to treat our own with respect and care, so we are going to help ya protect Star and yourself, no matter what."

Blaze just smiled, happy that he had done so much, but extremely grateful that he had some ponies who would back him, at least to protect his little brother. He doubted they would fight much if the royal guards came knocking, or even either Sister themselves, these ponies were just not fighters. Still he had a feeling this was a family worthy of being one of, and he would continue to help them grow, and to help protect them from the difficult times ahead. He smiled warmly, thanking the group for the support, and attempted to get up before a barrage of question from some of the other pegasi about his 'awesome explosion' forced him to sit back down and quell the masses. He did his best to answer the questions, asking for help from the Nameless whenever he was unsure about the answers himself. Even with two head, there were still many an unanswered question that night: What was it? How does one achieve it again? What does it mean now? Among many others, several Blaze himself asked.

Late into the night, Blaze finally found the break he was starting to need, though his wings felt great, the rest of his body was aching and needed to rest. He managed to excuse himself from the group, although several others decided that they were ready to rest as well, and the entire group fell apart as ponies went to bed, the mass of bodies fading into the shadows as they parted down the halls between the temporary room.

Blaze silently opened his door, and carefully made his way across the room, trying to not wake his little brother. He breathed a sigh of relief when Star didn't indicate any waking, and he crawled into bed, a groan escaping his lips as he slid under the covers and curled around his pillow. Shortly later, as his mind whirled from the last several days, he felt a brush of air, before Star landed softly on his side, hugging his bother tightly and settling into sleep. Blaze nuzzled his little brother, embracing the bundle of fur and listening in the silent darkness as Star drifted to sleep.

Sleep worked its way into his tired mind while he lay there trudging through memories of the interesting things that had happened of late. That night, nothing but peaceful dreams of him and his brother enjoying themselves invaded his slumbering thoughts, a night of peace and happiness after a day of adventure and stress.

Blaze woke to the gentle stirring of a blue pegasus beside him, who was mumbling in his sleep about cake. Blaze withheld a chuckle, and settled on a smile spreading over his face, watching the little brother in his sleep, no doubt enjoying all the sugary treats in the world. He felt like he had slept on a cloud, and carefully pried himself out of Star's vice-like grip, before gently picking him up. He used his wings to float them both over to Star's bed, and wrapped Star under his own blanket, making sure to keep Star asleep. Why ruin a perfectly good dream, when one can be gentle and encourage it? Satisfied that he had done a good deed for today, Blaze walked out of the room, silently closing the door behind him, and walked down through the halls and into the kitchen. He was greeted by an empty room, which surprised him, as he thought the warehouse was occupied at all times in all corners by at least one pony.

Shrugging, he decided not to dwell on it too much and went to the cupboard to grab himself something before he headed out for the day. He would probably be taking something or scamming somepony today, so might as well get as much food in him while he could. He searched through everything, and settled on eating an apple, or three, two boiled eggs, and three pancakes from the cooler. Feeling sated for the time being, he happily left the kitchen and trotted into the main room, which he found had soon been populated by a single earth pony, the one and only, Scaled Equilibrium, who was tending to the slowly growing fire.

Without turning around, she motioned for him to take a seat, tossing a small log into the flames to be devoured. He decided against rebelling, and sat down to her left, watching with a questioning look to his face, wondering just what she wanted from him.

"I think it was strange for you mother to name you after this." She waved a hoof at the growing flames, finally turning to face the pegasus. "Not that I'm complaining, the reference fits you well, you have a lot in common with this fire right here. Both provided warmth, have the energy to shine brightly, yet the potential to rage into an inferno. When handled carefully, you both are sources of heat and life, yet when left unchecked, can burn everything down. I may not have the common magic the unicorns do, but I can sense the power within you, and I dare say that it is a power that has caught the attention of many others as well."

" . . .Okay." Blaze was still a little confused as to what she was implying, yeah, he had somehow garnered the attention of the Sisters, but what was she talking about regarding power? Was she mentioning the supposed blood that he had within him, that the Sisters suspected held his worth for attention? She laughed when she saw the look of pure confusion on his face.

"Don't look so baffled, sonny, you know what I am speaking of. I am not the first to approach you, nor will I be the last, about the power that resonates within your blood, a gift from your ancestors, power unavailable to either Princess." She smiled, inciting a warm flare from within Blaze's chest, which in turn caused him to frown. That reaction created another laugh from the purple earth pony, her jade eyes teared up as she got her amusement out of her system. Wiping away a tear, she took a deep breath and returned her attention to the now bright red-face Blaze, his face living up to his namesake. She only smiled while he had his gaze firmly fixed on the fire in front of him. "Don't fret much Blaze. You will learn many things, and while many powers you learn will be unique in regards to your wings, a great few will not be exclusive to you alone. You are coming of age, and will walk down this path that all walk down. Do not worry, it is natural, and you will learn to control yourself, as well as your emotions, as all do."

At the first hint of a lecture regarding the topics which only adults seemed invested in, Blaze felt his wings shoot open. Fearing traveling down this particular conversation with her, he babbled some nonsense about needing to leave and excused himself from the building entirely, hoping the speed he was flying down the streets was fast enough to cool off his cheeks. He reached the creed headquarters in no time flat, landing roughly near the broken door that served as the entrance, recovering and swiftly emerging into the headquarters proper.

Al was sitting at his desk, once again pouring over reports from the various members working around the city. Blaze waited patiently, knowing he would be assigned something today, and he was grateful that he had avoided that terrible conversation he was bound to have. He shuddered inwardly just thinking about it again, returning his attention to the present. Al looked up from the ledgers beneath him, and frowned briefly, before a smile took over his features again, bordering a maniacal grin.

"Well, good morning there, kid. Wasn't expecting you to be here this early, it's what, barely dawn." He closed several of the books he had been writing in, and his grin only increased in size. Blaze felt only a mild discomfort in his stomach at the look he was receiving from this unicorn. "Nothing here for you to do yet, as most of the shopkeepers are closed until later. But you already know this, so I'll get to the point, how can I help you?"

Blaze sat there for a moment, thinking about what he could do in the meantime, he hadn't really thought this through, and was kind of just improvising to get away from the community. He shrugged, "Just wondering if I was heading out to obtain anything today. Now that I got my answer, I'll see what I can do around here until it is time to head out."

Al just nodded, his grin vanishing as the serious attitude of business demanded his attention, and Blaze let himself out of the hallway that was Al's office. There were exactly two other members in the mess hall, done drinking away their troubles while the other tended the bar. Blaze walked up to the counter, requested a glass of water, and prepared for a long day of scamming and manipulating. The early dawn light bled through the stained-glass windows, bathing the room in a warm golden light, and Blaze took that as his que to head on out and begin his day.

Outside, the late summer air was brisk in the morning, but not that intolerable, and he inhaled deeply, relishing in the fact that life was getting better and better. Sure, he had to worry about the Princesses, but that would be foal's play, all he had to do was avoid the guards and keep his wings low. No more high flying at night, that explosion was bad news for him, and he considered himself lucky, though he wondered just when the Princesses would begin asking questions about it. Thinking it over, he was surprised that Al hadn't mentioned it, though it was probably too early for the unicorn to care. He expected that the creed would be asking him just what had happened before too long, they always had the best information.

"Now, time to find out who is new to the city and who has the wealth and need to share." He mumbled to himself as he began the process of snooping out who was where in the capitol. He would begin by talking to some of the contacts he had been introduced to, those who helped the new guys along, though he knew if he kept up, he would learn just where to go to for the useful information. The young among the creed always get fed the least, they had to prove they were worth the effort and the trust, and once you did. . .

Blaze was really anxious to earn these ponies trust, as they had the resources to have the entire kingdom under their control, all they needed was the incentive. They had contacts everywhere, though figuring out who was a contact would not be easy, he knew that much. He shook his head, feeling himself get off topic within his thoughts, he had arrived at the market, and he had work to do. 'Let's begin by finding that stubborn fool of a market guards' keeper. He let me in the fat-ass that gave me his cart that day.'

And by midday, Blaze had acquired not only a locked chest, but also the keys to a warehouse within the industrial zone, rumored to contain raw materials that could fetch a nice price. Yet, by early evening, he had creed agents move the chest, and had one of the lower-end accountants check into the warehouse. All in all, he felt like he had accomplished a good bit of work, and would be appreciated, if silently, by those in the creed. He was feeling good, all he had to do, was take tomorrow off, then take Star on a tour of the city. Yes, it was slightly dangerous to be walking the streets after the recent events, and yes it may not be the wisest choice to take Star along during such a time, but he had made a promise to his brother. A promise he intended to keep, and with the muscle he was building during his flights and training, he would be able to hold off anypony who dared to hurt Star. He would be there to protect him, so they would have a fine time during their trip out. All he had left to do was head home, get some food in him, sleep through the night, and fulfill that promise to Star while having a great time.

Bonding would be difficult to make time for, and he needed every chance he could get. He had seen a public school during his trip to the warehouse, and had been reminded that Star was getting close to the age to begin his education. Sure, he may not have received a proper one, but Star deserved better, and he had to make the bits to pay for school anyhow, so Star gets his education, and he can work while his little blue brother is learning. Win-win.

The day was finished, having made little progress in the thieving department, as many merchants were unwilling to do business that day. It seemed that many were preoccupied with other duties, in fact, most of the market seemed dead that day, much to his disappointment. So he returned to the creed reported what he had to say, then took his leave, although it was odd that much of the trade had stopped for the day, not all, but much of it. He wasn't the only one to notice the lack of commerce, and Al seemed troubled by the energy among the merchants. It was something to be handled another day.

The end of the work day for him was nigh upon him, and he had done the best he could with what he was given, so he couldn't feel too bad about it. Star was at home waiting on him, and he had a day to make up with his little brother. With that in mind, he put a smile on his face and began flying over the streets towards the warehouse.

Walking in the front door, he was blasted by the scent of potato stew cooking in kitchen, and the fire from earlier was brought to life and burning greedily. Most of the community was around it, talking amongst themselves while they waited for the evening meal to be served. The sun was well into its descent towards the western horizon, making a last effort to scorch the land below in the late evening heat. Inside, however, the unicorns had worked their magic to provide some cool air that was refreshing after flying in the sun.

"Evenin' sonny." The nameless pegasus greeted Blaze as he walked up to the fire pit. The latter nodded his own greeting, and looked around the room, the adults had taken to discussing the recent events regarding the difficulties with the harvest, while the foals played around with new toys. It made him feel better, knowing that he had done much to help this small community return to health, revitalized and happy again. "Busy day, I presume?"

"Eh. Not that much activity among the traders. Nopony had a lot of work today." The white pegasus shrugged, taking a seat on the ground next to the eldest. "Honestly, though, I won't complain. It was hot as Tartarus outside today, I think Celestia may have been punishing us for some reason or another. Either that or she developed a bucked-up sense of humor and wanted to see us suffer."

"Don't put too much thought into it. I'm sure the Princess has her reasons."

"Don't put too much faith into her. What does she even do all day as it is? We struggle to bring in the food, to rebuild our homes and our lives, yet all we ever see her do is sit on her throne, or be carried about by her guards. Aside from raising the sun, what purpose does she serve?"

"Sonny, look." The elder turned his gaze from the fire to stare at the young pegasus before him. "We try not to question her too much, okay? She is powerful, and because of that, she protects us from other dangers outside of this country. Things like dragons and other monsters within the forest. She helps to keep us safe so we can rebuild our lives, have a little faith in her, because we are all sure she is doing the best she can."

Blaze just grunted in return, glancing to where several of the foals have grouped together to play a big game. Sweet Flower and Muffin were there, but lacking was a certain blue pegasus he had hoped to find with his friends. He looked around the room, but Star wasn't present either, and he was mildly concerned, before figuring he was just in their room. Star worked a lot around the building, so he was probably resting, and will be out in time for food, no reason to get worked up. Still, Blaze had a strange feeling in his gut, and he was wondering why Star hadn't come out to greet him. Perhaps he was just angry at something, and was sulking in the room, or maybe he was sleeping, lazing about before his meal.

'Might as well check up on him. No reason to stay around here and get caught up in conversation. Maybe get something to drink while I'm up and about.' He shrugged after his decision, and stood up. Walking into the kitchen, he was greeted by a couple of the of the other pegasi within, a little filly and her mother. He nodded in their direction before reaching into the cooler and grabbing the jug of milk they kept. He poured himself a glass, and swiftly downed its contents, wiping the white liquid from his lips, he returned the jug to the cooler, and placed the glass in the sink, rinsing with cool water.

Just as quickly as he had entered the kitchen, he had left and was walking towards the room they shared. When he heard nothing coming from inside, he opened the door, and walked in, noting the lack of a little brother with slight concern. 'Alright, he is obviously outside, and will be coming back inside soon. Yeah, though why he would go outside without his friends is beyond me.'

Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach, he walked back into the main room, trying to hold a conversation with some of the others. He smiled and nodded, though his mind was preoccupied with when Star was going to come home. He wanted to tell him they were going to explore the city tomorrow, and he was anxious to see the face Star would make at hearing of another day together so soon. Though it may be the only one for some time, as Al had made it apparent that he wanted to include Blaze on several more high-priority missions, to get his 'wings wet.' Blaze felt indifferent to the type of missions, though he was happy that he was starting to get real assignments, and not just 'take what you can get.'

After a short while, a bell rung from the kitchen, signaling that the food was ready, and the mass of bodies made their way into the small room to get a bowl of mediocre stew. Blaze wasn't one to complain about the efforts of others, so he hid his lack of enthusiasm at bland stew made with few ingredients. He understood that few recipes were available, as there was little food to work with, so he wouldn't judge. He just wished they weren't in a time that had this much suffering, why couldn't they exist when food was aplenty and starving wasn't common and obvious? Why did they have to suffer through this?

Blaze walked up to the pot, grateful for food even if he wasn't a fan of the lack of flavor, and waited for the bowl of grey sludge. It smelled good, that was a plus. He smiled in thanks to the cook, who returned the gesture. Walking back outside to the main room, he greeted Star's two friends with another smile before taking his previous place next to the fire pit. Sweet Flower and Muffin soon joined him, flanking his sides as they began to devour their food, while he took a more sedated pace. He had no desire to choke on stew, whereas these two were content to race to the finish line.

Before he had gotten halfway through his food, they had both finished, one with an audible belch at the end. He just shook his head, part disgust and part entertainment. The two foals sat in silence while they waited for him to finish his food, as others began to fill in the space around him.

"So . . ." Muffin began in his usual quiet voice, always looking terrified of the world around him. Blaze couldn't really find fault there; this world was unkind to those who had rough starts. "Where did Star go off to? We figured you had some chores for him to do, but we haven't seen him all day."

Blaze sat there for a moment, wondering just what this colt was asking him, before it all sank in, and that feeling in his stomach returned. He sounded incredulous for a moment, but he needed clarification: "You mean to tell me Star has been gone all day?"

Muffin shrank back from Blaze's widening eyes, his own gaze dropping to the floor between his front hooves as he scooted back from the white pegasus. Sweet Flower took the opportunity to distract him from the horribly terrified earth pony colt, clearing her throat to get his attention, and slowly nodding when he looked her way. Blaze sat there for a moment, eyes unfocused as he thought about just where Star could have gone, or what trouble he could have gotten into. After a small nudge from the filly, he returned his attention to her, and she pointed to the door, saying: "We saw him leave, but he never said a word, that was about an hour or two after you left. He had dropped a paper note on his way out, but all that it said was some nonsense about the sun and moon."

Blaze narrowed his eyes, trying to understand what she was talking about, then she pulled out the scrap note, and showed it to him.

 _Under the brightest of days, within the folds or darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever._

'What. The. Buck?' Blaze read it then reread it and read it yet again. "What the hay does this mean?"

"We have no idea. We asked everypony here, but we can't find anypony who knows anything about it." Muffin pitched in, his voice squeaky and high pitched, nearly grating to the ears. Blaze turned to look at some of the ponies in the group around him, and they all nodded in confirmation, solidifying the sinking feeling in his gut.

Blaze stood up, the bowl at his hooves being knocked aside carelessly as he launched himself into the air and towards the door. When the group called for him to stop, he heeded not their words, bursting through the doors and into the glaring heat of the late evening. By now, the sun was approaching the horizon, casting the sky bright orange and contrasted with a deep pink and violet. He didn't waste time staring at the setting sun, nor did he focus on the surprised ponies who witnessed him shoot out of the warehouse. He fired straight into the air, trying to locate his little brother, the first place he thought to search was the small park he had sent Star to not that long ago. Soaring over the park in seconds, he discovered, much to his dismay, that Star was severely lacking at that location. After that, he thought to check the market, which also held a lacking of the blue pegasus.

Dread beginning to rise up, he flew over streets themselves, hoping to find his little brother by chance, covering as many streets as quickly as he could. An hour into flying over the city, and when he still couldn't find Star, he began to truly panic. After two hours, he returned to the warehouse to check a see if Star had returned: he hadn't. The sun had set, but with enough light for Blaze to see clearly, he pushed forward, continuing the search. He had flown over the entire city, and with no sight of Star, he decided to take another go at the streets, flying as fast as he could but still slow enough to scan the dispersing crowds.

The light in the sky was beginning to fade, and when Star still hadn't shown up, he was in complete panic mode. He had been flying for close to five hours nonstop, and his wings were beginning to burn, yet he was not giving up until he had found Star. And when he did, he knew he was going to give that colt the lecture of his life, after a well needed crushing hug, of course.

The moon had already risen before Blaze knew it, as he had searched and researched every street in the capitol, flying everywhere. Twice had he run into patrols, who asked why he was flying like a he was crazy, both times he had explained what was happening, they offered to assist in the search. When the guards couldn't help, he had nearly given up hope, but stubbornly refused to give up until he had found Star. After the moon had been in control of the sky for two hours, he had been forced to rest, his wings burning as if on fire. He stopped at the warehouse to report what he had learned, being not a single pony had seen nor heard from Star. Similar results were had across the room.

He gladly inhaled the water glass offered to him, downing the drink offered in two gulps, relieving his parched throat, which had been yelling for his brother for hours now. His wings were recovering fast, but he was still anxious to get back into the air, in the search for Star. He was terrified of what today would mean for him, and he suspected he would need the creed behind him if he wanted to get anything done.

"Blaze, you need a break." The nameless pegasus stated matter-of-factly, placing a hoof on his shoulder to calm him down. "We can pick this up in the morning, but you are exhausted, and you have been at this for hours now. The sooner you rest, the better you will feel to keep this up tomorrow, we will have some ponies helping throughout the night, but you can't do this all by yourself, you will break."

Blaze shook his head, chest still heaving from the exertion of flying for hours on end, his body felt numb, now that he had a chance to catch his breath, his body reminded him of the effort he had put into this search. But he needed to remain firm, Star needed him to continue, and he would not give up because of a little discomfort. He stated as much to the elder, who shook his head in disapproval.

"Sonny, we will find your little brother. Star is as much family as you are, and we will take care of our family, trust me on this; Star will be found, but he wouldn't want you destroying your body to do so. Work with us here, because we can get more done if you don't break yourself by working alone." He pulled Blaze into a hug, which came as another shock, seeing as how this pegasus never really touched others other than the bare necessities of contact. He had never hugged others, at least, as far as Blaze knew he didn't. "When we find Star, you can tell him all you want about today, but don't keep beating yourself up over this. Yes, it is bad, but Star can take care of himself for a day, he's got your blood in him, he is a fighter. He will be fine tonight, and he will be fine tomorrow, but we need you right as rain for tomorrow, which means resting tonight. No amount of arguing will help you here, just head off to bed, and we can continue tomorrow."

Blaze just sighed in response, and the elder let him go. Blaze looked around the room for a moment, seeing the tires and concerned faces of those he called family, and decided that he would do with the rest. They needed him, and he needed Star, but he would need the sleep if he ever truly wanted to find him. He nodded to himself and slowly walked back down the dark hallways to his room, opening the door and half hoping to see Star in there, complaining about how late he is. When he found the room empty, he felt the fear and guilt swell up within his chest. If only had decided to stay home that day, Star would've been safe. If he had done more to protect and love Star, then maybe his brother would still be there with them. He couldn't help but feel the horrible tightening clench within his stomach, something bad was going to happen, and he was powerless to stop it. Star might just be gone forever, and he had not been there to save him.

Blaze didn't even bother with the blanket, it was far too hot to sleep comfortably under the covers with as hot as it was. He just rolled onto the bed and tried to ease his racing mind, which he was failing at miserably.

After several minutes of lying in bed with a racing mind, he groaned loudly, burying his face into his pillow. His mind wouldn't stop thinking about the day, and he knew it wouldn't stop anytime soon, but he knew he would need the sleep. He took a deep breath, holding it for a long moment, then slowly let it out. He repeated the process several times, inhale through his nose, exhale out the mouth, slowly calming his nerves. He had heard that meditation helps ease the mind, but had never had the time to practice, now seemed as good a time as any. He kept his eyes closed, trying to focus just on his breathing, in, hold for two seconds, then out. In. Hold. Out. He lost track of time, but he doubted it was any significant period, as his body still felt tight, but he managed to calm his nerves enough for his thought process to slow down enough to concentrate in the moment. Considering this a success, he repositioned his body back to its original place on the bed and attempted to sleep.

Though uncomfortable and truly alone, he managed to focus solely on the darkness of the room enough to fall asleep, though he wouldn't want to remember any dreams from now on, as he was sure he was going to have night terror after night terror. Still he managed to keep rogue thoughts adrift long enough to fall into the fickle embrace of sleep.

 _Author's Note: Sorry about the huge delay, still trying to manage this college ordeal, but things should settle down now._


	6. 6 Phantom Embers

Chapter 6: Phantom Embers

 _Amidst the smoldering ruins of the Castle, he sees the Nightmare herself rise above the pillars of smoke, blue beams of magic searing downward in intense anger. Blaze feel the heat of her magic searing into his cloak, even though he is aware of the distance from himself and the Castle._

 _Nightmare rises far above the Castle, preparing another blast of magic, her blue aura encasing her in a protective shell. Just as the blast comes down, a golden light burst forth, encircling around the beam and flew straight into Nightmare. Celestia rushed around Nightmare's defenses and attached herself to who used to be her sister. He watched in horror as the blue and black mare pried herself free, sending her elder sister cascading down into the ruined castle._

 _He tried to hurry to her side, to stop this separation between the two, but his wings refused to follow his commands. He wouldn't give in, so he tried to run his way to the Castle, but a sudden shower of stone from a collapsing tower cause him to halt. The stone blocking his path, he pushed his armored body over the wall, but he knew he wouldn't make it, the sounds of the Sisterly feud roaring just beyond. Leaping from stone block to stone block, he climbed his way over the ruined tower, wings still useless. When he reached the top, he witnessed a sight that he had feared would happen: Nightmare and Celestia began a duel. Nightmare had the height, blue magic blasting down against Celestia's golden beam of energy, but the latter's magic was slowly being pushed back. The two beams clashed, brightly lighting the eclipsed sky, but the blue was forcing its way downward, closing the gap towards Celestia._

 _When the blue magic finally reached its target, a blast of magic erupted over the battlefield, and a gust of wind forced Blaze's wings open. Before he could react, that same blast ripped him into the sky, holding him there._

' _One day, the shadows will surround me.' He thought as he tried to fight the force of magic holding him in the sky, away from the terror below. 'But some day, the days will come to end.'_

' _I watched but never really listened.' Using a burst of his own magic's strength, his wings surged forward enough for him to dive below and land on the roof of a flat tower, near where the sisters had battled. He was hit by a downdraft of pure energy, the impact of Celestia soaring through the same roof he was on, a trial of smoke following her. 'As the whole world passed me by.'_

' _And now I see clearly.' He leapt through the gaping hole in the Castle, and saw a sorrowful Celestia staring at her sister, fear and determination battling for domination of her feature. 'All these times, I simply stepped aside.'_

" _I apologize. Sister, I truly apologize." She sighed as the fear took over, but a glance to her side, she looked right at him, though she showed no hint of recognition towards her faithful soldier being held down by the forces of their battle. Instead, her gaze seemed drawn to something behind him. "I should have understood what was wrong and what was right. Oh sister, I apologize."_

 _Just as she whispered that last sentence, Nightmare herself slammed through the open cleft in the wall, glaring in hatred as she descended upon her elder sister. Celestia teleported above her sister, six glowing stones floating around her, face solemn as she prepared to do something she knew she would regret. Blaze stood there in utter confusion, those stones looked like the Elements of Harmony, but he had never truly seen them. Even if they were, he didn't think they could be used against Luna like this. Sure, he knew they had used the Elements against Discord, but surely Celestia wouldn't use them to turn her own sister to stone!_

 _Nightmare slammed her hooves into the ground where her elder lay just a moment before, then whipped her head around, eyes glaring daggers. When she saw the stones, she barked out a dark laugh, charging her horn for another blast. "Do you truly think those stones will stop Me?"_

 _Celestia didn't reply in words, but her answer came in the stones circling faster and faster around her, soon traveling as a solid band of colors around the Princess of the Sun. Nightmare leapt into the air, horn firing another beam of blue magic, which diffused harmlessly against the circle of color. Just before the two met, the stones burst forth, a bubble of light flowing from the central stone above Celestia's head, and crashed into Nightmare. The wave went right through her, but she reacted as if slamming against a wall, being thrown back, yet before she could even hit the floor beneath her, she began to fade._

 _Soon, her essence floated above the ruined castle, and soared through the sky, imprinting itself onto the face of the moon, the mare's head in shadow within the circle of the now-descending moon._

 _Blaze returned his attention to the landing Celestia, who had a look of pure grief on her face, the realization of what had happened sinking in. As he got up to comfort her, the stones crumbled to the floor, their magic spent, and she burst into tears. He stopped short of reaching her, the sound of her sorrow clanging loudly against the ruined building, and felt himself lifted by another forceful wind. This one pushed him_ through _the princess, and as he passed her he felt numb. When he turned to face her again, the tears had gone, and it was day once more._

" _One day, I'll face the hell inside me." She said in a somber tone, staring at the setting sun, preparing to perform the royal duties of both sisters herself. "For now, I'll accept what I have done. I apologize. Sister, I so apologize."_

 _Blaze felt his mind rush with information, before the wind died down, and the world shimmered before collapsing into bright colors, then nothing but blackness. He felt his hooves hit the ground, though he saw nothing beneath him, staggering to get his hooves under him, he noticed he had lost the cloak, and felt significantly smaller than he had just moments before. The sound of something dropped to the ground from behind him caused him to do an immediate spin, crouching low in preparation to fight. His wide eyes were evenly matched by the Princess of the Night's own saucer-like stare, before he remembered what he had just seen._

" _Princess Luna." He said with a short nod in her direction, which prompted her jaw to drop open while she continued to stare at him in something between abject horror and complete flabbergastedness. "So, this is the dream realm, huh? Figured it would be more like, a bunch of dreams floating around and things such like that. Eh, whatever, is something you needed or are you going to keep staring at me like I just raised the sun and the moon by myself."_

 _That stirred her slightly, enough for her to shut her jaw then open it. She repeated this several times, trying to get some kind of sound to escape her muzzle, though nothing came out. Her eyes remained locked on him, neither moving nor blinking the entire time, and Blaze found it slightly disconcerting to have her attention like this. He sat down, waiting for her to regain her senses and talk to him, as he had a feeling this would become a very long conversation, one that he would like to be as comfortable as possible for. After a minute of stunned silence, she managed to keep her mouth closed, gulped down whatever was ailing her just a minute before, and spoke her first words; "What in TARTARUS WAS THAT?!"_

 _Blaze felt his ears pop, and he slammed his hooves against them in a pitiful effort to stop the ringing from coming forth, futile as it was. A harsh growl escaped his own lips as he rolled on the floor, oblivious to whatever the princess said following that, her piercing scream caused his ears to ring, stabbing pain right through his skull. He rolled away from the direction he believed Luna to be, trying to get away from her before she could do any more damage to him or his body._

 _He had gotten exactly one rotation in his chosen direction before magic gripped him and righted him on his hind hooves, planting his ass roughly on the invisible ground. He kept both his front hooves firmly on his ears, and the ringing persisted, so all he saw was Luna's lips parting and waggling around, speaking to him. He couldn't hear a thing, though a small part of him was thankful for that, as he was certain he would be getting a strong bitching to from this lovely mare before him, who had the audacity to invade his mind on multiple occasions._

 _When she had finished speaking, she looked at him expectantly which he was aware of when he looked away and her hoof snapped his gaze back on her. That cause the pain in his head to double, and he produced another well-meaning growl of suffering, harmonizing with the world of pain he was living in with his absolutely gorgeous singing voice that was so perfect it could crack glass with ease._

 _Glaring at those blue eyes, with that blue muzzle and a blue star-filled mane that had a more active life than its owner, he stuck out his tongue. He felt rather embarrassed when he noticed that his depth perception was terribly off, as Luna was well within licking distance. Personal space much? Well, they both gave the other as much space as possible, Blaze moved a hoof to scrap his tongue in disgust, Luna snapping back to purge her muzzle with both hooves and her magic. After the awkward moment passed, with both parties glaring at the other, Luna's horn lit up navy blue, and Blaze felt a warm, tingly sensation inside his skull, then a sharp pain following a loud bursting sound._

" _Now thou should hath the ability to speak with thine Dark Princess." Luna stated with a tone that suggested she was tired of dealing with nonsense._

" _Unfortunately." He muttered as he rubbed his ears to make sure they were functioning as they should._

" _Excellent. Now thee can begin thou's story detailed exactly what hath transpired during thee's slumber walking." She summoned a chair, expression stern and displaying the 'I'm done bucking around' death glare usually worn by mares who expect too much from stallions. "Thou can start with a complete explanation of how thee can depict such vivid images using pure magic."_

" _Well, since you asked so nicely- Wait, what did you just say?" He was still rubbing his ears, until he heard magic, then his attention snapped back to the blue alicorn before him. Luna just sighed out her annoyance._

" _Explain thyself. What hath transpired during thine_ dream _." She closed her eyes and mumbled to herself, counting to ten._

" _No. After that: something about pure magic?"_

" _Fine. Some ponies are capable of seeing certain events from the future, using a form of magic that is not found in spells cast by unicorns or us Princesses." She hadn't opened her eyes, but he felt her irritation rising, though he couldn't focus on that yet, he had bigger issues to worry about. "Now we shalt return to the subject that must be addressed, that being of this dream thou had. It has become a major concern of ours that a peasant such as thee not only possesses great flying attributes, but can also dream the future. We must assess what is purely fiction and what is indeed a matter of reality yet to come."_

" _So, you mean to tell me that I have been dreaming events that are going to happened in the future? But that's impossible! I doubt I would become a personal friend of both you and your sister." Blaze leaned back, enough to balance himself as he crossed his front legs, trying to be as defiant as possible, probably not the smartest thing in the world, but this wasn't normal. He was inside his head, in a dream, he could do whatever he wanted._

" _Somehow, we agree with thou on the matter of such. Friends with peasants, and to use one for duties only royalty should be dealing with, preposterous!"_

" _Hey, just because you got a crown, that doesn't make you any better than those of us who actually work." He snapped back, using his knowledge of dreams, consisting of absolutely nothing, willing himself larger, older, stronger. He appeared as he had just before the dream had ended, large, muscles well defined, a cloak covering his back, concealing his wings until he needed them. When the Dark Princess looked back at him, she let out a small startled sound, before rising to her hooves. He took the moment to really understand how his body would age, and found himself greatly approving of it._

 _He would turn out to be one handsome guy, and the mares would be all over him. Now where the hay did_ that _come from?_

' _Again, really brain? Bad time for this, more important matters to deal with.'_

 _Luna took to the air, though she never used her wings; she just floated up, powered by the magic of the dream world. She hovered until she was above him, and looked down on him as if she was trying to intimidate him, and if Star hadn't disappeared that day, he would have been worried about provoking her. As it was, he was sure he would survive, if only to find where Star went and bring him back home after this is all done._

 _As if sensing his thoughts, Luna barked down at him; "If thee does not offer thine knowledge of events within thine mind, then we shalt taketh from thee the visions by force."_

" _Oh no you don't!" With that, he leaped backwards, cloak dropping to the floor as if by its own accord, while underneath he found his body protected by thick steel armor. He was pleasantly surprised to find he never noticed his gear, and he flew around as acrobatically as ever. Luna gave chase as he flew away, and he felt his wings surge under him with newfound power, as if he had unlocked their full potential._

 _As he sped away, he felt that similar tugging sensation in his gut, and pulled up in time to see Luna pop out of teleporting where he was heading. She looked ready to intercept him, donned in her own midnight black armor, pearlescent moon engraved in the chest-plate, while a blue and black sword floated next to her, encased in her blue magic aura. Spiraling around her magic beams, he evaded where he could, and brute forced his way where he couldn't. Twice already had he been forced to resort to using his weight and momentum to plow through anything Luna sent his way. As the chase continued on, it became ever more clear that Luna was slowly breaking him down, and she very much showed she knew it, as she would often let him go just before he would start to give in._

 _Eventually, he would have to admit defeat, but not before he gave it one last attempt to escape her reach. He surged his wings, and corrected his ascent, then allowed the gravity within to pull him back towards his pursuer. He had made sure to gain plenty of height, close to the distance he had achieved as his personal record, and put his plan into action. Using the heavy armor and increased body weight, he hoped to start feeling the barrier soon._

 _Halfway down, Luna realized what he was trying to do, and started flying up to him, shouting at him warnings that he paid no attention to. A third of the distance left before ground level, and he began to see the white streaks encasing his body. Luna gave one last attempt to stop him, firing a large beam of magic directly at him, one he wouldn't have time to avoid. Unfortunately for them both, the magic hit home, slamming into Blaze's steel-plated chest, just below his collar. Potential side effects include, but are not limited to: Slight chest irritation, heartburn, strained vocal cords, back pain, swelling of the throat, muscle cramps, organ failure, and in some severe cases, death._

 _There was a burst of blue light, then Blaze came out of the bottom, slamming into Luna just after the explosion of light cleared the room. The two collided with an audible slap, and plummeted to the ground below._

 _Blaze took a single glance at the terrified Luna while the fell downwards, yet before his eyes, she vanished from his mind. His gaze refocused on the distant ground becoming not so distant, and he tried to move his wings, but they remained unresponsive through the tearing wind. His body felt glued stiffly in a straight line. He felt his heart rate increase while his altitude rapidly decreased, the anxiety of hitting the ground at that speed causing him to panic. He tried to pry his wings open using his hooves, but they too were difficult to control. His eyes shot between his new body and the blackness below where the ground lay hidden, trying to find a way to avoid the crash that was approaching. He tried to think of a way to get him out of the downward flight path, but without his wings, he knew he was doomed. As he fell down, he remembered something he had heard earlier, the words flowing through his skull as the time for the impact came near:_ One day, the shadows will surround me.

 _He saw the disruption in the field of darkness, where the ground was, where he would meet his end. He watched in detached horror as the inevitable would come to pass, his breathing becoming more hectic as his survival instincts started to fight for control of his mind. He struggled one last time, prying at his invisible bonds with as much strength as he could muster. Yet he felt no give from the forces holding him straight, and he sensed the floor getting closer by the second. He knew he didn't have much time left before impact, but he didn't know what he could do, his mind was racing as fast as his heart was. He felt the rush of air as the ground finally made itself sturdy for him._

Blaze shot out of bed, almost slamming into the ceiling, he would have gone through it if not for the blue aura that forced him to stop inches below the wooden support beams. His breathing was still coming in gasps, while his heart felt like it was going to pound its way out of his ribcage. He noticed that he was still alive, and aside from the ache in his chest, he felt fine, prompting him to open his eyes, then focused on the beams just in front of his muzzle. He let out a shallow sigh, then closed his eyes and began to regain his composure, slowly getting his breathing under control. While he occupied himself with getting accustomed to the real world again, Luna was lowering him back to his bed from where she stood and its base.

A minute after being harshly welcomed back to the world of the waking, Blaze managed to get his heart rate under control, though his breathing was still labored. He looked over at the Princess in his room, his face hardened slightly and he scowled in her direction, while climbing out of bed.

Luna patiently waited until he had extracted his body from the sheets, then promptly teleported them both into the Castle throne room. The moment he touched down on the stone floor, he curled up in a ball and began vomiting whatever was left of the stew in his stomach onto said floor. When he had finished relieving himself of his last meal, he wiped his muzzle and shakily stood up. Luna was standing before him, looking at him as if he was a wild animal that had broken out of its cage. She had a slight bend in her knees, and her horn glowing, ready to fire a blast if needed, though she eased visibly when he sat his happy ass on the ground, glaring at her.

"You could have warned me before you did that." He spoke with ill-concealed disdain, his eyes burrowing into their target, as if trying to fire laser beams to fry the blue Royal before him. "I feel like I'm going to throw up my stomach."

"Thou art to explain thine's self as to what hath happened in thou slumber walking. We hath brought thee here to thine ruler's home, where we study and govern, so that we may understand how thee can sense some future events, as well as discovering what is fiction and what will come to be fact." She refrained from returning the glare this time, keeping her tone even, and her gaze indifferent. She eased her stance, and the glow around her horn faded away, while she adopted her earlier posture of a royal. "And thee shalt not leave this building until all details hath been recorded."

When he had regained his composure, he looked around the empty room, stone walls draped with tapestries of Luna's blue cloud-covered cutie mark, or Celestia's vibrant yellow sun. His gaze swept pass the large banners with disinterest, focusing on the massive wooden doors that led directly out into the courtyard. Unfortunately, the reinforced doors, had been sealed shut, and had a sparkly blue aura keeping them in that state.

"If you are going to be like that, maybe I just won't tell you whatever I knew about that dream. I could just sleep right here, and then go back to my business when I wake up." He turned back to Luna, who was again wearing her stern look of determination, and was currently maintaining her force spell. "Even if I knew anything about that thing, what incentive do I have to offer any knowledge of a dream that seemingly popped out of nowhere?"

"How about royal assistance in locating thine brother?"

That caused Blaze to stare at her, eyes trying to harden to hide the hope beginning to burn inside him. He had no intention of giving her that information, not that it could do her any good. Still, the idea of having the Sisters helping find Star, it kept bouncing around in his brain, while he thought of how to approach this situation.

"I suppose, if it meant getting Star back, then maybe I can put aside our differences. If I tell you anything, you will need to promise me that you will help, either you personally, or to send extra guards out to look for him." He really hoped this was what he needed to get Star back from wherever he had managed to get himself to. Star was missing, and maybe the help from this here Princess would bring him back before anything bad happens to him. Right now, though, his brain was slowly losing its focus, having the adrenaline rush from the flight wearing off, he was remembering that he was running on low sleep and even less energy. He nodded, needing to finish this off as quickly as possible: the sooner he got some sleep, the sooner he could return to finding his little brother. "Fine, deal."

So he began to explain everything that he understood about the dream, which was strange for him, as he remembered every detail, from the feel of the wind, to the color shifts he had seen, to the exact emotions he was feeling at the time. Every detail, he recalled as sharp as a shard of glass, and he covered what he thought he knew, from the feeling in his stomach, to the strange connections he thought he had for the duration of the dream. Yet, with each word that came out of his mouth, Luna seemed more and more terrified, as if what he was saying was beginning to reinforce some idea she was holding back from sharing then. When he had finished, Luna just nodded, sparing not a word, before he suddenly found himself in his bed again, and if he had any food left in his stomach, it probably would have ended up over himself and his sheets.

Feeling nauseous from the teleportation, he lay in bed, trying to think clearly, but weariness was beating down any rational thought that crept into the forefront of his thoughts. He wrapped his discarded sheet over his slack wings, closing his eyes to regain his senses, before they themselves drifted away from him. He found himself within the realm of his slumbering mind once again, riddled with night terrors of Star being eaten by Timberwolves, hydras, or some other monster of the Everfree.

Needless to say, Blaze didn't get a whole lot of quality sleep that night, and the morning came all the more faster to him, as he was much too soon stumbling as he crawled out of bed. He wiped at his eyes, and looked over towards Star's bed, hoping the events of the day before were just part of an awful dream that he could blame on Luna. His hopes were dashed away however, when there lay the bed, blankets tossed to the side from Star tossing them off himself in the mornings. That bed, sitting there, unused and empty, looked about as lonely as Blaze's heart felt, and he tried to find the courage to continue on, and he found that courage in the knowledge that he now had Luna's word that she would offer assistance in finding him.

So he half-heartedly shuffled out of the room, greeted by the welcomed silence of the others, as each prepared for a busy early morning. Life never stopped, regardless of what one does, nor for what happens to them. A harsh lesson, no doubt, but reality was forcing his eyes to open even when he had hoped to keep them shut, and now he had to face it head on. He couldn't put everything on hold for Star, not forever, but he would damn sure try.

"Mornin'." The nameless pegasus said as Blaze walked into the kitchen, sitting on a stool and drinking a mug of something sweet-scented. Blaze just nodded in his direction before accepting the offered bowl of breakfast: an oat slur that was only just recognizable as a substitute for oatmeal. "You're up early. Rough sleep?"

"Obviously." Was his short reply as he tore into the food, hoping the rest of the day proved to have something good in store for him. He swallowed the bowl in ten seconds, and not an oat was wasted, clean, efficient, just as he needed. He looked down at the clear wooden bowl, slightly surprised at the amount of food that was lacking, then moved on, shrugging. He walked over to the wash bin, dumping his empty dish in and walked back to the table that most of the occupants sat at. "I'm going to be gone for most of the day, probably be back every couple of hours or so just to check in. If you need anything, just send somepony up into the sky, they might find me there."

The elder just nodded, though his eyes bore that same concerned emotion that Blaze was feeling inside. He really needed today to be fruitful, and if the city lacked any help, then he was probably going to find some guards and ask for help, which did not sit well with him. Sure, most were decent folk, but he wasn't too keen on getting either Sister involved with his personal life.

'I know that they have the resources to help, but still.' He thought idly as he walked through the entryway into the main room, the elder following just behind him.

"Sonny, I know this is hard, but we will find him. I'm sure he was just out exploring and got himself stuck somewhere obscure, knowing his taste for adventure."

"That's what worries me. He could be anywhere, and not all the ponies here are benevolent, if something were to happen to him, he could end up in a different city entirely, or he could have been captured by slave-traders, he could have been taken into the Everfree for some mysterious cult activity, or he could have been eaten by animals, or he- "

"Alright, that's enough. Blaze, nothing bad has happened to Star, I promise you that. We will find him, and he will just say he got himself lost. Okay? Listen to me, trust me on this; he is fine, and when you two get back together, it will be as if nothing really happened." The elder interrupted Blaze's rapidly forming worries and fears, cutting off the flow of negativity and worries that would not help in the situation. "Just take a deep breath, realize that only the worst would ever think of doing anything like that, and we have a lot of systems to protect everypony from the worries of lowlifes like those. Got it?"

Blaze nodded slowly, inhaling deeply then letting his lungs loose. He needed to focus, he knew he needed to stay calm, but the fact that Star had remained unseen for a whole day now, it was tearing at his composure. The nameless pegasus reached into his saddlebag, and pulled out a scrap piece of paper that had some writing on it.

"I grabbed that note Star dropped as he left. Not sure what to make sense of it, but maybe you know somepony that can figure it out, so hold onto this, learn what you can from it, and hopefully we can use it to find him faster." He explained as he gave Blaze the folded note, which the latter hastily took and unfolded, eyes pouring over the note once again, scanning it for anything he could use.

 _Under the brightest of days, within the folds or darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever._

Still having no idea what in Tartarus this meant, Blaze sighed and walked over to the shelves by the door, pulling out his black saddlebags, throwing it on and carefully placing the note inside. He adjusted the bags until they sat comfortably on his back, then hurried out the door, ready to get this whole thing over with. He began with flying over the main routes he and Star had taken, searching everywhere he thought Star might have been curious to see. After an hour of combing the streets turned nothing up, he began to ask around about the note and Star. Not a single pony had seen him in some time, though only a few recognized him, and even fewer understood what the note meant. He returned to the warehouse, hoping they had more luck than he had: they didn't.

Sighing in defeat, he returned to the air, heading towards the guard tower at the wall on the edge of town. He landed in front of one of the guards, who looked down at him without the slightest trace of interest. "Can I help you?"

"I was hoping you would be able to. See, I'm looking for my brother as he disappeared yesterday, and I was wondering if you or any of the others here have seen him?" Blaze let it all out in a single breath, though a few of the words may have come out jumbled together.

The guard paused for a moment, looked over to the other one standing at the base of the tower in confusion. The second one looked over Blaze, as if trying to remember him, before his face brightened in recognition. He walked over to the pair, then nodded to the first guard.

"I remember you. You were that colt the others caught that made that color explosion thingy. Who is your brother?" He spoke to Blaze, who was happy that this was finally getting to do something useful, so he happily replied with Star. "I haven't heard any others say anything about finding a lost Star Burn, so I can't say for sure. What does he look like? Maybe I have seen him, and just don't know it yet."

"Small blue pegasus, royal blue mane. No cutie mark." Blaze's hope was ever so slowly beginning to fade, but he was holding onto whatever remained for this guard to have seen Star and would give him some useful information.

"Hmm. I think I saw somepony like that last night, but I can't be sure. It was getting dark, but I do remember a group of ponies heading along the outskirts of the wall just after Luna brought up the sun. I think there may have been a chance that your brother was with them, and I would have known for sure if Luna hadn't given the order not to investigate groups of ponies heading around the city after dark. All she said was that there was some royal business happening that required ponies investigating the wall after dark. Sorry, but that's all I have." He frowned apologetically, before he turned to the silent guard standing by with a questioning look. Said guard only shook his head. "Really, I am sorry. I'll make sure to ask around and see if any of the other guards have any more information about your brother. If I hear anything, I'll try to give you a message."

"Well, thanks." Blaze muttered as he let out a disappointed sigh, felling his wings spread as he prepared to take off. One thing popped into his mind just before he left, and he wanted to know. "You said Luna gave an order to not investigate ponies walking around the wall after dark. Why?"

"I have absolutely no idea. It just is not my place to question royal orders. I just know she had some business that she wanted to personally attend to, probably some super threat that the Sisters needed to deal with. If that was the case, then I imagine she would have given us guards some more information, so it can't be all that bad. Your brother is probably still in the city, so he should at least be safe in that regard."

Blaze hummed thoughtfully for a moment, then decided to think about it later, as he still had bigger issues to take care of presently. He nodded his thanks before bringing his wings down hard while leaping into the air, intending to loop around the city, scanning the space between the wall and the forest beyond. After several loops, stopping to ask any traders if they had spotted his missing brother, with no success, he decided to regroup with the community and hope they have news for him. Or better yet, to see if they had found Star. Gliding down the main street, he was on his way back to the warehouse, passing through the resting district, where travelers stopped to rest before heading out again. He was greatly surprised to pass over Al, who was walking away from a tavern.

"Al. What are the chances seeing you here?" He greeted as happily as he could, quickly thinking of asking for any information. He landed beside the large unicorn, trotting to slow his pace before coming to a complete stop just a few paces in front of the former. "Would it be possible for you to help me out a little?"

"Ah, Blaze." The unicorn nodded in his own greeting, before his critical gaze scrutinized the young member, seeming more and more dissatisfied with what he saw. "You don't look so good, is everything alright?"

"Not really, but that's why I needed your help. You see, Star went missing yesterday, and nopony has seen him since. I was wondering if you have heard anything about it, though I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't." He replied quickly, trying to sound hopeful, though it came out as more desperate than anything else. The day was turning towards passed noon, yet nothing of value had been learned or gained, aside from what the guard had mentioned about Luna ordering mysterious investigations around the wall.

"Let me think." Al paused for a moment to tap his chin, though his mind was actually whirring over what he had heard from his contacts. Apparently, they had received several reports indicating missing foals as well as heavy activity outside the city walls. It worried him about the lack of information, and not even the servants in the Castle could clear some details. "Well, I do remember hearing that about one or two colts and fillies went missing, but nothing specific. Sorry, kid. Details haven't really been coming through lately."

"Well, thanks anyway. I've been really worried about him, and I have been looking all over for him, if you see anything, could you tell me?" He let out his breath, head sagging a bit.

"Of course. You're one of us, and we will be sure to help you out."

Blaze nodded and raised into the air, renewing his energy and flying back to his home. His heart sank ever more and more as the news was relayed to him that nothing had been uncovered yet, and he was beginning to really feel hopeless. He was putting every bit of hope he had retained into finding Star within the forest.

He walked through the main room, passing nearby ponies that he had started to get to know, hardly nodding as he went into the kitchen. Upon entering the silent room, he went to the cabinet, pulling out a wedge of cheese and began chowing down hungrily. The food was soon gone, and Blaze turned to leave the building feeling the dread in his stomach reaching a peak he hadn't thought was possible as he struggle to find hope that he would find Star. Stealing his resolve, he shook the thoughts of despair from his mind and he focused on the task at hoof: heading out to the fringes of the Everfree to search for clues. Star had to be out there somewhere, it was the only place left, surely he hadn't been foal-napped and sent to another city, there were few enough of those anyway. No, somepony had taken hold of his senses and made him leave the safety of the city behind, to leave him behind.

He reached the doorway to the main room, rolling his shoulders as he prepared for another long flight around the walls, and most likely venturing through the woods. In front of him stood only a single obstacle barring his way outside, and she took the form of one Scaled Equilibrium, jade eyes scanning his own for something so obscure only she would have been able to understand the implications.

She smiled faintly while he stepped back and to the side to let her pass, silently thanking him for his manners and passing into the kitchen unhindered. Blaze tried muttering a greeting, but between focusing on finding Star and the reaction his body gave to seeing her that he hated oh so much, his muzzle let out unintelligible mumbles instead. Her smile grew more before she motioned for him to be on his way, thus breaking whatever spell he felt was holding him rooted to the spot. Taking a moment to clear his thoughts to refocus, he quickly left the building, hoping the fresh air and exercise would help him solve that particular mystery.

"Snap out of it, Blaze." He grumbled to himself as he took to the air, heading in the general direction of the main gate and the road beyond. Soaring over the protection of thick stone walls, Blaze turned past the road and glided near the walls, searching the clearing between the invading structures and the encroaching woods for any trace of trails into said woods. The wind whipped into his ears as he picked up his pace when none of the trails he investigated led anywhere, irritation growing by the minute. Soon, he was racing around the walls, smashing through stray branches in his haste to find any meaningful marks in the dirt. He was no tracker, but he was hoping to find something that he could have used to penetrate the forest proper.

Nothing. He had flown completely around the city walls, and found absolutely nothing of quality yield. He had traversed the dozen trails he stumbled across, and not a single one led to any hidden meeting spot of secret location. Only one had a proper location, but it was the typical thrill-seeker's spot when a reckless pony wished to venture forth into the bowels of the beast.

"Why? Why are you cruel to me?!" He started shouting into the forest, having found himself above the trees of the Everfree where he began his search. He landed roughly, scratching himself as he crashed through the branches, leaves and sticks invading his mane in his descent. "WHERE IS HE?!"

The only response he got from the forest was silence, broken rarely by a hoot or a bird call. After a short period of time, he was met in the forest by a guard, assumed to be responding to his shouting, who picked him up. The guard was as gentle as he could be, and made his way back to the main gate, where he dropped Blaze off with a light lecture about the dangers of sitting around in the Everfree, something he completely tuned out as he let this hope fade away like water from a vase. He felt his water of hope replaced by the emptiness of despair, as he knew his options were disappearing.

His last threads of hope were with either the Princesses finding him, or the creed coming up with something that he could use. But a part of him felt despair the most, focused on the pain of the loss it was sure would be absolute and unavoidable. Blaze fought that part of him as much as he could, knowing that he wouldn't survive that path. The guard walked away, and Blaze slowly crawled to a standing position, legs weakly holding him upright as he trudged back to the warehouse, mind slowed as if moving through sludge.

Upon entering the building, Blaze was greeted by the somber faces of the nameless pegasus, as well as several of the other pegasi that lived within. Much to his surprise, he also recognized two of the creed member pegasi with them. The eldest male pegasus motioned for Blaze to take a seat next to the fire, indicating for the others to do the same as well. Blaze silently took his reserved seat, eyes never once straying from the pair of thieves, one of whom he knew was a burglar.

"We tried to pull our resources together to see what it is we could accomplish about that little event you caused some time ago, with the color explosion." The nameless said after clearing his throat. He nodded towards the pair from the creed: "They have been asking around, just as curious as we are, and it seems nopony really understands what happened. They are here for more information from the source himself."

One of pair took the following silence as an opportunity to speak up: "I hadn't personally seen the explosion, but from the reports I have heard, it sounds like something nopony has ever heard before."

"Yes, and after some digging around in the official records of the guards, we haven't seen anything regarding this particular event." The other offered, nodding in agreement with his partner. "We have an interview set up with some important nobles in the city, though we are unsure as to if anything of value will be gained."

"However, that isn't the only reason we are here, as Al wanted us to relay a message for you." The first spoke up again as the second finished, producing a sealed envelope and offering it to the young Blaze, who took it and eyes it hopefully before tearing it open. "We have heard your plight, and we both offer our most sincere apologies for your loss. I lost a brother myself, so I know the pain, but when Al gave me this he said it contained something powerful."

Blaze hadn't heard a single word the pegasus had said, his attention directed solely on the words before him. The note said that Al had found something that would change the favor of the creed for the better, and that the sooner he returned to the creed the better. What hope was flared up at the beginning of the letter was quickly extinguished by the last paragraph of the letter, which mentioned that he take a day or two off to grieve. Blaze felt his heart stop for a moment when he read that Al had not discovered the location of Star. Blaze suddenly felt torn, on one hoof, he was determined to keep up the search until Star had been found, but on the other, if an organization like the creed couldn't find any evidence of Star, then there was little in the way of hope left to hold onto.

That did not mean he would give up, oh there was no way in Tartarus he would give up on Star just like that. Blaze tossed the note in the flames, watching as the flames greedily devoured the parchment, his eyes mirroring the flickering fire with determination to find his lost brother.

"Well, it was nice to talk, but I really have to get back out there. I have a lost brother to find, and while I would love to give you some more details about that explosion, something tells me that there is nothing I can offer that would make any difference." He said as he stood up, mind racing over the only places he could search now; leaving the abandoned districts, those that had suffered the most from the chaos battles. Buildings nearly destroyed, or those that were unattractive for land-owners in the city itself.

"Of course, a missing brother is more important right now." The second responded, both pegasi also rising to their hooves as they prepared to leave. "But do please come see us at some point, maybe we can find something about this mysterious event that has been recorded somewhere and we can find out what is was exactly."

"As far as I'm concerned, it was just a colorful explosion of light. Nothing else." Blaze stated dryly as he left the building, letting the door close itself while he used his super powerful wings to launch into the air.

Until late in the evening, Blaze scoured every abandoned warehouse and every forsaken house, searching for any trace of inhabitants. On more than one occasion, he had found a group of stragglers, ponies barely holding onto life as they hid from society, forsaken and forgotten themselves. Once, he ran into a lone little filly, barely younger than Star was, and he nearly broke the building trying to get her out. For most of the homeless, he had just directed them towards several of the shelters in busier districts. But when he met this little foal, he had lost all desire to simply offer directions.

He calmly approached the shaking filly, who was hiding under a rickety desk, cowering in terror when he got near.

He slowed down, lowering himself so that he would appear less threatening to her, he knew what fearing those bigger than you was like. He was trying to make himself as nonthreatening as possible. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. Why don't you come out here so you're not hiding under that desk? I promise that I don't bite, I am just here to help you."

After some coaxing, he managed to get her to slowly, and very sacredly, shuffle out from under the desk, and in the bright daylight breaking through the crumbled remains of the house they were inside of, he got a good look at her. She was a small pegasus, light brown coat that was contrasted by her bright green mane and tail, though they were ruffed up by the weather. Much to his discombobulation, she very closely resembled his mother, who he had tried very hard to put out of his mind for the rest of eternity. She looked very similar, though her mane was a different color, the overall shape of her hair brought back memories that Blaze wanted to keep from surfacing.

Blaze wouldn't let that first impression hinder his motivations though, and he desired to keep as many from suffering as he could, and this little filly was so obviously suffering. He knelt down, trying to coax her into coming out further, until she was within his reach, and he gently scooped her up. She resisted at first, until he started murmuring soothing words into her ear as he began to shuffle out of the building.

Once outside, he shifted the bundle or brown fur until he could comfortably walk on at least three legs, and held her to his chest with the fourth. She had stopped fighting his grip, and he walked as slowly as he could back to the warehouse, and upon arrival, was greeted by the eldest male in the building.

"Sonny, who is that?"

"I have no idea, but she had no home, she was hiding under a bench, and she was utterly terrified. I couldn't just leave her there like that." He said as he walked inside, a crowd beginning to gather around him. His brow furrowed at the group, feeling the filly in his grasp retreat farther into him when she saw the amassing crowd. "Excuse us, but I don't think she is ready to meet you all, she is going to need some time to adjust."

"Did you just take her from her home?"

"You couldn't call where I found her a home, more like a convenient abandonment place. She was hiding away in fear, and she needed help." He replied to the random pony who had asked the question, more irritation in his voice than he had meant to have. He calmed himself as he walked into the kitchen, where several older mares had taken refuge, the community cooks. They cooed when they saw the brown filly in his grip, and rushed over to see her, but he waved them off. "Please, some space ladies?"

They looked between one another, spared a glance at the shivering filly, then nodded briskly, blocking the door so no other could get in. Blaze noted to himself to thank them later, but he had a lot of problems to take care of then and there. First on the list; get this filly to speak, as he needed to know what had happened.

He set the filly down on the counter, hoping she wasn't too terrified, though he wouldn't blame her. Life wasn't kind to all. She shrank once his hooves left her on her own, and her head whipped around the building, wide eyes trying to understand what was going on. Blaze waited patiently, knowing this kind of thing took time to get accustomed to, and he knew she would start to feel comfortable sooner or later. He stood in silence while she studied the room, though she never relaxed, and he tried his best to come off as kind and supportive. He was amazed by just how sensitive his kind was to this kind of thing, he was also ashamed that he had become so easy to believe others. When he had decided to protect Star, he believed that avoiding the crime boss was a smart idea, and ruminating on it while he waited he realized his error.

That Al had been the crime boss he was so ready and willing to please, it made him wary of why. Surely this wasn't him just being desperate enough to blindly follow any common criminal who had some semblance of power for the sake of helping Star. Because Blaze knew he was more than capable of doing that on his own, so why had he been so quick to join the creed?

Family? It was possible, but this community was his family now, and the creed wouldn't always watch his back.

His attention was ripped back to the present when he heard the filly squeak, and he noticed that she was staring at him as if he was some creature to be avoided. That was when he remembered that he had been thinking, and possibly left his blank stare on her, which would not have been the best idea. 'Dammit Blaze! Focus!'

"Sorry, just thinking." He offered an apologetic smile, which seemed to ease the filly a bit more, as her shoulders lost tension, and her wings softened. "So, would you mind telling me your name?"

She hesitated for a moment, looking at the floor, as if trying to make a decision, though he understood that the turn of events may not have been something she was entirely prepared for, so he responded to his own question before he scared her further. "If you're not comfortable, we can talk about something else."

The filly shook her head, though her gaze remained on the floor. After a solid minute of silence, Blaze started shifting around, anxious about how to go about this, as the filly was evidently in a state of shock, and would most likely need some time to recover. He could find a pony that would take care of her until she was able to do so herself, but that just felt dirty and wrong. No, he would just have to ride this out, and hope he can find something to work with to get something out of this lonely little filly. He was about to speak up when she muttered something so quietly, Blaze almost mistook it for something spoken from outside.

"What was that?" He asked gently, leaning closer to her.

"I said my name is . . ." She trailed off in her murmuring, and even with Blaze straining to pick up what she said, it died off in silence.

"One more time please?"

"Asta. My name is Asta." She shrunk back, as if expecting him to react negatively to the information. He sat there, rolling his head as if he was tasting the name, before nodding and looking back at her.

"Well, it is nice to finally know you, Asta. My name is Blaze Burn, though you can just call me Blaze if you want to." He offered a hoof for her, but she shrunk even more when he did so, and he just dropped it back to the floor, though his smile diminished a little. He didn't want to terrify the filly, so he tried a different tactic, one that may get her to calm down a little. "Are you hungry?" 

He didn't even need an answer, as her ears perked up and she lifted her head to look at him with very hungry eyes. He knew the answer, if her scrawniness was anything to go off of, but he needed her to relax. He smiled at her response anyway, and walked over to the pantry door, grabbing some dried fruit and returned to the counter and offered her the food. She didn't take it immediately, though he saw the hunger in her eyes demanding she grab the food, and she remained still. He sighed, gently placing the food down next to her and stepped back to give her room. She looked at him, then her gaze swapped over to the fruit, before slowly revolving back to him, then back to the food again. After several iterations, and supported by his marry nodding, she hesitantly took the food in hoof, sniffed at it, then began to devour the food without even swallowing.

To say the least, it surprised him how fast she had put down the food, and in less than a minute, she had put down the packet of food, which would have satisfied him. Before he could react, she belched, wiping her face with a hoof, before looking back at him.

"Water?" She squeaked a little, her voice gaining some strength now that she had seen some kindness. He nodded, turning to the door, a glass in hoof. He went to the well, pulled up the bucket and filled the large glass, something he wouldn't have used, then returned to the kitchen. Asta gratefully took the offered drink, downing its contents in three gulps, once again to Blaze's stunned amazement.

He had a sneaking suspicion this filly hadn't had anything to eat or drink in some time, at least all day, maybe another. She put the glass on the counter, though her longing gaze remained on it, so he took it back and refilled it. When he went to put it on the counter for her, she snatched it out of his hooves and began gulping it down: four gulps this time. She put down the glass, but Blaze was studying her and left it undisturbed at her side, and though she was uncomfortable at his critical look, she didn't shy away as much, this time merely hiding behind a hoof.

"So, are you okay telling me why you were in that building?" He tried his best to sound unintimidating, but with her in her current state, he doubted anything would be effective at calming her nerves. He smiled as kindly as he thought he could, but she still shrunk back, as though being physically hit by the memories. He recovered quickly enough to prevent scaring the filly even more, and changed the topic as fast as he could. "If you would like, I could get one of the nice mares here to show you where you can rest. We don't have the best rooms in the city, but you will be safe here, I promise. It would definitely be better than trying to sleep under a desk, no?"

She reacted less than terribly to this, her ears went from flattened to raised, and she seemed to grow a bit, but she was still obviously terrified. Again, not that he could blame her.

His smile had disappeared, but he tried to sound caring as he explained that he was going to get somepony to show her where she could stay. He remained in the kitchen, but peeked his head out the door to see who was outside; which consisted of a fair number of assorted ponies, many of whom were clearly anxious about the new coming filly. And upon asking for a volunteer, mentioning he would have preferred a female, he had to let the several that rose their hooves decide which would help the filly out.

Finally, he had a random mare volunteer, who he introduced to Asta, and because he was still relatively new to the community, and thus had not memorized all the names, he had to be crafty. Basically, he had her introduce herself to the little brown filly, instead of doing it himself, he didn't know her name until then.

He let the pair head out of the kitchen, presumably to wherever they would find some personal space for her. He didn't feel required to help her find a room, as there were plenty of ponies willing and able to help, and he had a very important task to finish. Nodding to himself, he left the room after taking a moment to grab an apple for himself while he flew around. He munched idly on said apple as he propelled himself through the air just above the empty streets of the abandoned sections of the city.

After clearing yet another building, he sighed and looked up at the sky, noting he had maybe two or three hours before he would have to call it a day, and begin his night search around the walls. He was curious about the investigators the guards had mentioned, and he wanted to see them for himself. He felt like he was running very short on options, and the end of the road was much closer than he was comfortable with.

Still, if those strange ponies outside at night knew where Star could be, he'd be more than happy with this little test of patience.

One thing that stayed in the back of Blaze's head was the fact that Luna had given her word that she would help in finding Star. She had done that, but he hadn't really seen either her nor her guards doing much, but maybe they were just working elsewhere, or in a fashion that he didn't understand.

'Yes, that has to be it.' He accepted the reasoning as readily as he could, clinging to the last strains of hope he had left. If anything could find his brother aside from him, it was the resourcefulness of the Princesses. Something he was really hoping was as grand as they made it out to be, as his own brother was on the line here.

The sun was already at the horizon, and Blaze was not at all surprised to find that he still hadn't found anything at all. There wasn't a single thing related to Star disappearing, though he had heard that several other foals had done so as well. The one thing that confused him was that stories depicted the same thing, colts and fillies just walking away muttering non-sense. In every case he had heard of, they just vanished throughout the day, some disappearing into the night, and a few leaving in the midst of some event or another. Only a few though, that was the second most disconcerting thing, only four others had disappeared, making five within a couple of weeks. Something was happening, but Blaze couldn't think of what.

Blaze decided that he had better head back and check in on whatever was happening at the warehouse, before he went to the creed to check there. Flying back, he heard something coming from the direction of the Everfree, and he stopped when he got close to the wall to look. A squadron of guards flying in formation flew high overhead, heading towards a large gap in the tree line, within which he witnessed a raging inferno of chaos.

Before the wall stood a large siege tower, flaming arrows raining from archers hiding within its protective walls, while groups of unicorns stood atop the wall, firing blasts of energy at the tower. Just before the tower hit the wall, the pegasi squadron began attacking, dropping metal pots and large stone rocks on the combatants invading. But before Blaze could blink, and as a volley of scorching arrows could burn through the ranks of defenders, the tower suddenly vanished with a booming crash. It was pulled through a vortex of light blue energy as black tendrils grabbed it, sending it to who-knows where. Blaze stood there, just as astonished as the guards who had found themselves suddenly under siege, though they were regaining their senses quickly when the Everfree began to repair itself from the damage it had taken.

Blaze stood there, just as still as the unicorns who had been fighting but moments before, jaw agape in pure astonishment. Eventually, a messenger was sent from the ramparts to tell the Night Princess, who happened to be the Royal awake when this happened. It was becoming more and more apparent to Blaze that this was not something the guards took care of often, if their haggard, panicking looks were anything to judge by.

Blinking, he decided it would be best not to interfere with whatever magical invasions they were dealing with. They had this handled.

Blaze felt his wings guiding him back home, though his thoughts were completely absorbed by what he had witnessed, in the pure awesomeness and valor in it, but also in the terror and problems it included. Invading forces that suddenly appeared and disappeared without a trace as to what they were or where they came from. Without any hint as to when they may strike again, or if they even will attack again, the stress and fear it could produce was enough to make him want to do everything in his power to make sure they stopped.

He soon found himself opening the door to the community, as the scent of amassing ponies in a small, enclosed area assaulted his nose. Inside, nearly all the remaining original inhabitants clustered around the fire, enjoying the quiet of the evening and the remaining warmth from the distant sun. He joined them, sitting next to the resident pegasus elder, and listened to the events that had happened of late, though he knew of most of these before they had the chance to become gossip.

At some point, he felt the nameless pegasus lean into his side, to which he mirrored wondering just what he wanted to say in modest privacy.

"I figured you would want to know that those stallions from your thief group came by earlier. They said they wanted to tell you something about 'The Boss' making some strange decision about your brother. I wouldn't have worried about it, but they mentioned Star by name, along with the phrase 'worrisome details.' Make of it what you will, but I feel like things are about to get ugly before they get pretty again." He whispered while the group around them continued gossiping, oblivious to the secrecy among them. Blaze felt his ears flatten in irritation, though he kept his temper down, for the sake of getting everything he could right there and then.

"Did they tell you anything else?"

"Just that if you decided to come back in anytime soon, expect there to be a lot of indifference towards you in general."

Blaze let out a sound similar to a humph, then let air back into his lungs, straightening his back, suspicions already beginning to boil in the back of his mind. He decided that it was too late to brew, however, and he changed the topic, voice returning to normal to address the crowd.

"So, other than all these fascinating events taking place in our wonderful world of perfection, how have the newcomers been adjusting? I know some weren't in the best of places when they got here, but some didn't look too bad."

"Well, yes, some are doing better than others. But if that one incident was anything to judge by, I'd guess you were asking about that little filly?" Came the reply from one of the random ponies in the crowd. Blaze felt his temper shorten slightly, the tone they used was light-hearted, but he felt what was being said in the undertone: 'That filly may be more important than some other foal from your life.'

"I was asking in general." His own reply came hotter than it should have, but he wasn't in the mood right then, and his gaze fell flat on the pony who had answered his query. "Whatever, I just wanted to check in. I'm heading out soon, and I probably won't be back for a little while."

Before he could leave to the kitchen for a late-night meal, the eldest pegasus grabbed his hoof, halting him in his tracks. "Are you sure you should be tearing yourself up like this?"

"I don't tear myself up. And yes, this is necessary, somepony has to be looking for Star, Celestia knows you all are just too damn lazy to do anything." He felt the venom in his voice himself, and he saw several sit back as though they had been smacked. He knew that was too harsh for them, but he was preoccupied and had little room for caring about their feelings. He'd make it up to them at some point tomorrow. "Goodnight."

He grabbed a bland muffin from the pantry, eating it on his way back outside, blatantly ignoring the glares he got from several of the inhabitants. He knew they were upset, and aside from not caring, he understood why. But, work was work, and he had a lot to do if he wanted to find Star before too long.

Arriving at the creed's warehouse at night was only slightly more disconcerting than normal, as the main room was nearly black without any internal light sources. He walked over to the bar, where some light remained with the night shift employees preparing for midnight raids or scouting. The creed had to make a proactive night-life to stay ahead of authorities in their life of crime, making use of the fact the Night Princess was often busy in the dream realm to stop them herself. Blaze spoke to none of the other occupiers as he ordered a small cup of cider from the bartender, curiosity briefly passing his mind as to how this one pony maintained the bar day and night round. He had never seen another bartender.

That same bartender who always wore glasses, regardless of light or not, heat or cold, never smiling, and always behind the counter. The curiosity left him as quickly as the cider was produced, and he let it slip away beneath his need for something to keep him up during his searching.

"Hey, bartender." He called during a pause in his slow ingestion of the alcohol. "What was it that Al mentioned about finding my brother?"

The bartender looked directly at him, and though his face betrayed no emotion, Blaze felt the negativity flowing off of him. He didn't even speak, just shook his head and turned to wiping clean some empty glasses. Blaze frowned, then returned to the glass in his hooves, feeling the disrespect he knew was undeserved, and something about this situation felt off to him.

When he had finished the glass, the bartender returned, and took the glass without a word. Blaze was not feeling motivated to do much for this group of thieves at the moment But before he could think of doing much, the bartender returned, and underneath the stony structure of his face, Blaze was hints of pity.

"Go home kid. Get some sleep, take a day or two off. It'll be better for you if you come back then, Al said some things to the guys 'n gals. They weren't nice about you, and they will need some time to clear their heads. Take that time to think about what you need and want. Now go and get some sleep." His voice rolled like a thunder storm in the distance, rumbling with power and wisdom, something Blaze had not expected in the least. Well, at least Blaze had an excuse to avoid the creed now, and while he wasn't too happy about it, he knew this was a chance to speak with the Princess about her obligation to help, and to see if she had been upholding her end of their deal.

Blaze nodded and stood to leave, feeling the warmth of the alcohol making his legs fuzzy, and his wings were tingling as well. He felt his emotions rolling around more than usual, and he decided that he should not have drunk the alcohol, but what was done was done, and he could not change the past. He walked home, though his gaze was slightly broken, and he struggled to go up the hills and around some of the tighter corners, and his wings occasionally shot up with no apparent reason. He got to the warehouse and let out a sigh, the adventure being more than he felt he needed then.

He vowed to drink only when traveling was not needed, as he found he quite enjoyed the taste of the cider, at least the creed's cider. He imagined he'd be drinking more and more as time wore on if things didn't change for the better.

Inside, most of the occupants had decided to call it a night and had gone off to sleep, though a straggler in the kitchen told him the building wasn't completely tuned out for the night.

He ignored the single waking occupant and went straight to his room, immediately feeling the missing presence that Star had taken with him. He had become so dependent on Star being there for him when he returned, that it started to really hurt his chest to have an empty room. Feeling like he would break at any moment, he just fell into his bed, fearing he would lose himself to the pain and despair that seemed to engulf this world, emotions he had fought so hard to avoid.

He was afraid to sleep, but with the alcohol in his blood, and with sadness weighing down his heart, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation to close his eyes. A small part of him wondered if it would have been better to never have them open again, though he knew that Star wouldn't have approved those thoughts, that just reinforced the stabbing pain of the little blue pegasus' absence.

Blaze succumbed to the pain, giving in to the fear and hopelessness this world created, and let it out in the only way he knew would let a tired pony release; through tears. At some point, with his pillow soaked, Blaze managed to fall asleep, almost welcoming the nightmares that would grant his mind activity. Almost.

Instead of seeing visions of Star disappearing forever, he only saw the destruction of the future, the absolution of a world without life. He only saw a black world, devoid of anything familiar, even the air felt subdued, repressed of anything warm or fill. The absence of anything invading his senses bringing the holes of emptiness into his being, and he felt the total black gaping calmness of this. He felt no fear, no terror, no anger, no happiness, only a calm overtaking of nothing.


	7. 7 Lost to the Flames

Chapter 7: Lost to the Flames

Blaze opened his eyes to the sound of tapping, as of somepony gently rapping, rapping on his chamber door. He rolled out of bed, mumbling to himself about sleep and nonsense of interruptions, before opening the door, and seeing nothing in front of him but an empty hallway. His head cocked to the side, briefly wondering if he was staring to go insane, before a throat being cleared caught his attention, and he looked downwards. Sitting in front of his door was that little filly from last night, though he recognized her, he completely forgot her name. It was early, he was tired, and it had been a very busy day, okay?

He blinked several times in rapid succession, trying to clear both his vision and his still slumbering mind. "Um, can I help you?"

The filly tilted her head, mimicking his posture while she stared at him with a mixture of curiosity and just a hint of fear. Her left eyes hidden under her draping green mane, disheveled as it was, that hung like a curtain over most of her face. Though he saw that she could only see him with one eye, he felt like she was scanning his very soul for something, a repeating feeling he received these days.

"Uh, well, since I am up, would you mind stepping aside so I could get something to eat?" He asked rather nervously when she remained steadfast in her renewed silence. Her answer came in her stepping away from him, opening up the door and allowing him to step out, and as soon as he had, she leaned her head past him and into the room. He followed her gaze between the two unoccupied beds, before he nudged her back enough to close the door.

With his room behind him, he walked slowly through the main room, passing by the silent ponies on his way to the kitchen where food was to be found. He had to remind himself to slow down as the filly decided to follow him, with her short little legs walking as fast as they could carry her to keep pace with him.

Entering the kitchen, he got in line behind the several other ponies who were in the kitchen getting their morning meal. All too soon, he was standing before the cook, who gave him a bowl of oats indifferently, and he recognized her from one of the crowd he spoke to last night. He sighed, preparing to apologize to her, but she beat him to the punch.

"Don't apologize, we understand that you're under stress something terrible. We also know that there was probably more that we could have done when little Star went missing. But I ask that you take our position, we just don't know how to help, you have searched the entire city, been out looking for hours and hours on end. What could we have done that you haven't already?" She spoke in a sorrowful voice, though she kept her head up high and had a stiff posture. "Please, let the past be the past, and help those who need you now, from what I have heard, investigations are already under way to find the missing foals, speaking of a missing foal . . ."

The filly at his side shrunk back when the attention of the conversing ponies was directed at her, ears flattening to her skull while her wings tightened at her sides.

Blaze looked at her, though he presumed that even if he asked her, she would opt to not reveal just why she had been out there in the ruined building in the first place. He just shook his head, returning his attention back to the cook. "I'm sure we will find out what happened to her when she wants to tell us, and that will only happen in her own time."

He thanked the cook for the food, then turned to walk back into the main room, where he knew several others had gathered to eat, and he wanted to get this show on the road as soon as he could, for he had some searching to do, then he wanted to ask some of the guards about that random siege tower that popped up. First and foremost on his agenda, though, was to spend as much time as he could trying to find Star, as every second spent on anything else was a second wasted in not having Star safe and sound.

He plopped his depressing ass on a seat next to a Muffin and Sweet Flower, who had shared faces of loneliness and pain, a sentiment he felt he could associate with considerably well.

"Mornin'." He tried, and failed miserably, to sound cheerful, to which Muffin offered a weak smile while Sweet Feather just grunted. The latter kept her eyes sternly fixed on the meal in her lap, as though observing a mildly interesting insect for the first time. Blaze also felt he could sympathize, feeling the need to eat solely from the fact he hadn't eaten much in the last couple of days. He hesitantly began eating his breakfast, hoping his appetite would return with the deliberate consumption of food.

In short: it didn't.

Still, Blaze knew he needed the food, so he forced the unflavored oats down, resisting the urge to throw the food away, as they had so little of it as it was. He finished, though his stomach appreciated the effort, and he was ready to leave, but a motion from the side caught his attention. Glancing to his left, the opposite direction of Star's friends, he saw Asta sitting on the floor, staring at him with poorly hidden curiosity.

"You never told me why you were knocking on my door earlier." He commented while he tried to figure out what about him was so interesting. He would have avoided speaking to her as much as possible, but the strangeness of it struck a nerve, and he very much wanted an answer.

She stirred when he mentioned the incident, before she looked back at her food, eyes from then-on staying fixed within the bowl of oats, while she searched for the will to speak to him. He waited, though slightly impatient that time was wasting away, and so he anxiously tapped a hoof against the side of the chair, as gently as he could, of course. After several long breaths, Blaze started to get up to take his dishes, ready to finally begin another very long and tedious day of searching and investigating. Before he could properly sit up, the little brown pegasus looked back up at him, eyes bearing a pain that he understood, the one that you only receive after being abandoned.

"I wanted to thank you. You gave me somewhere to stay, helped me when I had nopony. So, thank you. Thank you for helping me." He paused, mulling over how to respond, because he wasn't entirely sure how to deal with this. He had expected as much, but to deal with gratitude, he only did what he thought was right, and wasn't wanting praise. He just nodded, trying to move on, uncomfortable with the whole idea of ponies thanking him. The community was different, as he needed these ponies for a place to stay, and he considered that his thanks for the services he did.

Walking back into the kitchen, he felt a shadow following him the entire time, but he didn't need to look back to know it was little Asta tailing him. Once he had dropped his dishes off at the sink, thanking the colt there that was doing the dishes, he turned to talk to the brown filly that was making him uncomfortable.

"Look, I don't want to sound rude, but you can't just follow me everywhere. I realize this is all new to you, but go and talk to the others, you are welcome here as long as you need, but you should head on home before too long."

The filly dropped her head, and he already knew why, the amount of emotion rolling off of her was enough for even him to understand that this was not a path he had wanted to go down on this early in the morning.

"I don't really have a home." She barely whispered those words, but Blaze had heard them clear enough that he was now under total obligation to help her out.

"Well then, I guess you are welcome here as long as you would like to stay. I promise the others won't be too big of a problem. I am sorry for that, though. It is never easy to lose the one place you feel like you belong." He bowed down, placing a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to raise her emotion-filled, sparkling emerald green eyes to meet his own navy blue orbs. He let the look tell everything else that he wanted to say. He let her go, then proceeded to head towards the door, though he felt her suddenly at his side, so he let out a sigh and stopped. "Okay, listen. I am going to be out and about for the majority of the day, which gives you plenty of time to get to know your new housemates. I know it is daunting, and they may not all seem nice, but they really are. These ponies can be your family if you let them, and they won't hurt you, so there is no reason to be afraid of them."

With that, he left her to take on the rest of the community, already having a destination in mind. He wanted to finish recombing that abandoned section, just to be sure he hadn't missed anything important, and to see if he could find any clues about that mysterious Asta and why she was there. He was hoping that he could find anything useful about the disappearing foals.

Blaze sighed, and yet, once again, he hadn't found anything, though this time it was nothing at all. The sections he had searched through were, through and through, completely empty, and it was really grating on his nerves just how little he had actually accomplished.

He felt his wings take him away from the irritation that was slowly becoming the growing story of his failure to find his missing life, his amazing, loving little brother. He landed on the ramparts of the wall, much to the stationed guards' displeasure, not that he cared that much at that point. He took a single glance at the soldiers who were trying to get him to get off the wall and to return to the streets below like the common peasant he was. He frowned at the pair of guards speaking to him, and just shrugged past them, shoulder checking one on his way through, to which the guard did not respond kindly.

"Kid, who the hay do you think you are?" He sounded rather upset, almost as if his pride had been damaged by the 'simple' commoner that Blaze was. The latter being nonchalant up to the point that the guard grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and at that point, he felt an irresistible urge to vent.

"My damn name is Blaze Burn, and I think I am a pony who has had one rather shitty week! So how about you just shut the buck up, and let me do what I came here to do?!" The guard shut up quickly, making way for a heated Blaze to walk past him and towards the tower he had visited just a short time ago, after creating that super color explosion.

'Still need to come up with a name for that, especially since I did it in my dreams too.' He grumbled inside his head as he walked through the wooden door to stand before the guard sitting at the table. He stood there for half a second in silence while he waited for the guard to notice him and turn around. After that half second, he got impatient and cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the guard sitting there, and when that didn't work, he tried again. He got fed up with the antics after another clearing didn't get his attention, so he walked around the table, just in time for the guard to let out a loud snore, leaning his head back, drool handing from his open mouth.

Blaze stopped mid-step, half in disbelief and half in barely contained rage. After all the work the guards that he thought were half decent did, he suddenly found the factor that ruined them for him. He was suddenly filled with resolve as to why he had joined the thieves, and not these worthless wretches that stole taxed money from hard working ponies. He let out an angry snort, then grabbed a nearby plate, smashing it against the table, right in front of the sleeping guard.

Who immediately snapped awake, head spinning around as he tried to find the source of the loud crash. His eyes lay to rest upon Blaze, but not before his mouth blurted out the first thing to pop into his waking thoughts.

"ARE WE UNDER ATTACK AGAIN?"

Blaze just stood there, glaring daggers at the stumbling guard, who was now calming down from his rude awakening. Once the guard had recovered sufficiently, Blaze let out a snort of anger, body aching for him to let out this pent-up frustration on an incompetent fool. While he was restraining himself, the guard decided he had better get up before another guard saw him sleeping on the job, and slowly rose out of his seat, eyes never leaving the uninvited guest.

"No, but you _were_ just being a lazy bastard." Blaze spat out, nearly biting his own tongue as he clenched his jaw after the words burst out of his mouth.

"How in the hay did you get in here? Little colts aren't allowed in the tower unless supervised." The guard retorted, and was about to continue but the other two from outside came in through the door, curious about the sound of something slamming down.

Blaze figured this would be the best time for him to either leave or try his rapidly vanishing luck at getting something out of this visit at all. He knew the guard he woke would be difficult, and he knew that he had made a mistake in waking the napping stallion, so he decided to make quick and come up with an excuse.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry for that, I was just looking around for a commanding officer to see if they could help me find my missing brother. I accidentally dropped a plate after bumping into the table. I'm such a klutz, if you'll just excuse me, I'll get this cleaned up and be on my way." He rapidly scooped up the remaining porcelain shards and dumped them into what he hoped was a trash bucket before dashing out of the tower, heart pounding.

'Too close for comfort.' Were his only thoughts when he had gotten sufficient distance from the wall to slow his pace and land to reconsider what he could do. It was wearing on him that the city offered nothing that he could use, adding to that was that the creed wanted him to stay away because Al was apparently conspiring against him. He really felt like the world was turning everything upside down for its own sick and twisted amusement, and he was nothing but a cruel joke to be had.

Blaze walked around on the streets, taking little notice about what was happening around him, as his focus was entirely concentrated on the gears grinding away in his mind.

"Hey kid!" He turned to face the pony who was obviously calling to him, and was confused, as he had no clue who this unicorn was. "You were that poor colt that was attacked by those thieves a while back, no? The ones that chased you into an alley, and nearly beat the snot out of you?"

Ah, recognition flowed through his mind, as this must have been one of those guards that had been there to help him just in the nick of time. He smiled as warmly as he could, maybe not all the guards were useless pieces of-

"If you are still here, am I wrong to assume that life hasn't been too terrible to you?" Blaze had to give him some credit for being somewhat cheery, even under the circumstances. What confused him the most, as it spawned in his mind, was why this guard was off duty and strolling through the streets, and not in uniform patrolling.

"Well, I would have loved for that to be the case, but unfortunately no. Life has been cruel as of late, and I am trying to correct some of the problems it has thrown my way." He admitted roughly, though his curiosity was beginning to wash away his exhaustion, and he was torn between indulging that curiosity, and simply moving on. He gave in, and asked the question on his mind. "Why would a royal guard like you be walking around the city, instead of on duty patrolling? Or something like that that guards do when they are guarding?"

"Actually, I am on duty, just under cover at the moment." The guard replied evenly, though he spared a quick glance over his shoulder to watch for eavesdroppers. When he was satisfied that he was free to speak without being listened by those of whom it did not concern, he looked back at Blaze, his face growing suddenly sad, weary and tired. "You are Blaze Burn, no?"

Blaze just nodded in confirmation.

"Well, the royal Princess Luna asked me and my squad to investigate the disappearing foals from the city. We were given a list of the missing foals, as well as any immediate family that we could contact asking for information." Blaze was greatly relieved that Luna had taken it upon herself to help him find Star, and thus hold up her end of their bargain. His ears perked when the guard started to do his duty, though he felt it was unneeded at that point. "Is there any information that you could provide us that would help in the investigation? Locations he visited, interactions he had with others, or anything else?"

"The only thing I can offer, as I have searched every available building in this city, is what he said just before he disappeared. I haven't found anypony who could tell me what it meant, but I suppose it is worth a shot. He said: ' _Under the brightest of days, within the folds or darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever._ '"

The guard pulled out a note book with his magic, and wrote down the words though his face betrayed much more perplexity than even Blaze had felt. He appeared deep in thought, tapping the quill tip against his forehead while his eyes read the words he had written, over and over again.

"Strange. I received a few scraps of paper from the families of a few other of the foals, and they all had this exact message on them. Makes you wonder, is all of this for something bigger?"

Blaze felt the understanding of what was being spoken without words for sure, but he wanted to hear the guard say it. "You mean is there a rhyme and reason behind the disappearances? But one thing I want to say, I can only think of one particular pony in this entire world that would have the power to do this, and she just so happens to be the grand ruler of the night."

Under normal circumstances, Blaze knew for a fact that this guard would have him arrested for suggesting what he just said. These weren't normal circumstances, and the guard before him was raised several spots in Blaze's respect book for simply nodding. "Unfortunately, that is true, but we mustn't assume that our lovely Princess Luna is behind these yet. I can also think of a few other suspects, namely; some high-ranking gang members and other assortments of lowlifes. I will take what you have given me and begin searching around some more, I just can't quite wrap my head around the Princess doing something like this for any reason. She has no need for foals, and to take them away? Why?"

"Well, whatever you find would be greatly appreciated, because I need to get Star back. He's been gone for far too long. Good day, officer." Blaze parted with a brisk nod, wondering just what to do now, having attempted to speak with the wall guards about the disappearing siege tower, spoken with a royal agent about finding Star, and had searched through a large portion of the city, yet again. He supposed he could head back to the warehouse and try to get anything from that little filly, Asta. She might be willing to talk now that she has had a chance to settle. But there was a small part of him that wanted to let her rest and recover for a day or two more before he began in earnest.

Shrugging, he started to walk back to the community, musing on what he could do, the creed didn't want him back for a time, the search for Star was under way but making no progress, and he had little in the way of results in finding out about the mysterious vanishings happening. He felt useless right then, and needed something to take his mind off the failings that were going on, a flight would do him best.

Nodding to himself, he leaped into the air, gaining altitude as he decided where he could fly in peace, fearing that explosion happening again. It just attracted too much attention for his liking. He flew to the outer limits of the city, mostly slums in this district, and decided that he could achieve the most over the Everfree, he just had to be careful of the monsters within.

A short workout later, and Blaze felt sufficiently ready to call it a day and head back to the warehouse, knowing he would be in for some interesting events once he got there. Adding about half a dozen new members to an already full building will tend to lower one's image from the surrounding population. He would need to start getting some higher quality food for them, maybe start raiding the Castle kitchens, as it had been some time since he had been in them.

Much to his surprise, he hadn't even gotten back inside when he was greeted by several of the members, all of whom were walking around the building, stringing up tents and the such. He bore a very confused face as he walked with some of them to the back of the building, where a large pile of timber lay, large 4X8 and 4X6 beams stacked near the building, ready to be used for a large-scale construction project. He stared at the pile with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, though he was _quite_ curious about what project they had concocted without his knowledge this time around.

He looked around the groups of ponies clustering together to talk about the project, and soon found the pegasus he was looking for. He trotted over to the nameless pegasus, but before he could ask the foremost obvious question burning in his mind, the elder smiled and nodded at the heaps of wood ready to be used.

"We decided that with all the new comers to the building, using some of the vertical space would be nice. The rooms we had built were really temporary spaces until we had found someplace else we could move into, either together or separate. It wasn't until we realized just how much work we had put into the building that we figured out how much this building meant to us." He explained, slowly leading Blaze inside the warehouse while others had started the renovation process. Some of the younger ponies, ones who were physically capable of lifting heavy loads, were currently preparing to bring in a couple of shortened beams. "We decided to build permanent rooms, though with the current space, we needed to find a way to fit more inside. So, using this wood, we are going to remodel the interior, adding a second floor to the structure. It helps that we already have the steel support beams in there, so we saved on that, but we still need to make these rooms sturdy."

Blaze sat there watching as a unicorn used her magic to lift up the new wooden beam and slot it in to one of the steel pillars, bolting it in place with more magic. He watched in awe as more and more wood was added to the frame that the second floor would rest on. One thing that he had noticed was that not all of the rooms had been removed to make way for the support structure. The elder explained that as not all the occupants of the building wanted to sleep outside, as even in the summer they got cold.

So, after half an hour of construction, they called it a day, knowing if they got too far now, they would have to tear down the remaining walls to make way for the new rooms. Blaze was impressed.

"Well, that was an interesting affair, and I am glad you guys decided to make this place a permanent home." Blaze spoke during the evening meal, sitting next to the eldest pegasus and consuming the, once again, bland potato soup that had been served.

"Sure was. I hope we get this whole thing done soon, as I don't fancy sleeping outside in a tent for too long." The elder replied dryly as he stabbed his soup with a spoon, causing Blaze to chuckle. "Sometimes, you do stupid things that you regret, even if they are for the right reasons. Kid, don't do stupid things you will regret, because you will regret it every moment."

Blaze couldn't control his laughter at the elder's grumbling anger at having to sleep outside, because it wasn't like it was freezing outside, Blaze found the weather to be quite nice. The one thing he didn't like about the ordeal was that his room had been removed before he got back, and while he didn't have anything in there that was terribly important, they had moved Star's belongings without his permission.

Now, he was holding onto Star's old blanket, though he wasn't sure how long his little brother would want to hold onto it. For now, he was just going to stay with Star slept with the blanket, and thus would want him to keep it safe for him.

Blaze shook his head and decided to finish his suffering as soon as possible, and picked up the bowl of soup and just gulped it down as fast as he could. Done with the soup, he stood and returned it to the kitchen, respectfully thanking the filly doing the dishes this time. Upon returning to his seat, he found that the empty seat on his other side had been filled by Asta, looking much calmer and at ease. He nearly mistook her for another of the fillies from the original group, how little she cowered now.

'Whatever they did, it really worked. She hardly even looks the same now.' He thought as he got comfortable, expecting a bit of a conversation from her in just a moment.

"Mister Blaze Burn?" Her voice was still squeaky, but he wasn't expecting an entire change from her, though he wouldn't have been surprised if she suddenly spoke with supreme confidence. He looked over at her, noticing that she had reverted to looking back at the floor, though he could see she was trying to find the way to say something important.

"Please, it's just Blaze."

"Blaze. Right." She took a deep breath, readying to spit it out. "Why am I here?"

Blaze paused, the innocent question catching him unprepared, and he wasn't entirely sure how to answer it. He opened his mouth to give a response, but nothing came out, so he figured he should think of an answer to give. He thought it over in three seconds before the reason dawned on him, and all he had to do now was come up with a way to say it gently. "Well, could I ask you a question before I answer yours?"

"Okay, why were you hiding under that desk?" He asked when she nodded, which also caught her off guard, though with her posture, it was particularly difficult to notice the flabbergast expression that was hiding within her features. Blaze knew it was there, if so ever cleverly concealed, it was there.

"You don't want to know." She mumbled into her mane, her eyes shooting between him and her hooves. He placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder, hoping to ease her into telling him what he was missing, and maybe they would finally put this to rest. Her eyes remained on his hoof, as though it was some strange thing she had never seen before, and she finally cracked. "I was left there."

Blaze kept the hoof on her shoulder, feeling pity that a little filly would just be abandoned by her own and left to die. This world was making him more and more sick at all the atrocities that were happening, it was bad enough he had to turn to larceny to help out his friends, but that the innocent were so left behind. He was losing hope of being able to help at all, and Star had helped him so much.

"Why would your parents do that?" He muttered more to himself than to her as an actual question, but she responded with an answer that broke what remained of his heart even further.

"I don't think I have parents, I grew up in an orphanage home until it fell apart." She sounded about as forlorn as he felt, and it nearly shattered his will to try to help this world. He knew he had to go on, though. For Star's sake if for nothing else, and these ponies needed him, even if they were starting to reveal their inner independence. "I was grabbed by some strangers who were going to sell me to somepony somewhere far away, and I got away from them, hiding in that building. They searched for me, but then they left, saying that I wasn't worth the effort."

"I'm so sorry, nopony should ever have to go through something as terrible as that." He said as he pulled her into a brief hug, separating as quickly as he had initiated it. He let her finish her food, opting to sit in silence as he contemplated what he could do to help these honest ponies who had done nothing to earn the treatment they received. He supposed the Castle kitchen would be the next place he would visit, and after that, he could help out with the construction for a day or two. Something to hold him off until he went back to the creed. He had to know just what the buck they were doing and what was going on against him.

Asta finished her meal, taking her empty bowl to the kitchen and promptly returning to the seat next to him, which he found both amusing and annoying. She was going to need to get to know the others, just as Star had done, and it was that thought that struck within Blaze something terrible.

Star.

Star meant everything to him, but the way these ponies were moving on, it was tearing through him faster than anything he had experienced yet. Why would they promise to help, but so easily forget about him? Star was important here, was he not? And they just moved on as if nothing happened.

Still, he had his doubts as to their actual efforts, and he was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, as many did seem to enjoy Star's presence. Surely they would want to see him safe and sound just as much as he did, right? It was that thought process that stuck in his mind as he conversed idly with some of the members, asking about the general welfare of the inhabitants. He spoke until he felt tired enough to call it in and head to where they had pitched a tent for him, thanking the ponies for their generosity and bidding them goodnight.

Blaze slept through the night without a single dream, something he was very grateful for, past experiences considered. When he awoke, he was very sore, as his body had adjusted to sleeping on beds and the compact dirt was not nearly as comfortable. He made a note to himself to get a cloud or something to sleep on instead at some point.

He grabbed a quick breakfast, again consisting of unflavored oats, before making his way to the Castle in the early morning light, hoping that the guards would be too lazy or distracted to notice his intrusion. The wall he had invaded the first time with Star was his infiltration point again, because it was lightly patrolled and the single guard didn't seem too invested in watching the streets below. He rocketed past the unicorn pacing the wall, diving into the bushes below for cover. Once he knew he was safe, he walked past the smithy building, down several side streets to observe the servant's entrance door. He waited until the patrols had left the area before leaping across the cobble path and sliding through the door.

Once inside, he used his shaky memory of the layout of the Castle to maneuver to the kitchens. Which lay empty at the moment, much to his pleasure, and he shut the door behind him as he entered, smelling something in the oven. His nose was overwhelmed by the number of foods currently being cooked, which warmed his stomach, but made evident that he was short on time. He hurried over to one of the doors that he hoped led to a pantry, and opened it wide, gaping at what lay before him; bags and bags of ingredients. Within this single pantry lay enough resources to feed the community on bread for several weeks, and the amount of sugar in it was astounding.

With his limited knowledge of the Princesses' eating habits, he would only be able to guess that the contents of the pantry were for Celestia's cakes, which she had made abundantly clear that she adores with obese fascination. He knew there was little he could do here, but maybe he could play a small prank on the cooks, and maybe get far enough to prank the Princess of the Sun herself. All he had to do was mix some of the bags together, and later on, they would catch up to the chefs.

He opened the burlap sacks, mixing ingredients together, baking powder with baking sugar, mixing flour into the sugar, though he doubted that would do much. It is the thought that counts.

Blaze finished his devious task, then proceeded to his objective, heading into the other pantries, loading himself with as many loaves of bread as he could, knowing he would still have to make his anonymous escape at some point. He couldn't overload himself with baked goods just because he wanted to rob the Princesses, he could always come back for more. He shifted the loaves around in his hooves, taking to the air so he could use his limbs for holding onto what he was taking with him. Flying just over the floor, burdened by the bread, he made his way out of the kitchens, not wanting to press his luck too far.

Outside, he rushed around corners when he heard hoofsteps, taking his time in evading detection while trying to be as fast as possible. He was successful right until he got to the final stretch, where all he had to do was cross the bare strip of hallway.

Simple.

He hid around the corner, preparing to burst across the quiet hallway and go through the door. He had just started to move from out of the corner and build up his momentum, when the doors at the far end began to open. Immediately, Blaze flared his wings to stop, and he leaned back to make a U-turn and head back to cover. He had planted his back against, tail just passing behind the threshold as the guard patrol entered the hallway.

Blaze pressed himself as close to the wall as possible, mind racing for a solution. The guards on patrol hadn't seen him, so he held his breath as he tried to find a solution that would enable him to leave the castle without being detected, with the bread as well. The bread was the reason he was here in the first place.

He let out a slow, silent breath, brain heating up as he processed where he was, the relative location of the guards based on the sound of their steps, and how much time he had to come up with a solution. 10 seconds. He had 10 seconds to escape the situation before the guards would notice the intruder and thief among them. 10 seconds shifted to nine, and he put the mental counter in the back of his mind to tick away, while he focused on getting out.

Eight seconds.

Blaze shifted his eyes to the walls around him, noting that the tapestries above were hanging on rather large bars.

Seven seconds.

He thought about the probabilities that the guards would look up at the banner holders.

Six seconds.

He figured that if he couldn't get away, as the hallways were long in the part of the castle, he would have to go up.

Five seconds.

Well, if nothing else appeared, he could just hide behind the curtains. These guards weren't the brightest, and he knew from experience that sometimes they let the most simple of thing past them.

Four seconds.

He shrugged, might as well try the curtains. Not like he couldn't fly out as fast as possible, and he _was_ running out of time to get hiding. By now, he could hear the guards breathing, something that reminded him that this wasn't the first time he was hiding inside the castle. Probably not the last either.

Three seconds.

Flapping as gently as he could, he rose up to the top of the banner before him, depicting both sisters wrapped in a circle.

Two seconds.

BY now, he was having difficulty balancing on the bar, as it wasn't entirely large enough to hold him easily. He was stubborn, as this was now his only chance of staying hidden from the guards, and he remained fixed atop the cold metal.

One second.

Blaze held his breath as the shadows of the guards broke around the corner, and he froze, praying that both his balance and the bar held. Now was the moment of truth, either the guards noticed the trembling tapestry, or they were incompetent and he would remain undetected. For the sake of the country, a small part of him was hoping the guards would show some competence and find him. Just a small part, though. His family relied on him to bring in the supplies they needed to survive, and the country would be able to survive without useful guards.

The guards passed the corned, barely casting a glance in the direction of the banner, before continuing on their route. He supposed the open windows would make the shifting banner to look like taking a small, undetectable breeze and moving because.

Blaze felt his lungs burning for air, but he waited to breath until the guards had walked around another corner, down the hallway. He let out a burst of breath while instantly trying to inhale at the same time. All he achieved was a coughing fit and the bread nearly dropping to the floor. When he recovered, he drifted down to the door, and pressed an ear to the wood, listening for anything outside. When he heard silence, he opened the door, allowing himself to bask in the morning heat before taking off, flying straight over the wall with the single guard. Said guard didn't even bat an eyelash at the silent passing of the young pegasus, whose feathered wings carried him through the air without a beat of sound.

Blaze flew over the cottages and brick buildings that still stood in the wealthier districts, though he could see the poverty was breaking through, even here. Over the houses he soared, taking in the glinting of the sun as it bore its early warmth that would soon become heat as the day wore on. Nothing seemed so peaceful in the capitol as the blissful calm of the morning of success.

He entered the now-renovating again warehouse through the back door, hoping to speak to one of the unicorns working on the renovations about progress as he passed by. He learned what the plans were for the day, and offered to help when he could. Dropping the bread in the kitchen to be sorted and dispersed by the cooks, he went to the back yard, seeking one of the workers to ask about where he could be of assistance. He had an hour or two that he could spare until he had to get back to finding Star, which entailed he was going to search through the Everfree for a bit, as he was running short on places to search.

He was told to help move the cut lumber, so that was what he set himself to do, helping some of the other not-so-young colts shift around the large planks to wherever the elder ponies wanted them.

"Why do we always get used for the heavy lifting?" His ears perked and rotated to listen to the colt behind him, who was muttering to one of his friends. "We always get assigned to move this crap around, while some of the others just sit around barking orders at us. It isn't fair that they get to do nothing while we do all the work."

"Pardon me for interrupting, but I don't think you have all the information." Blaze grunted as he lifted another larger support beam and rotated it so he could get it through the door. The complaining colt ducked as the end of the beam swung over his head. "Because I know for a fact that there are very few ponies in this community that don't do some form of work to keep us all here and well. Sure, many don't do this hard-ass work, but that is because they physically can't."

He was explaining to the colt the entire time, who had taken the opportunity to get away from work listening to the slightly older colt's lecture on work. He knew what the earth pony was doing, and while he didn't really approve, he figured if it meant he could get the colt's attention, it would be worth it. So he continued.

"You are young, which means you are strong enough to carry heavy loads. Would you expect somepony like Asta or Star to try to lift this beam here?" When the colt shook his head, he nodded and dropped the beam where the lead unicorn indicated for him to do so. "Exactly what I thought, many ponies here don't have the ability to offer physical strength, as their strength lies in some other field that keeps us running. I doubt you are a good cook, as I know I am not a particularly great one. We need chefs, we need cleaners, we need ponies that can do other things besides labor."

The colt hung his head as the passed back through the back door, waiting off to a side as a pair of unicorns carried in another support beam for the internal structure. Blaze paused to refocus his attention on who he was talking to, who was now being joined by his friend, who had presumably discovered the tactic that this colt was using. He looked over the pair, who were obviously here because of their physical appearance; the one he was talking to was bulky, built for farm work and possibly construction.

His friend, while not nearly as wide in the chest or shoulders, had a lean build that promised hidden potential. While he thought about their obvious reason for being on the lumber yard, another one was slowly developing in the shadows of his mind.

"Guys, for now, just please think about it like this: you work out here, doing the hard stuff so that those who can't don't have to. It means you both will be getting stronger, and at some point that strength will open a lot of doors for you. I may be able to get some of the doors open sooner rather than later, so work hard here and now, and I could try to get you both some work that would put you out and about."

The both blinked idly, then turned to share a very confused look, gears so visibly turning in their skulls. Eventually they just silently turned to him, nodding in agreement before turning 'round and walking over to a stack of the larger planks.

Blaze was pleasantly surprised that they had taken his word on it so quickly, as they were the kind of youth that tended to be quite defiant to authority. Still if it meant that they helped get this done, then he would happily take what he could get, especially since they had potential to help his ranking with the creed. Of course, that depended on the creed needing brute workers, but if they did, then he could supply them with more hirelings to get that line of work filled and running smoothly.

Satisfied that he had solved multiple problems with a single motion, he returned to lifting large planks of wood and moving them around. What satisfied him even more was whenever he returned from inside the building as the duo was about to enter, he could see their curious glances his direction, before flashing away suddenly. He knew that they were _very_ curious about his proposal to get them out of the warehouse and doing something with their lives.

He knew that it was that kind of curiosity that he could use, curiosity that he was able to harness and control them with. He would be able to guide them to the creed if they were willing to accept them. If not, well he would find a place that they could be of use, as the community has no need for bodyguards or brutes. They would only be good for the manual labor, but even that would be in short supply, so unless they showed that they were talented in something else, they would not be the most helpful staying there.

At that, Blaze let out a sigh, pausing in his work to take a breather and to let some of the others do a bit of work. What confused his right then was where that line of thought came from. "Seriously, why the buck would I think something like that? I know these are trying times, but these folks wouldn't kick somepony out for not providing something in return for a bed. It is not what they do or believe in.'

Blaze decided that he had done enough work that his brain was sufficiently exhausted and needed a moment to rest and recover before he went out and did something to take his mind away from the crushing joke that was life.

Entering the house, he was very satisfied with the progress that they had all achieved, in one day, they had completed the main framing for the internal walls, all that was left for that was allowing the concrete they had set to solidify. He smiled to the others he had worked with, showing his gratitude that they were all willing to put in the effort to see their building become a home. He kept going, though, not stopping but only slowing to nod in recognition with those he knew best.

Into the kitchen he went, passing only a few ponies that he truly knew, and a few that he recognized, though a great few wanted to thank him for the effort he had put in. Or to thank him for one reason or another, usually pertaining to his saving their lives or giving them a place to stay. He was really grateful that he was able to help, but it had been a very long couple of days, and he was starting to feel a little hungry. It was midafternoon, too late for lunch, but not near enough evening to call it an early dinner, so he decided to just grab an apple from the pantry.

Biting into the succulent fruit, he relished the fact that he was fortunate enough to have a family to call his own. He had seen some of the atrocities that these ponies struggled through on a daily basis, and it could have been disheartening. But he had a roof over his head, ponies watching his back, and a source of food that he would make sure didn't stop flowing in.

He sat down at a stool near the counter, enjoying the fruit while trying to decide on what to do for the remainder of the day. He figured at some point he would go out flying to exercise his wings, but he felt that would have to wait until evening at least. It was always easier to fly at night during the summer heats, away from others, unbothered by attention-seeking ponies that would only distract him from becoming a better flier.

"You did good today."

Blaze flinched around, though his head had gotten just far enough to see who was addressing him before he was able to calm down. Walking up to him was a familiar gold-maned, purple earth pony who set strange signals off all over his body. Sometimes he hated that he was reacting, but sometimes, something deep inside him yearned for something he was not sure what yet.

And those emerald eyes, all seeing, he was sure that they saw more than a normal pony ought to see, like she could read his thoughts. Just the way she seemed so sure of how he was going to act to something, it alarmed him, but at the same time he felt it very intriguing.

"Thanks, but really I doubt I did anything extraordinary, just helped move some stuff around, helped out where I could. I didn't do anything special, and I didn't even do the most work out there." He shrugged, taking another bite out of the very delicious apple in his hoof. Before his eyes went completely back to the apple, though, he thought he saw a flash of color. His eyes traced back to the mare now at his side, but the colors had disappeared, inciting another mental shrug. He was seeing things.

"You may not have done that much today, but the amount of work you have done for us all, it shows that you are more than willing to help those who cannot do so themselves."

"Eh." Another shrug followed by yet another hungry bite of the apple. Something was gnawing away in his stomach, and this apple was filling a hole that was suddenly there in that stomach. He would have been concerned, even frightened, but the apple was just so good that he could only fill his hole with this amazing fruit.

"You are too modest. You have single-hoofedly brought us from the edge of oblivion into a life where we will not only be accepted by others, but we can thrive. You have no idea just how much that will mean to some of us, and I suspect that when you are older, you will be asked to accept more than one oath of fealty from some of these wonderful ponies." She said in a tone that was soothing to his ears, and he was afraid that if he listened to it much more, that he might just fall asleep right there. She took a seat in the stool right next to him, and he felt his body suddenly ease as tension he hadn't known he was holding suddenly rushed off his shoulders.

That peculiar sensation from his stomach left, only to be replaced by another, far more familiar sensation. A sensation that he had only felt whenever this mare in front of him was around, and it was a sensation he loathed about as much as he hated Star being missing. He despised the idea of something inside him being so unfamiliar that he didn't know what to do with it.

Of course, living up to the idea that he had about her being able to read minds, Scaled Equilibrium chuckled as he fought the internal war in his intestines. She was polite enough to wait for him to regain control before locking eyes with him, and he could have sworn that he saw her emerald eyes flash vibrant purple and then back again in the blink of an eye. Something about this particular mare just screamed at him to understand, he wanted to know why she always seemed so separated from the crowd, why she just _felt_ different than the rest.

She was willing to offer a sort of explanation to his silent inquiry, and she stated as much. "We should speak somewhere else about some of the issues troubling you. Come with me."

Blaze felt his stomach practically rip him out of his stool to stand before her, and his thoughts felt stuffed, as if he was trying to think under a thick layer of mud. He had been encased in mud before, that stuff could be brutal if thick enough, an experience he did not want to repeat. Not that those thoughts ever crossed his mind, as at this point, there were exactly zero thoughts flitting around inside his skull.

He dumbly nodded while she carefully walked around him and guided him through the construction zone. She led him past the onlookers, some of the mares smiled knowingly at the purple earth pony, while a few others went between glaring at her and watching him carefully. She led him through the remnants of the old corridors, ones that lasted so shortly before being torn down and replaced, until they came to a door that he had not seen until then. It was different than the usual cheap doors that they had made, this one was carved out of a deep ebony, engraved with strange symbols he had no idea as to the meaning to.

She walked up to the door, and without indicating she was stopping, continued until he was sure she would smack into the wood. But before he could stop her, the door opened as if of its own free will, allowing her to enter the room without breaking stride. He stood there, jaw agape, just trying to wonder just what had happened.

'Maybe she has a unicorn that opens the door for her, or she had the door enchanted and will open for her whenever she is intending to pass through.' He had stopped to try to make sense of what he had witnessed.

"You are correct, young Burn." She commented from inside the dark room. "Now enter, and I may answer that which you seek."

He hesitated for a moment, wondering just what was going to happen if he stepped hoof in that room, an unknown, dark place where magic could be felt in the air. Magic. That wasn't right, no earth pony has access to any magic, so unless she was harboring a bunch of really powerful sorcerers, then something was definitely wrong here. Still, she seemed to know a lot more than she let on, so it might be for the best.

He slowly walked inside, and was greeted by a pleasant scent in the air, as if he had walked into a meadow of wild flowers. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of roses and daffodils, something he wasn't entirely expecting. As he walked deeper into the room, his eyes began to adjust to the darkness, taking in more of the surroundings, which greatly astounded him.

For inside of Scaled Equilibrium's room, sitting in the dead center, lay a massive black cauldron sitting over a bed of hot coals. Hanging on racks and racks along the walls were dozens and dozens of dried or drying plants, many of which he could not recognize, though he was no botanist. Some of the ones he did recognize were not plants one would have just growing in their everyday garden; plants like nightshade, a bottle of death cap mushrooms, some snakeroot.

"You wished to know more about me, and why I appear as such an enigma to you and some of the other residents." It was not a question, but Blaze just nodded in response anyway. "Well, we have some time, and I know some things about the disappearance of your little brother that you have more than enough time to spare this conversation."

Blaze immediately zoned in on those words not heading that she was about to continue, as that little blue bundle of fur dominated his mind. "What do you know about Star?"

"Much, but I understand you mean his disappearance." She replied calmly, taking a stance in front of her cauldron, reaching around the side of it and pulling out a ladle. She plopped the ladle into the viscous green liquid in the pot, and the coals glowed in response, heating up as she stirred the liquid. "You must understand, what I see is not certain, and what I see is only of a time that the Spirits can understand."

"What?"

"I know you will have time to speak about this, because I have had visions of you reuniting with your brother. Star will be returned to you, but it will be after a very long absence, and you will both have changed by then. The Spirits only gave me the sight of the two of you finding each other as soon as hardships begin to strike." She spoke evenly, reaching behind her and grabbing a pouch from the darkness and turning it over to dump the contents in the cauldron. The moment the powder touched the liquid, sparks flew out of the reaction, lighting the room in a bright green glow, and in Blaze's eyes Scaled Equilibrium's features seemed to glow ghastlier than they should have. "Spirits! I plead with thee to show me thine's visions of what is to come, what may come, and what will never be! I plead with the to light the path thee hath set for young Blaze Burn, whose brother was torn from him for thine grand plans! I plead with thee, show him the Way!"

As she shouted those words, the cauldron bubbled at a furious pace as green foam frothed over the edges, wrapping around her hooves unnaturally. She started muttering in a language that he could have only described as gibberish, while the foam around the cauldron grew thicker and wider, engulfing the area with a bright green fog. The fog wrapped farther and farther up Scaled Equilibrium's legs, reaching around her midsection, while her eyes began to glow bright green.

"Yesss." She hissed though her mouth moved, the voice that came out did not sound like her at all. This new voice was raspy, almost as if it was old, unused and ancient, but something about it seemed otherworldly, somewhat like something one would expect to come from creatures using differently shaped mouths than ponies. It was terrifying to Blaze, and he wanted little more than to be out of the room, as far away from this madness as he possibly could be. But the fog had reached him, and while it never touched him, the fog clung to the air around him just inches from his fur, and shaped around his body, slowly filling the space he did not occupy.

"Umm." He was utterly unsure what he could do now.

"He has the blood. He will be something of great importance in bringing the new age, bringing the new era of power. Blaze Burn, blood of the Seventh Order. Son of the Wind, and offspring of the Mountains. You are destined for greatness, as tragedy befalls even the highest of the high, you and your kin shall triumph and lead." Scaled Equilibrium's possessed voice rasped out, while her eyes remained fixed on a point in space, glowing the color of the fluids leaking onto the floor.

"Blaze Burn; Wielder of the Feather, he who takes the shadows and crushed light and life alike. Be wary of the cursed, refrain from the path of the Necrom. Be vigilant of the blessed, and abstain from the trail of the Holy. You are destined for greatness, but the side you choose will become the sole power and upset the balance."

At this point, though he was untouched, he felt paralyzed in total confusion. This was not what he was expecting, some talking about just what was going on, sure, but this was something that Blaze hadn't thought was actually a real thing. There were rumors of mystics and ponies who use magics not found in unicorn spells, but to know that one such pony lived in the same building as him, and that she was revealing it to him. Before him stood an earth pony who used magic, and was being controlled by something that was obviously incredibly powerful. The situation was making his skin crawl, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted this kind of information.

"I'm not entirely following." He managed to mutter, having some feeling returning to his body as the shock slowly faded back to oblivion. This was a turn of events in life, sure, and he would properly freak out about it later, but this demanded a cool head. He needed to clear the table for his break down later, and it became a top priority. "What are you talking about?"

Just when it seemed like she was going to respond, the possessing force had her lips curl back in a wicked smile. The green glow in her eyes shifted, and Blaze felt it sear on him, causing an involuntary nervous shift on his part. The gaze was very disconcerting from his position.

"You will be given a choice in time. A choice that will alter the very structure of society, should you choose to involve yourself. Only one may rule, only one may conquer, and only one will reap the benefits of your allegiance." She said as the glow began to remove itself from her, pooling around both their hooves. Once the fog had separated completely from the mare, she collapsed in a heap, and the only thing preventing Blaze from going to her was that the fog had piled in front of him. It remained expressionless, blank and green, but he felt like it was judging him.

After an unsettling moment, the fog dissipated, leaving the two ponies in silence as Blaze hurried over to the slumped Scaled Equilibrium. He gently lifted her up, while she stirred and cracked open her eyes.

"I need to rest." She spoke in a voice so raspy, he was sure that a part of that possession was still affecting her. "When Spirits take control, it is rough on the body and mind. I will need time to recover, then I will be able to answer the questions I can see burning inside of you. Until then, leave me on my bed, I do not think I can walk right now."

He did as she commanded, carefully lifting her and carrying her through a side door to a bland bed. The room seemed to contrast with the rest of her space, as this area was clean, with no evidence of witchcraft anywhere to be seen. No plants hanging to dry or scent the air. No magic clinging to the very fabric of space. It was a normal room, sparring space for a single bed, large enough for the mare, but barely so. He walked over the rug, feeling the soft material beneath him, and his opinion of her just shattered, completely unsure what to think.

He placed her in her bed, helping her under the covers, before promptly turning and leaving. He shut the door behind her, casting a glance around the dark room with the plants and cauldron, a shiver running down his back. Walking as fast as he could, he left the place behind, knowing all too well that he was going to be having some crazy dreams about this later on.

That brought a frown to his muzzle, knowing that while Princess Luna was in command of the dream realm, she only interacted with him whenever he had those crazy 'visions' or whatever she had called them. She may have control over the dreams, but she showed little interest in the common folk's dreams. He would just have to suffer whatever his subconscious through at him.

"Why the long face?" He jumped when the voice called out to him, whipping around to see who was speaking to him.

His reaction surprised the elder pegasus very little, as the nameless elder had seen that many ponies were living with stress. Sudden appearances tended to bring forth these kinds of reactions. He just waited for Blaze to calm down, chuckling as the white pegasus eased into a more comfortable stance.

"It's nothing, just a bad taste in my mouth from all the nonsense and whatnot going on around here lately." He mumbled, taking a spot next to what he basically saw as a mentor figure, and the two walked down through the construction zone. They avoided the others the best they could, walking around groups when necessary, until they appeared outside in the backyard. "That was possibly the most insane experience I think I have ever had, or ever will have."

"Oh?"

"I tried to speak with Scaled Equilibrium about her weird musings, but it did not turn out how I was expecting it to."

"Did you at least enjoy yourself?" The elder had wide grin on his face, thinking that something had happened that was on most of the communities' members' minds. "You should consider yourself lucky she chose you. There are a great many colts and stallions here that are completely envious of you."

That caused Blaze to halt, looking at the elder with what one could only guess to be pure confusion, that morphed into utter shock. Then his face turned beet red, and he shook his head rapidly, trying to diffuse this before it got way out of hoof. "THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN! We seriously just talked! I swear!"

"Uh-huh, that's what the foals are calling it nowadays."

"Hey! We started to talk, she dropped some plants into her cauldron, by the way, did you know she does that weird witchcraft stuff?" This made the elder cock his head to the side, genuinely surprised about the information, but his jaw dropped when Blaze finished his very rapid explanation: "She dropped the stuff in the cauldron, then a green fog came out of it and sort of like possessed her. It made her eyes turn solid green, and then she started to speak. Only, it wasn't her voice that was coming out! It was like something else was using her tongue to talk to me! It said some really strange shit!"

"We need to talk about this in private, right now!" The elder suddenly flared his wings, grabbing Blaze by the hoof and ripping him away. The two burst away from the immediate area, turning skywards and rocketing into the empty blue, heading towards an area of the city that wasn't quite abandoned, but had a small population left. The nameless pegasus took Blaze into the courtyard of an old home, planting him under the tree in the middle of the open space while he peeked out and into the sky. When he was satisfied that they weren't being followed, he turned back to face the very confused Blaze.

"Uh, why did we just do that?"

"Don't tell anypony about what you experienced, got it?" His voice was rough, commanding, and definitely laced with fear and worry. "If anypony finds out we have a witch, we'll have the royal guard busting down our door to capture her!"

The franticness of the elder was concerning to the young Blaze, who until this point had no idea that witches were a real thing. But even the discovery wasn't that concerning, not a single pony he had ever heard had ever mentioned the existence of witches, so why was it such a big deal? He asked that question, which only made the elder's worry grow to unbelievable portions as he paced back and forth trying to figure out something to do. He was not prepared for this information, as witches were considered fiends to be dealt with by authorities for a very long time now.

"Alright, I have a plan. We go and get an audience with the Princesses and inform them that we have found a witch, and let them deal with it, as it is none of out business." The elder nodded at his own intelligence.

"Um, I can't really do that." Blaze finally figured out what was going on, and he wasn't about to let somepony in his own family put another in danger for something that is considered taboo. The elder turned to Blaze, who had stood up and walked over to the pacing wreck of a pegasus. He put a comforting shoulder on his shoulder, easing the worried pegasus enough for the younger to reassure him that this will all be handled.

"Look, Scaled Equilibrium has been with you guys for how long? And when had she ever done anything dangerous, or even harmful to the community? She is a good mare, and she has been more than helpful to us all, so I see no reason why we should send her away just because she does some weird things in her room."

"But she was possessed by unnatural spirits!" The nameless protested.

"And she payed the price for it. She hasn't taken it too well, and I left her in her room to rest, because it took a lot out of her to do so. She will be fine, but she also seemed to know what she was doing, and nothing got out of hoof." Blaze took his hoof off the elder's shoulder and led him to the roots of the tree, forcing him to sit down and take in a deep breath. He sat down next to his mentor, giving off his best aura of confidence and ease, hoping to settle the nerves of the elder. "She hasn't proven to be a threat, so I hope you trust me on this, because I think that she will be more of a helpful member of this family. I think she won't be a problem unless you make her one, so please do the right thing and welcome our resident witch."

"I . . . I guess I could try to understand why she does what she does." Blaze smiled when the acceptance finally came out. "But only if she promises not to use her voodoo magic on us. We have enough problems as it is, and adding whatever this witch does will not make our lives any easier."

"Done. I know she will be happy that you all accepted her as she is, and that was the right thing to do. Thank you."

"Something tells me you are doing this for a specific reason." The elder had finally calmed himself, and Blaze was already preferring him when he was stressed out, as this meant that he was now going to badger the young pegasus about this obscene idea that he was romantically interested in anypony then. Blaze growled in frustration before shaking his head and flaring his wings to take off. "And he doesn't deny it!"

Blaze launched into the air, leaving a cloud of dust on the ground for the elder to fly through, just because he didn't agree with the sentiment. He didn't care if it was getting to be that time of the year, where all the mares went crazy, and got all clingy and invasive. He didn't worry about it because he was busy trying to make something of his life, and any distractions would cost him. But now that Star had disappeared, he had an extra task on his plate, and he really needed to focus.

No, trying to deal with these accusations and the attention of the mares would have to wait, as he had a little blue brother to find.

He was flying at a leisure pace back to the warehouse when the elder caught up with him. It was slightly irritating that others were actually believing this whole thing that he was having relations with the other members. Why they would want to even waste effort on it, he would never be able to comprehend, though he supposed that it was just that ponies needed things to gossip over. It could be a society thing that every day population enjoys having material to converse over, this could just be one of those things.

Still, it was the start of heat season, and that was something he had gotten from the other males in the building. Heat hit those in the building pretty bad, as there was a dominating number of females inside, and things had gotten messy once or twice, apparently.

Blaze shook his head when his visitor made a noise to get his attention. Eventually, the two glided back to the building in silence, landing in the now empty backyard, as those in the community had gone inside. Blaze ignored the elder's persistent comments, heading straight for the door to get to the kitchen for something to eat. He shouldered his way past the elder when he stood before the younger pegasus, trying to stop his path to get his attention.

"Sonny, wait!" The elder called as Blaze's red and white tail disappeared into the building and through the mass of ponies standing about amid the lumber. Blaze ignored him in his irritation and went for a beeline path into the kitchen, where he promptly grabbed an apple, something he noticed he ate a lot of. He idly thought about the events that were passing through, just wondering where his life had gone so horribly wrong, and decided it was when Star vanished.

Thinking about it more, while munching on the apple and standing in the kitchen, staring at the ceiling, the more convinced he became that it was Star that had held his life together. And the more he backed the idea, the more distraught he became, as his only reason for truly living was to protect his brother, and now that was gone, he had no purpose. The community needed his help to get back up, but now they were standing on their own, others had finally taken up jobs and would bring in the aid to keep them all alive. He was not needed, and he could be replaced. That struck him almost as hard as Star's disappearance had.

The apple dropped from his hoof, which stopped in the motion of bringing it up to his mouth for another bite, and slammed on the floor, rolling away under the counter. He stopped breathing, while his eyes stuck, fixed on the thought as if it were glued to the wall, and he nearly gave up. The one thing that brought him back was a little voice in the back of his head urging him to look for Star, to find who had taken him, and to punish the foal nappers responsible. It convinces his nearly shattered mind that Star was taken, and that he had to find him.

He closed his mouth, feeling the air sucking the moisture right out of it, and turned to leave the building, renewed vigor to rescue his brother. His mind reeled with the hope that wherever Star was, he would be able to get to him and save him, but there was a tick in the back of his skull, warning about some information he had received earlier: Scaled Equilibrium had said that Star was in a place that he could not get to, that he wouldn't see him for a very long time, but would be united eventually.

Still, what kind of brother wouldn't give everything they had to find their little brother, and Blaze was determined to not be that kind. He knew his resources were being exhausted, but he still had to try, even if it meant tearing himself down to the bone to do so.

He was following this thought train as he left the kitchen, nearly walking right into the nameless pegasus, who was himself about to enter the kitchen after him. He stopped, blinking away his surprise before nodding to the pegasus and continuing on his way. The elder followed after him, trying to get his attention amid the hustle of the workers. "Blaze, wait! Look kid, I just wanted to apologize for my actions earlier. They weren't right, and I shouldn't have gone and assumed you were doin' anything like that, so I'm gonna say it: I'm sorry."

Blaze stopped when he heard the apology, turning just enough so that he could look the elder in the eyes, and simply nodded. "I accept your apology, but make sure it doesn't happen again. I've got enough to worry about as it is, and all this nonsense about me _mating_ with somepony; well, it's just bucking ridiculous. I've got more important things to do than play around with mares."

The elder spoke his thanks before his gaze shifted from the young pegasus to something behind him. Blaze revolved his head back to facing in front of him, and he saw what had caught the elder's attention. Asta was working her way through the air towards them. Blaze waited for her to reach them, and watched as she landed in front of him, looking rather exhausted, with her mane frizzled and her wings were slightly twitchy.

"You okay?" He couldn't stop the words from flowing out of his mouth, and he was about to ask in a more appropriate manner when she answered his question first.

"Yeah, just a little tired, is all. I was wondering though, why is it that you are always flying around, you rarely seem to be here, and why does nopony want to talk about it?" The question left not only Blaze in shock, but it apparently also effected the nameless pegasus, as they both stared at her. When she had taken her eyes off of Blaze to wipe them with a hoof, he looked to his mentor for guidance, who only shrugged in confusion. "I was curious why the others seem to hold you in high regards, but you can only be found for a little bit of the day."

"Um, okay. I think I know how to answer this." He began slowly, very unsure of how this could have gotten so strange so quickly. She had been living in the community for what? Two days? Three? She couldn't have possibly picked all of this up in just a few days, it just wasn't possible for a pony of her age, however old she was.

Her eyes sparkled in a way that exposed her consuming curiosity, which was something that Blaze found both endearing and highly discombobulating.

"Well, I think I can simplify this enough for you to understand. I helped these wonderful ponies out when they needed it, got them back on their hooves. That is why they respect me, but recently, my little brother, Star Burn, went missing. So did a lot of other foals around the city, and it hit us all pretty hard."

As he explained that last part, he heard the elder behind him cough, though it sounded strangely like he was muttering underneath it; 'understatement.' He wasn't going to press the issue, so he continued trying to sate this filly's curiosity.

"I've been out a lot recently trying to find my brother, as well as working so I can afford to keep us all as happy as possible."

"Oh." She appeared thoughtful for several tense seconds, seconds Blaze was not happy spending hoping this curiosity of hers would end. Much to his surprise, his hopes proved fruitful, as she beamed brightly, suddenly very happy and bouncing away as she finished her thinking face: "Okay!"

Blaze stood there for several longer moments, just trying to understand what the buck just happened. He stared at where Asta had vanished among the crowd in, brain feeling like it was frying with all the process he was trying to do. It felt like he was bashing his skull against one of the nearby support beams, so exerted was his brain. It was just processing, and processing, and processing, with a little more processing thrown in there for good measure.

When the elder walked passed him and disappeared into the crowd as well, Blaze decide to write this entire experience off as a bad dream, and that at any moment he would wake up. So he stood there like an idiot, staring off into space, waiting to wake from this world of nightmares, to see his brother safe and sound. After five minutes of a significant lack of waking, he sighed in defeat. He was in for a very long afternoon.


	8. 8 Fire, My Pyromaniac, Fire

Chapter 8: Fire, My Pyromaniac, Fire

"A week!" Blaze was understandably upset at Al, as he had been more than patient with the creed. They didn't want him around, courtesy of the head unicorn himself, but this was getting rather upsetting for the young pegasus. He didn't even know why Al wanted him away, but he was running out of options for what he could even do with his life then, so he was going to make sure he had a strong grasp on whatever options were left. "I have been waiting for a week, and all that time, you wanted me to stay away from the creed."

"I had good reason to, too. Son, you were in no space to help us out, and I knew that a break from work would help you out, though from what I have heard, there was an incident in the Castle." Al, while trying to be serious, couldn't help but flash a grin from a poor attempt at hiding it. He knew that this pegasus would be able to help the creed grow, to be famous as they used to be, and that stunt he pulled in the Castle messing with the Princess' cake supplies; phenomenal. "Know anything about that?"

Blaze offered his own wicked grin, remembering the incident, and wishing he had been there when Celestia discovered what happened. Dangerous to be there? Maybe, but it would so have been worth it to see the fruits of his labor appear before her. A prank to be proud of, especially if the cook had managed to actually bake the cake, if she had tried to eat it. . .

He was getting jittery just thinking about her reaction.

Back to the task at hoof, though. Al had let the moment pass, thinking fondly about the fact that this new member was quite capable of doing big things, pulling the best heists, if only he had a little training. Blaze was also following that train of thought, and he was tired of being a useless janitor, he wanted to be out there again, stealing and making the creed proud. He was done being a lowly con-pony, and he was ready to take it a step further.

"I want to learn the art of lock-picking and stealth, I'm done just standing around here cleaning, or trying to talk merchants out of their wares. I'm ready for the next step, and I know there are new traders moving into town. If I have the skills, I can do something that would improve us."

"I agree with the sentiment, but not at the moment." Al's reply came as both a relief and a shock, Blaze was hoping that he would be able to learn how to break into buildings, how to get good at theft. He wanted to learn from the best, so that he could help the creed's name grow, he wanted to be a part of the growing infamy that would be this group of thieves. But in order to do so, he needed the skills, skills that he knew the others had. It was the last driving factor for his survival; being able to steal from the rich and powerful, that was the key to his success, being able to provide any and all wealth his community needed, to make life better for the struggling. All the while, he wanted to bring reality to those who thought they were impenetrable, and had more wealth than they could ever need.

There were ponies that were starving, that were struggling to get up in the morning, that were living in the ruins of old buildings because they didn't have anywhere else to live. He needed the skills to take what wealth and materials he could, the wealth that the rich bastards didn't need, and to offer it to those that did.

He was going to become a name that the needy would love, and the wealthy would never know. If only he had the skills.

"Look, kid. I know you want to prove yourself, but I ain't the only powerhouse in this city right now, and even I have to watch out for the best interest of the creed. I can't make this city bend to our will just yet, and because of that, I got some ponies in powerful places that don't want us to make ourselves big just yet. Unfinished business among the nobles, you understand?" Al gave an apologetic look, knowing that this wasn't entirely what neither the creed, nor the young Blaze wanted to hear. Most of the creed voiced their displeasure at needing to lay low for some time, one or two walked out, probably never to be seen again.

Those that left would never be heard from again, as Al had taken liberties in hiring the assassins to silence those traitors. Loose ends had to be taken care of, not that he would tell the creed that, they knew it already.

"But," At his words, Blaze's ears perked up again, hope filling his chest at the prospect of doing something to take his mind of the soul-crushing pain. The entire community had moved past Star, they had made it perfectly clear that they had accepted his disappearance as permanent. "I don't suppose you would take any lessons you learn inside here outside? That would be bad for business, but in preparation for our return to power, there couldn't be any harm in having somepony teach you the basic skills of the thief."

Blaze was beaming now, Al had given him the clearance to learn what he wanted, and to hone his skills as a thief. It was a relief that he was able to do something now, the lack of work was making him slowly lose his mind. He hastily thanked Al for his words, then bolted out of the hallway, heading straight to just the right pony for the job.

Walking as fast as he could, Blaze approached the bar, hoping to find his target, who sat on one of the stools, drinking from a mug of cider.

"Hey, Door Cracker, right?" He asked as he sat in the seat next to the named earth pony, who had covered most of his light blue coat with an actual coat, hiding the fur beneath black cloth. His head was revealed, though, sporting a pair of ice blue eyes, and a snow-white mane that was held up in a mohawk. The pony grunted in acknowledgement, before tipping the mug against his mouth and taking a long draw.

"What do you want, T?" He spoke fluidly, his throat now sated by the cider, and he gently put the mug on the counter, though his hoof remained firmly attached to it. The bartender passed the pair right by, heading straight to a lone pony who was sleeping at the end of the bar.

"I was wondering, since you are the master of lock-picking in this building, if you would be able to teach me a thing or two of what you know." Blaze asked, his anxiety rivaling his excitement for control over his emotional state, he had to keep a cool head. "It is getting close to the time where I will be able to actually do something to help us out."

"Al don't want us to be getting out there much, kid." His voice suddenly took a slight edge to it, making it obvious he wasn't a fan of the turn of events. "I know you haven't been here a whole lot lately, so I'll break it down for you, because Al isn't going to have given you the whole story. In the basic terms, we aren't to take big jobs, just work the smaller tasks, taking things from small shops, avoid rich merchants, don't rob caravans. All the jobs that let us exist, the ones that fund us, we ain't allowed to do."

"Wow, that is not good for us."

"No kiddin'. There ain't anything we can do now, if we let Al run us, he'll run us to the ground. Unfortunately, we ain't got the time or numbers to try to take him out. If he goes, we fall apart, if he stays, we'll suffocate and then fall apart." Al spat at the floor, before taking the mug back and lifting it to his lips, finishing the drink in one final draw. "We are all doomed, but we ain't got anywhere we can go, just our luck. I hope some of us can find a way to survive, to rebuild the creed when we are all dead or gone, maybe go to another city and get a base set up there."

"Why don't we just go away? Start fresh in another city?"

"With what? We ain't got the supplies to build another base elsewhere, and that isn't even thinking about the necessary trade in other cities, which are struggling about as much as this city. And then we have to find a way to avoid the local guard, which usually involves either reputation or wealth. We can't guarantee that the guards would be corrupt enough to avoid being torn apart by locals."

"Well, then. It sounds like we have to work in the dark then."

"We thought about that, but Al is remaining firm in his path of abstinence. He won't allow us to even try to think about working behind the scenes more than we already are. Look kid. Secrecy isn't entirely something we do, as if something of considerable value, something that we would be interested in, everypony already knows exactly who took it. It is a miracle the guards haven't come crashing down on us."

"Huh." Blaze was at a loss, this was a situation that was a lot worse than he was thinking. This new information, well, he had to get the opinions of more than the small pool he had, he needed to know just what was going on with the creed. If things were indeed that bad, he would have to find a way to help them. "Any ideas of how to get out of this?"

"Build a new life, somewhere else, try to get into honest work. Being a thief is fine and all in cities, but this kind of work, especially when trying to hide beneath the princesses, is not easy. We have to please clients, but some have conflicting interests, and then we have to work around zones in the cities, and guards. It is all just a big mess, truly." Al slid the mug over to the edge of the counter, before rising from his stool. "I suggest you find a way to provide for yourself outside of the creed, unless you got some kind of way for us to save ourselves. The way I see it, you would be better off trying to find work in either the fields or as a laborer, somewhere ain't nopony going to assume your past."

"I'll take your advice, but I would much rather try to keep us alive. I don't see the gain in running away, we can do so much more for not only ourselves, but for others like us. WE could build an empire, if only we didn't hold back."

"Talk to Al. He calls the shots for a reason." Al said as Blaze followed him away from the bar, heading towards the rooms stashed away in the back of the building, rooms for the higher-ranking members of the creed. No more than rooms to store their few belongings and a bed to rest their weary heads. "But I don't think you'll be giving up on us soon, and I appreciate your drive, it may just be what we need. So I'll do you a favor, for which you will owe me, but I can teach you a few things about locks and how to pick them."

Blaze felt some desire returning, here was his opportunity to learn from a master at his craft, and to earn his place in the creed. Simple jobs here and there were not the ones that brought a company into the spotlight as a legitimate group, and he knew that the best jobs required hard skills. Particular skills that one must learn over a very long time, skills one could use to find anything, find anyone.

The afternoon was spent with Blaze and the master lock-picker hunched at a table, with him explaining the various types of locks used for various reasons. Some required single keys, others needed multiple. The master explained the difference between simple padlocks, deadbolts, and the more advanced locks as well, including rim locks and the recent invented magic-based mortise locks. He instructed Blaze in the process of delicately applying pressure with the pick, using the tension wrench without forcing a lock, and the general basics in the art itself.

Blaze left late into the evening feeling proud of himself, having found that he had a knack for feeling out when he needed to ease off pressure from the lock-pick, having spent over an hour practicing that day. Door Cracker had promised that if they continued lessons, he would be happy to take Blaze on as a pupil, teaching him the finer aspects of lock-picking, something the pegasus was very happy to learn.

He arrived back in the community warehouse, though it was becoming less and less a warehouse each day, and more of a proper home. The actual construction had been finished several days prior, but the housing of the mass of ponies was taking longer than any would have liked.

He got to his newly furnished room uninterrupted, and though he was in a positive mood from the lessons he was receiving, he wasn't entirely satisfied with how life was turning out. Not only was the search for his brother pulled to a standstill, but he was alone in the search, as the patrols had other matters they were dealing with, but now the issues with the creed. It was as if the world was falling back into chaos, amid the resurrection of society.

He let out a sigh as he walked through the entrance to his room, which with every ounce of his distaste lacked the proper furnishings, there was only a single bed. To the others, it was simply saving what resources they could, but to him, it was the signal that they had accepted that Star was gone, and he didn't know what stung worse. Was it that they had all given up, or that Star had just suddenly disappeared on him?

He fell onto his bed with a lazy flop, lying there over his covers, wondering just why life was so cruel, but his ruminations weren't destined to last. A knock on his still open door caught his attention, though by then he wanted little else than to just sleep, to wash away the stress of life in the world of dreams, where his subconscious could torment him. Peaceful dreams.

Instead of falling into the blissful pits of sleep, where every nightmare lurked, he grumbled incoherently and started to move. Finding himself struggling to get his wings to work, he grunted in resignation, deciding to promptly roll out of bed, slamming onto the floor with a heavy crash.

"You okay, sonny?" The voice sounded familiar to him, but it had been a long day, and he wasn't entirely paying attention. But when the pony at the door repeated herself, that was when he knew exactly who it was, and he remembered that he had a few questions for her regarding her newly established witch-hood. In reply, he simply shuffled to his hooves, nodding in her direction as he rose from the ground.

"Sorry, it's been a long day, and I am really tired right now."

"Not a problem, I just came to ask if you were going to eat supper?" She asked the question happily enough, though he knew that she knew he had quite the number of questions himself, all bursting beneath the surface, ready to be asked. "So, are you interested in eating tonight, or should we not bother making you anything?"

"No, I'll get something to eat, just needed a moment to ease out of the day, you know?" Blaze said as he ruffled his wing feathers, setting them straight after their displacement from the bed and tumble. He shook his head, then returned his gaze to look at the mystic before him, something that was still fresh on his mind, though she had proven exceptional at hiding her identity to the rest of the community. Scaled Equilibrium turned to leave, though her eyes remained fixed on his, as if she was waiting for the words to come out of his mouth, which only halted him for a second. "But before you leave, do you have time for me to ask you a few questions?"

"I can spare a minute or two, there is little that demands my attention right now. What do you need?" She stopped in her leaving, before resuming her earlier position, though she opted to sit instead of stand, knowing full well that the questions were going to take a bit longer than a minute or two. Blaze replicated her movement, though he had offered her to take a seat on his bed, it being slightly more comfortable than the floor, which was what he sat upon. She politely declined.

"Alright, first question I have is: How long have you been a witch?" He began nervously, while the desire for knowledge was burning in him, he wasn't sure how to go about getting that information.

"Before I answer your question, I want to clear something, that being that I am not a witch, as witches brew potions and spells intending to do harm. I am a sage, the difference being I am empowered by the forces the Spirits see fit to offer me. I use my potions to communicate with those Spirits, and they give me the ability to foresee events in the future, as you experienced. And to answer your question, I was selected to join the Sages after birth, being given as tribute from a village I never knew."

"Oh, well then. That is. . . interesting." Blaze paused for a moment, letting the information absorb into him, planning on sleeping over the news, maybe his subconscious would figure something out. "Next question, and this one is of the spur of the moment: Where did you get the cauldron? You never had that stuff lying around before we started renovating."

A smile broke over the Sage's face, her posture turning more pleased at the observation, her replying tone indicating that she was more than pleased to have been caught. Not that she had expected any less, the Spirits were interested in this pegasus. "Ah, that was a little gift of magic the Spirits provided me with so I may accomplish my tasks as a Sage. We didn't actually go into my room, as the Spirits provided me with a pocket dimension to store my wares, and if I so choose, we could have entered the actual room to speak. I merely wished to show you the vision."

"Wait, wait, wait. So, let me get this straight; you have a 'pocket dimension' in your room?" He emphasized his disbelief using air-quotes with his hooves. "And we just walked into it so you could do that creepy potion magic stuff?"

Scaled Equilibrium just nodded in affirmation, making Blaze freeze in contemplation. Eventually, he let out a breath, rubbing a hoof against his temple, knowing his subconscious was in for one rough time trying to process all of this, along with all the other shit he had to deal with. It was going to be bad, and he doubted it could get any worse, so why not throw on all the rest of the shit he needed to know then and there?

"Alright, then. Moving on; you couldn't let the others know about your powers because they would assume you were a witch, and call the guards?" She nodded again. "Then am I wrong to assume that you never formed a bond with anypony strong enough to reveal yourself?"

That caught her off guard just enough for Blaze to see the hesitation in her features, but she quickly recovered steeling herself with a neutral expression. She tried to offer a smile, but it didn't turn out how she wanted it to, and she accepted the defeat and looked down at the floor, hoping that the pegasus before her would accept the answer. She was equally surprised when she felt a hoof on her side, and looked up to see Blaze standing beside her, bearing a comforting smile.

"It isn't too late, you know. You trusted me enough to tell me, so trust me now when I say that you can find somepony here that you can confide in. You don't have to harbor secrets."

"I know, but my choice to remain silent isn't entirely my own, and I regret to inform you that my reveal to you was decided by the Spirits. I want to tell the others, because I know they can be trusted, but my oaths bind me, and I must refrain from telling." She shrugged his hoof off, sending the message that his contact was unwelcome then. "Thank you for the effort, but some things just can't be, and this is one of them. I hope you don't take this as I don't cherish the friends and family I do have, because I do, but I just am not in a position to throw my identity around, for more than a single reason."

"Okay, then." Blaze wasn't terribly crushed, but his hopes of finding something to do towards helping the community grow was rapidly depleting. "Well, I guess it isn't all that bad, you are just going to have to live with us under your everyday identity, it's not like the world is going to end you a little mask to be worn like that. Just, try to be careful about it, as I may have already told one pony about it already, so you may want to talk to him soon."

"You what?!" She burst into hysteria a lot faster than Blaze was expecting, knowing full well that she wasn't going to like the slip he had made a week ago. Thankfully, the eldest pegasus in the community hadn't told any of the others about their resident witch, Sage he auto corrected in his mind. He had to find the elder and ask him not to reveal the information, and fast. If the community found out they were harboring a mystic-performing pony, they would react rather poorly to it.

"Listen, all hope isn't lost, I may have accidently told the old guy about you shortly after you revealed yourself to me." He winced as her face reddened slightly in anger, but he diffused the situation as best as he could time to try plan B. "I doubt he was going to tell anypony, because if he was, he most surely would have done so by now. Can't you agree with me on that? I think he just wants to talk to you about it, and that would be your chance to get him to hide the information."

Scaled Equilibrium paused for a moment, inhaling briefly while she considered how things were changing for her. Her options were limiting around her, and she knew this, so she had to act quickly.

"I suppose I can let this one slip by, as you were understandably shocked over the revelation, so I won't punish you for your insolence."

"Ouch."

"But I must go deal with this issue immediately, and we can continue this conversation at a later time. Maybe when we have the opportunity to be alone so we can discuss exactly what you are going to do to keep this quiet. The Spirits believe in you, so I do not doubt their insight, but I must know that you are going to not be a nuisance."

"You will have no problem from me, we are family after all." He replied eagerly, glad that he hadn't incurred her wrath, but also happy that this was the first step in having the whole community accepting her in her new role. Or was it old role? Whatever, Blaze just shrugged and walked the mare to the door, offering it like he had seen the nobles do for a lady. He had heard from those around town that a true 'gentle-colt' would hold a door for any mare or filly, it being something polite, or something like that.

Manners maketh stallions.

Scaled appreciated the gesture nonetheless, and smiled as she left him, though the smile faded as soon as she left the doorway. For standing in front of the sage was a trio of mares, whom Blaze recognized as the mares that the rest of the community avoided during this time of year, as their heats were supposed to be the worst. He frowned nearly as much as Scaled Equilibrium did, knowing that this scene right here was going to end particularly badly for them both. Mares in heat tend to jump to conclusion, as he had witnessed first-hoof, and them seeing the mare leaving Blaze's personal room. He didn't even want to know what was going through their minds, as he was sure it was something that he didn't have the time to deal with.

'Well, that may not be entirely true, Blaze." A voice in the back of his skull reverberated throughout the depths of his mind, worrying him somewhat. Was this his voice, or some other unwelcome party within the folds of his mind? 'Now that Star is officially gone, you have a lot of time in your schedule opened up, and between sleep and the creed, you have a bit of spare time now. Maybe these lovely mares would be happy to help you occupy that time."

Blaze felt a more primal part of his mind take over, but through the fog slowly gathering in his skull, he retained enough senses to see the four mares exchange glances before a hazing purple earth pony hurried off. He was left alone with three pretty mares who were in heat, but they weren't the only ones feeling the effects, as sweet scents flowed through his muzzle, lifting his mind higher and higher into the cloud.

Surely he had enough time to see just what it was these lovely mares wanted of him, and through the haze covering his vision, it appeared the three were of the same opinion as him. He heard something from the lead mare, but no words registered in his mind, as he only recognized the lovely scent that got ever-increasingly powerful the closer the lead mare got to him. When she was standing right before him, he felt as if he wouldn't be able to breath without choking on the intoxicating aroma.

He stared to close his eyes, having them only half-lidded when the first words began to register within his mind. "I don't think that husky earth pony would really show you a good time, how about you let a real mare teach you a thing or two?"

Blaze wasn't thinking by then, as the only response he was capable of producing was an excited nod, only thinking about the use his nose was living through. The succulent aroma that his mind was clouded by. He hardly felt the lead mare take his hoof, intending to lead him back into his bedroom, he felt his body turn around and pulled by the mare, as her friends flanked him, guiding him behind the lead mare. The aroma surrounding him suddenly drowned out all over sensations, and he nearly tripped over the shift in focused attention.

Still, the mares led him further and further into his room, one briefly pausing to close the door, and guided him towards the neatly-made bed. Gently guiding him onward, the lead mare laid him over the blankets, resting him on his back, while the other two took up positions to either of his sides. The lead mare clearly having the first go, climbed up to meet him, her soft fur caressing his side as she slowly prepared to slide over him.

Before anything could advance, the scent clouding Blaze's mind felt forced away by a wind, and the door the secondary mares had shut was thrown open. The mare that was nearly atop Blaze whipped around, tail smacking some sense back into the young pegasus, who shook his head to clear the remaining fog.

"What the buck do you think you're doing?!" The nameless pegasus barged in, somewhat to Blaze's relief, but from within his mind, the white pegasus was slightly upset that he had been interrupted. This was a moment his body was craving, and while he understood little of what was happening, his body knew what to do. The suspense grew and grew, the three mares glaring at the elder pegasus, who glared back with equal frustration and unconcealed fury. "He is far too young for that shit! Now get out!"

Sensing the anger rising in the elder, the two mares standing at the side of the bed quickly complied, passing around the elder and Scaled as she walked in. However, the mare on the bed wasn't going to give in so easily, and she stood her ground, ready to defend that which she wanted so badly.

"Who are you to decide who is and isn't available for us to take? You have no idea just how badly we needed this, all of us needed this. Blaze included, the poor guy needs to release some stress."

"And he can do so in other means, but stooping to please mares like you? No, he doesn't want any part of that."

"I'm right here you know, I can speak for myself." Blaze tried to interject, but it seemed the only pony to noticed him was Scaled Equilibrium, who had a blush on her face that turned it bright red. She only offered an apologetic smile while the two others argued over him.

"How do you know he doesn't want us? We have seen him watching the mares around the building, we have seen how he tries to hide that which is clearly desire. We are simply helping him, and he hasn't said no. He was happy to assist us." The mare retorted, deciding that standing on the bed wasn't the best place to argue, but her hormones took over; she sat down next to Blaze, who was feeling mighty uncomfortable right then. With his mind clearing, he was finally understanding what was about to happen, and while he felt disgusted that the mares would do something like this, there was a fire in his stomach that burned for more.

He understood why he was here, and what the mares wanted from him, and it was something his aging body wanted nearly as badly. But he had to be master over his body, he couldn't give in to such base desires. His thoughts were cut short by a purple earth pony sage addressing him.

"Then why don't we get the opinion of the party you two are fighting over; Blaze, what do you want?" The three looked at him, with Scaled Equilibrium and the elder looking hesitant, while the mare at his side looked, almost pleading. He let his gaze pass between the three, deciding before the question was asked what he was going to do. He pulled himself free from the grip of the mare, trying to worm his way off of the bed.

"I want some time alone, so I can think. So please, if you all could leave, that would be great, I have had a busy day, and with this I need to think." The mare seemed very off-put by his answer, while Scaled Equilibrium and the elder seemed pleased. Though the latter two were obviously worried for him, they knew that they were able to protect him from this mare and her friends.

The mare reluctantly got off the bed, though she paused at the foot of the bed, casting a very lustful glance at the white pegasus, her eyes glued to his own. "This isn't over, Blaze Burn. We _will_ finish what we started, no matter how much those two try to stop me. You will be mine, Blaze, I promise you that."

Finally, she left, followed by a visibly upset nameless pegasus, and a worried Scaled Equilibrium, who cast one final glance back at the pondering Blaze before shutting the door behind her. In peace and quiet at last, Blaze just dropped to the floor, a headache following the rush of sensations from earlier. Had that truly happened, had he succumbed to those mares so quickly? He felt slightly disgusted by the idea of their desire, but at the same time, his betraying body burned with desire of its own. He had heard of puberty, but never paused to consider it would affect him, he had just assumed he would grow, and that was it.

But this? This was something he hadn't expected at all, and now it was beyond his control, but he had to find a way to reign it in. He had to make sure that this situation never presented itself to him again.

He stared at the floor, following patterns in the concrete beneath him, feeling the flat surface holding his body. Something about what had just happened was sticking in his mind, though, and it ticked at his thoughts like an annoying itch in his skin. What it was, he wasn't entirely sure, but it was something he would get to know, and deal with in a swift and merciless fashion. What was burning in his mind about what happened with those mares? What was ticking in his mind?

He thought about it late into the night, until he felt too exhausted to think any further, so he climbed into bed, though the scent of the three mares from earlier clung to it like a pool of reeking lust. It made his mind whirl, but through the exhaustion, he ignored the scent and drifted promptly into the fickle beastly realm of dreams.

 _Blaze walked through the forest, knowing full well that neither mistress he followed would be grateful, it was just the path he was now on. He could try to take on the pack, using his might, his strength, his power. He could erase them from existence, he could destroy everything that they were, he could remove their very presence in history, take everything from them. He could obey the mistress of night, the Lady of Death._

 _Or, he could fade into the shadows, the darkness he had embraced and disappear, as his mistress of the sun would have wanted. Princess Celestia couldn't possibly want him to eradicate the pack, to kill off every dragon, to slaughter them wholesale. The mistress of day would want him to avoid creating a bloodbath, but she would want him to take what he was sent to obtain and vanish._

 _If he killed them all, the night would criticize him for the sloppiness of his work, the poor quality of cuts and slices. She would be ungrateful for his donation to her world. But if he spared them, the Princess would surely be unhappy that he had to cause a distraction, which had consisted of slitting the throat of a sentry, some unfortunate soul that was guarding the entrance to the grove. He had done what he had needed to do, all for the sake of the mission, for his Princess had asked him to retrieve a dragon egg from the pack, from these monsters that had migrated here to lay their eggs. His silent trek through the forest was accompanied by the screams and roars from the dragons who were awake, and had discovered his work._

 _He had little time now, as the egg he had spotted, which was a small purple egg that was cared for by an equally small green dragoness, would be protected even tighter when the mother returned. He walked to the edge, careful not to go too far, then leaped into the nest. There, laying upon the branches, was the single egg, one he would be able to carry without being too much of a burden. Dragon eggs were exceptionally heavy._

' _How'd I wind up here, again?' He wondered, it was as if he was always getting blood on his hooves. 'All it takes is one and I'm gone, but a thousand 'till the end.'_

 _Snatching up the egg, he silently rolled out of the nest, avoiding the flying dragons that were searching for the intruder, the murderer. He had gotten to the edge of the forest, just beyond the sight of the dragon's nesting grounds. Then the roars of pain and grief burst forth from the now empty nest he had just raided._

" _Why does everything that I love get taken away? The dragoness he had robbed cried out, it becoming obvious that the dragon he had killed was her mate, but he felt little remorse. This was just a job, nothing personal, so he had nothing to feel. Once again, the dragon cried out: "Tell me why does everything that I love get taken away from me?!"_

' _You take me to the edge.' He thought to the princess, sincerely wishing she could just understand that he caused a great deal of pain, maybe then she would find a way to become more peaceful about these things. It would make his job as her Shade so much easier. 'Push me too far. Watch me slip away, holding on too hard.'_

" _Nothing ever lasts." He heard from the distant nest, that mother would be devastated for a very long time, and no doubt the entire pack would be in righteous fury over what happened, all the more reason to get out of the region as fast as possible. If he wasn't surrounded by mountains, he would have just flown over the treetops, but as it was, he would have had to fly above the mountain tops, which would have been harmful to his health if the dragons just looked up. Their night vision was far more supreme than his own._

' _Here I am alone again. Alone again. . .' He forced himself to stop ruminating on the past, it wouldn't bring back Star. Nothing could bring back Star._

 _He stalked through the woods in silence, hoping the egg wouldn't make noise, until he got to the outer edge of the cave, where new sentries were posted to watch throughout the night, something Blaze had expected. He figured they would be smart enough to know a dead sentry meant an intruder, and he had a new escape route already planned. Flapping his wings, he silently lifted himself above the mouth of the cave, using the stalactites as temporary cover._

 _Flitting between the stone spikes jutting from the ceiling, he made his way to the outer mouth of the cave, knowing that this was his safest route out. Holding onto a spike to steady himself, he adjusted the egg carefully hidden within the bag strapped to his back. Once he was sure nothing was loose, he darted from the pillar and into the open air just before the cave entrance, just in time for the sentries to turn to investigate another area of the cave._

 _One he was free from the potential threat of the dragons, he glided in the open air, making his way back towards the Everfree, towards home._

 _He stopped for rest about two hours before dawn, after he had gotten several leagues away from the mountain range housing the nesting dragons. It would have been very unfortunate for him to have a run in with a migrating dragon in possession of the stolen egg in his pack. He rested, watching the skies while his wings prepared for the remaining journey, ready to take flight at a moment's notice._

 _No sleep tonight, he flew straight over the mountains that blocked his path, as he needed to be back in the capitol as soon as possible. This egg was important to the Princesses, though he had no idea why. They would tell him when the time comes, as it was, it was his duty to obey, and they had ordered him to collect an egg from the migrating dragons._

Blaze crawled out of bed at the sound of the morning cawing, never a fan of mornings, but important all the same. This was going to be a very interesting day, as he now had to deal with the training at the creed, the work at home, and now the awkwardness that would follow trying to live in the same building as those mares. He was happy that he had the creed to hide in, though. The excuse of training was a valid one, and would keep him away from the building, and maybe the intensity would die down. One could hope, right?

He was very happy his night wasn't interrupted by a concerned Luna, as that would have put a damper on his mood. Her constant intrusions into his room, his mind, or her abductions were slightly annoying, no they were just straight annoying. He was glad that she had given him peace through that strange dream.

One thing that did stick in his mind from the dream that he thought about over a very tense breakfast was the thing he said about Celestia; her being his mistress? Now he was dreaming about working for the royalty? Maybe Luna left him alone because that dream was her way of trying to convince him to willingly submit to their rule.

"Well Luna, you are going to have to try a lot harder than that if you want my allegiance."

"What was that?" The elder asked from his seat right next to Blaze, placing his bowl down so he could speak to the younger pegasus. Blaze realized he had said that out loud, and chuckled before responding.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking about the dream I had last night, is all."

"Oh, really? What dream did Luna deign to provide you with this time?" The interest wasn't all that surprising, as the elder was always interested in what Blaze had to say about these strange dreams. Ever since he had told the elder about Luna's fascination with them, it had caught his attention.

"Nothing special, just propaganda about me working for them. I think they really want me on their side." Blaze shrugged, finishing his bowl of grains and milk. He walked with the elder back into the kitchen, where they dropped off their bowls and returned to the main space. "But we have more important things to be talking about, like how your conversation with Scaled Equilibrium went."

The elder was undeterred by the change of topic, and when they had settled into their customary seats around the center firepit, he resumed the conversation. "That was interesting to say the least, and if you hadn't told me earlier, I probably would have not taken it the best. So I suppose that I have you to thank, once again, for helping me see the silver lining, most of us do."

Blaze was still uneasy about the whole life debt thing that many of the members had told him they were offering him. It didn't sit well with him, as they had proven to helping him just as much as he helped them, his room was proof.

He just didn't have the heart to try to convince them otherwise.

"How are you?" He looked up at the elder, surprised by the question and not understanding what he meant by it. At his confused glance, the pegasus expanded on the question; "From last night, how are you after that whole thing?"

"Eh. I'm fine." Blaze shrugged, not entirely in the mood to talk about it, having extremely mixed feelings over the event still. His gaze slowly shifted back down to the floor, unsure whether he wanted to continue this conversation, but unwilling to voice his feelings. "Not that bad of an event anyway, just confused is all."

"You know that we don't blame you for what happened right? Not me nor Scaled Equilibrium do. It wasn't your fault that those mares took advantage of you."

"They didn't take advantage of me, I accepted their advances, I chose to follow through with them. I just wish my mind and body would get on the same page, one wants to try to alleviate this burning sensation, while the other says to just ignore it and move on. I get exhausted whenever situations like this pop up, because the two are just fighting over what to do." Blaze sighed, getting frustrated by how he was handling this, and how his body reacted to it. He always thought he was a logical pony, and that anything could be solved with just enough thought. But this, this was something he had no process for, and he was so close to solving the issue.

"Look, sonny. Look at me." He did so, and while he expected there to be judgement or criticism in the elder's gaze, there was only kindness and compassion. "It is natural for your body to go through these things, but you must think about it from other's perspectives: those mares knew exactly what was going on, you didn't. They knew how you would react, because they have had the experience from the past, you haven't. They took advantage of you because they knew what to do to get you to do what they wanted you to. You had no way of knowing what they wanted, until it was too late."

"But still, it felt so good to be there, and when they got me in there, it just felt, it felt _right_. Like this was what that part of me needed, and then I couldn't think straight, but the sensations were so great! How could they have forced me to do something I was willing to do?"

"Have you ever wanted to do those things with them before?" That caused Blaze to hesitate, not entirely sure he had the answer, or the answer that would help him here. He focused on the concrete flooring, wondering how he could get out of this, and his answer came when the mares from earlier walked into the main space. The lead mare noticed Blaze at once, and proceeded to slowly walk to the kitchen for her meal, eyes glued to the pegasus, staring at him as if he were a prize to be had. He locked her gaze for but a moment before the elder's hoof snapped his attention back to the conversation.

"Not really. But now that I went through that. . ."

"No." He shook his head, trying to clear the conflict, then looked at the elder. "You don't want that, you never have, and I don't think you truly want that, or at the very least, you don't want them."

"Um."

"Take a moment to clear your head, go for a walk, get some fresh air and then do something productive like visit your friends. Come back to me when you know what it is that you want." Blaze started to protest, but the nameless pegasus simply stood up and walked out of the room, leaving a confused Blaze Burn sitting in his seat wondering just what the hay happened.

Shaking his head once again, he decided that the advice he received was the best he was going to get under the circumstances. Standing to take his leave, he made a final thought to remain away for as much of the day as possible. He left the building, intending to be gone for the entire time there was daylight in the sky, and flew straight for the creed warehouse, hoping Door Cracker would be in there. Some pick practice would help a lot, and he was hoping to earn a pair from the master. Apparently, he had picks made from a metal that resisted warping out of place more than standard lock picks.

Arriving at the warehouse, he was greeted by several moody members of the creed, each of whom taking the shift in policy harshly. Many had a mug of cider in hoof, but that wasn't entirely surprising for Blaze, who understood that drowning one's sorrows under the mug was a hope many clung to.

And sorrow was aplenty in this forsaken city.

One shining beacon of hope, though it was hardly a beacon, was that Door Cracker was indeed there at the creed, which meant that he was either not able to work, or had already completed his assignments, if he ever had any. Blaze walked up to him, where he was sitting in his usual seat at the counter of the bar, a seat he had never seen occupied by another pony. He took a seat on the master's right, waiting for the bartender to walk his way, and ordered a mug when he had. Cracker never made a motion to indicate he had noticed the pegasus' arrival, but Blaze knew how to read others well enough to know that he was recognized.

After he had finished close to half the mug of cider, the master lock picker made his first gesture of the day towards his newly appointed apprentice; a simple flick of the hoof. Blaze took the meaning immediately, and followed the bulking pegasus as he stood from the seat, following him towards the locked doors that led to the bed chambers.

Blaze knew the rules, and he waited at the door while Door Cracker went through to retrieve whatever it was that he went to get. While he waited he started humming, it wasn't anything complicated, just something that he had heard one of the elder ponies in the community whistling. It helped past the time, and as he hadn't learned how to whistle, he had to be satisfied with humming.

'Maybe I'll teach myself how to whistle one of these days when I'm not that busy.'

Soon Door Cracker had returned, carrying a small brown box on one hoof, and before leading the young apprentice trough a few rooms and corridors. He led Blaze deeper into the building, old machinery rusted and blocking many of their paths, heading through the heart of what some could consider an ancient technological maze. Door Cracker just kept on going, not slowing down for a visibly awestruck Blaze who had never seen these kinds of machines before. As they passed through the remnant halls, Blaze asked numerous questions about the machinery; What did they do? Why were they built? Why did the creed hide them in the back of the warehouse?

The earth pony remained steadfast in his silence, not even breaking pace as he led Blaze deeper through the complex. Down several flights of stairs, passed uncountable numbers of rusted machinery, and through endless rooms. Blaze felt himself totally lost as they pushed further underground.

"Uh, Door Cracker? Where are we and where are we going?" Blaze asked when they had stopped in a room containing several doors leading further into the complex.

"There is a reason you haven't been shown this place yet, Blaze Burn. That reason is that this complex is older than most of us even dare to guess, and they go much deeper into the ground." Door Cracker responded, sitting down in front of the entrance to the room, placing the box down in front of him. Blaze followed suit, sitting before the box, wondering just why they were in an abandoned section of the building. "It's easy for somepony to get lost, so we made sure none of the newer members could get themselves lost exploring this place. Anyways, to answer your question; we are here so I can teach you how to pick some locks. These doors are all locked, and I want you to try to unlock them."

He reached down and opened the box, revealing a fresh set of lock picks, glinting lightly in the narrow light produced from an unknown source in the ceiling. Blaze took a pick and a pry bar from the box, and turned to the doors before him, wondering just how they worked.

"Try this one, it has the most resemblance to the locks you will see around the city." Door Cracker prompted while walking over to a door on the far right, with a circular lock near the center split in the door, similar to what he had seen on many of the doors around the capitol. He walked up to it, investigating the function of the lock, something he had been instructed on by his master. He gently inserted the pick into the lock, feeling the pins give way under the light pressure he was applying. Nodding to himself, he placed the pry bar under the pick, using it to hold the lock body in place as he slid the pick to the back to begin the process.

Gently plucking at the pins with the pick, he slowly unlocked the door, each pin falling into place as he popped it into its correct position. When he had reached the last pin, and had positioned it correctly, he used the pry bar to ease the lock clockwise. With a satisfying crack, the door lock released, and with a push, Blaze entered the space beyond the door.

He wasn't terribly happy with the space he entered, it was an empty room, but the dissatisfaction was crushed by the joy he felt at having successfully unlocked the door. He returned to the hall and set himself up in front of the next door, unfamiliar with this style of lock; it was square, but the mechanism was filled with a bunch of tiny gears. The slit he presumed that held the port for the key was larger than normal, and he was able to see the pins. But these pins were larger, and protruded further out than they should.

"Ah, that is a lock even I haven't been able to crack, something from an age before us normal ponies got here, that's for sure. Not a single pick of mine could even move the pins, and there isn't any way of cutting through those bars holding the lock in there. This is something far beyond what we are able to work with, let's head to the next door, it shouldn't be as easy for you to open."

"What do you mean 'before us normal ponies got here', are you saying this building is older than the Princess'?" Blaze looked at Door Cracker with wonder in his eyes, and he beamed with curiosity when the latter nodded in affirmation.

"Now, I don't know enough about it to give you an answer, so let's move on to the next door. You need practice."

Blaze was not happy with the change of subject, as he was sure that Door Cracker knew more than he was letting on, but he decided to let it slide, as he wanted to improve his skills. He followed the master towards another door, bearing two massive deadbolts and a central rim lock holding the two doors together. Blaze examined the deadbolts, as his instructions on the rim lock were limited, but he knew deadbolts, they were fairly easy to figure out. These ones were strange, however, in that they had bolts much larger than normal, and the bolts slid across the doors, forming a bar. He would have to unlock them first, probably with the left bolt, as he noticed it slid slightly in front of the other, maybe as the final to lock and first to unlock.

Blaze slipped his tools into the left-most deadbolt, gently prying each pin into position, before he heard the satisfying click of the bolt releasing. Metal grating against metal filled the room as the bolt slid into the left door, revealing the second bolt. Blaze went to work.

Once both bolts had been returned to their respective doors, Blaze turned to the rim lock holding the doors together. The square shape of the platform housing the lock mechanism was rusted, and the keyhole was barely visible. His attention was momentarily broken when Door Cracker grunted, and offered him a knife, which he took without looking, and proceeded to chip the rust free. Once the keyhole was sufficiently revealed, he placed the pick and pry bar inside and began the process of relieving the door of its security measures.

After a few minutes of delicately tinkering with the lock, Blaze heard that wonderful click, and the mechanism released, the bolts sliding away. Upon creaking hinges, Blaze walked through the door and into the room beyond.

"Normally, the ponies I train take an hour or two to get past those older style locks, you did good." Blaze was happy for the praise, even if it was light, he knew that Door Cracker was not easily impressed. Any compliment from a master is worthy of pride in this line of work, and he was going to do his damn best to earn every praise he can. "Still, that wasn't an entirely difficult lock, and you will need to be able to learn how harder locks work if you want to get anywhere here. After this wretched ban gets lifted, of course."

"Yeah, and I will try to find somewhere to practice, maybe in some of the abandoned buildings, they might have locked doors I can use." Blaze replied as Door Cracker led him further through the complex, passing through sets of doors seemingly limitless. After a short time, Door Cracker stopped before a large set of doors, blocked by a large metal beam, obviously meant to keep everything out.

"This is the end point, we go no further, even the elders like me. Behind these doors are dangers we much prefer to avoid, so if you do find yourself down here honing your skills on some of these locks, keep away from this door. There are more than just the physical barriers here. Al himself set up some magic locks on here, nopony goes through. Come on, let's head back and get something to eat, I'm hungry."

While Door Cracker turned around to begin the hike back to civilization, Blaze remained staring at the bulky door, wonder filling his eyes. His imagination taking hold of his senses as he thought about the treasures hiding behind those doors, just what lay in the forbidden areas. When he realized his guide was leaving, he rushed to make up the lost ground.

"Hey, Door Cracker? What is behind the door? Why is it so dangerous to go behind there? What kinds of danger is it?"

"The worst kind, monsters and machines the likes we prefer not to imagine, the kinds that tear flesh from bone, limb from body. The kind that drag you below, never to be seen from again, but heard, oh yes. We will all hear you if you get dragged below, the screams of pain, the howls of horror, and the agonizing wails for ceasing of your life. I never set a hood beyond that door, but I was here when we decided to lock it forever." Blaze halted for a split second, before a burst of steam from an erupting pipe made him shoot straight forward, right up next to Door Cracker. "I was here when we lost three good thieves to some terrible creatures of the darkness, as our friends got sucked into the abyss. Their screaming lasted for hours, until silence enveloped the creed once more. Speak to nopony about this conversation, as it may stir up memories some would prefer left suppressed."

Blaze shuddered in relief when the light of mid-afternoon split the enclosing hallways, as fresh air rolled in from just ahead. He trotted slightly in front of his master, eager to be free from the deep, away from the mystery and uneasiness of the confined subterranean structures. Eager to feel fresh air in his lungs and a breeze flowing under his wings, which by then were starting to get restless from lack of space to be used.

"Fresh air!" He gasped as he burst through the door, into the main lobby of the creed, much to the surprise and distaste of some of the members therein. The room was stifling from the summer sun, though all the windows and doors were open for ventilation. "Well, mostly."


	9. 9 Fire Alighting

Chapter 9: Fire Alighting

"You've been doing pretty good all things considered." Door Cracker said as he watched in relative comfort from the cushion he had brought to their workspace. Said workspace was pretty deep inside the catacombs that made up the underground section of the creed, an area he had sparked a great interest in from the young Blaze. He had to be careful, however, and not let the young lad venture too far on his own, as some of the hazards hadn't been completely dealt with yet.

Still, Blaze had proved his worth when one such hazard presented itself in the form of a spinning trap, and the expert burglar was able to disarm it in under a minute.

Blaze looked up from the lock he was working with, a rather difficult lock of a design he had not seen before, something that Door Cracker had told him early on: 'Not all these doors have common locks on them.' And now Blaze was wishing he didn't need sleep, as the intricacies of this new lock design were totally, delightfully provocative. He hadn't seen such fine detail, the effort put into the bolts, the way the pins had false gates to trip intruders like himself; he was absorbed by it. The pair had been in this room for the better part of a day, the morning and afternoon had passed in silence, Blaze working on the unbreeched door.

Now that evening was approaching, he was sure that Door Cracker would ask him to call it a day and head back home, now that business had returned to normal, but he had to spend as much time as possible learning.

Nearly a year had passed, and that autumn, the winter and spring passing him by, he sucked up his lessons, not only in lock-picking, but also in general theft, he learned to stealth around like a true ninja, to become master of the shadows. In that year, he had learned that being a white pegasus was not that good for a thief, and he adopted the creed cloak, a black and brown commoner's rain-breaker, and had learned to move around in it just fine. Really, though, he had a lot of difficulty with coping with life, and that was where his studies came in; he buried himself in his work. He was growing, his skills were honing, and now that the disappearances had slowed, business was resuming.

Ponies had richer pockets than before, and stores were popping up, rebuilding the city was occurring, and shops were growing slack in defense. It was a thief's dream, all the money, the wealth and power were growing, and coming to the capital in their favor, and with the guard and royalty backing off, thinking the success was due to the creed's demise, they had free reign of the city.

'Back to the task on hoof, Blaze Burn.' He reminded himself, these kinds of locks required utmost attention to properly pick, and he enjoyed the challenge too much to just give up by distracting thoughts. He shook his head, then returned to the task of passing those damn master false-gates.

"Alright, kid. Time for dinner. Head on home, Al wants you here bright and early, says he has some tasks for you to practice your new skills on. Who knows, maybe he'll bring you into the higher ranked members, I know we'd welcome you. Capable ponies are just so few these days, but I suspect that will change once we really get going, either way, you're here to stay, so take care of yourself." Blaze accepted that as the closest Door Cracker got to proper congratulations, other than with mugs and mugs of cider. Seriously, Blaze tried to beat him in a drinking contest, and he wound up waking up in the middle of some fountain somewhere in the city, and with a splitting headache.

Blaze had vowed to either lighten the drinking and never challenge that stallion again, or to commit fully to alcohol and to drink his way to the top of the drunks list. He wasn't too keen on that last option, but one appealing fact about the cider was that after two or three mugs, the pain of life lessened to a tolerable level.

Somepony wise once told him that drinking one's sorrows away never really got rid of them, but he doubted that wise pony ever actually drank away their problems, because it did its damn job just fine. He figured lighter drinking would be for the best, though, as while he wasn't hurting for bits, alcohol drained his pockets faster than he could drain a mug.

"Just give me some more time, I think I nearly got this one cracked." Blaze muttered from his position in front of the heavy metal door. A year later, and he was just as unsure about the ruins themselves as before, but that was because not a single pony in the creed, nor in the capital he spoke with knew a damn thing about it.

"Your life kid, just remember to be here an hour past dawn, you know how it works. Al did say it was time to give you something solid to work with, so botching this up will not only hurt our reputation, but it'll kill yours if you were too tired or drunk to do it right. Take care, then." And with that, Door Cracker walked through the door, leaving Blaze alone in the basement of the creed, picking away at a door from an ancient civilization that he knew nothing about. His legs hurt, and he was slightly hungry, but he really wanted to break this lock, it'd pretty much make him worthy of being called a master, as not even Door Cracker could crack this one.

Another hour passed, and with no success, Blaze was feeling his numb legs starting to hurt again, and he figured it would probably be for the best to call it quits and give up. He was thinking about submitting when he felt something give, and three pins in a row suddenly fell into place, and as he popped the fourth one up, he heard the most satisfying sound in the world, and he gently pulled the pry bar clockwise. Smoothly, as if the lock itself had remained oiled all this time, the mechanism rotated, and with great relief, the lock popped, and the door latch slid open.

Ecstatic, Blaze pulled the pick and bar out, then pushed the door, open, revealing a new room, unclaimed and unknown. The light from above bled through the now open space, lighting beyond the door, and for the first time, Blaze was surprised to notice the room had no lights in it. What also surprised him was the cool draft coming in from the room, the feeling of fresh air was sweet, and his lungs lost pressure he was unaware he had. Then his relief was cut short by the subtle scent of blood and gore, gently blown in by the draft, it was just strong enough to cause worry for Blaze, as he was told bad things happened in the uncharted regions of the ruins.

And now he was alone, about to enter an unlit, uncharted region of the basement, where a draft was coming from, and where blood could be smelled in the air.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope." Blaze swung the door closed, and he felt very nervous as the door closed. He thought he heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, and a something caused the fur on the back of his neck stand on end, freezing him in place. He silently slid the latch on the door closed, hearing the sound of the lock realigning itself, preventing others from opening the horrors within. Yet the feeling of horror and dread remained in the pit of his stomach, and he nervously turned around, his heart nearly giving out at what beheld him.

Standing in the entrance to the room he now stood in, was a pale, nearly translucent, bipedal figure. Obviously a spirit, this one was no pony, no creature he had ever seen before, and the chains draping from its limbs and what looked like a neck indicated atrocities he dare not think of.

He didn't move, he didn't breathe, he simply stared in disassociated horror, and complete and utter terror, as the spirit stared him down. Then, much to his heart's racing discontent, the spirit raised a limb, pointing something attached to the limb at him, then slowly faded back into oblivion.

An hour of standing there, wondering if the spirit would come back, Blaze finally decided that it would be best if he got out of there, and as soon as possible, and that was exactly what he did. It was a good thing that he memorized some of the main pathways through the tunnels, because he was flying as fast as he could in the tight spaces, turning corners as fast as possible. He sped up in short bursts along hallways, never pausing or stopping to even change direction, he was always moving. Normally, it took him five to six minutes to get out from where he was, flying took him twenty seconds.

He exploded out of the door into the main lobby of the creed warehouse, surprising many of the members by his sudden appearance. Their surprise quickly faded when they saw where he came from and his reaction, quickly catching what must have happened, and Door Cracker was the first to respond.

The massive earth pony stood from his usual seat at the bar, and calmly walked over to the shaking pegasus. Offering a hoof to steady him on, which Blaze reluctantly accepted, wavering as he took one of his planted hooves off the ground.

"Tell me what happened kid."

Blaze swallowed trying to both find his voice and catch his breathing, which ended with him inhaling and speaking at the same time. That ended poorly, and once he had caught sufficient breath, he moved over to one of the seats, plopping his sweaty ass on the cotton cover, placing both his hooves on his lap as he turned to face the group gathering around him. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when he was offered a mug of cider. Accepting the drink, he downed it in two deep gulps, belching at the end.

"Okay. Okay." He breathed out, mostly to himself as he tried to steady what his limbs from what had just happened. "I got this. Okay."

"Kid, your safe here, them freaks ain't gonna get you up here, that's what the locked doors are for."

"Yeah, doors locked for a reason, and I am never, here me? NEVER going back down there again! Holy buck! So, I picked the lock, successfully cracked a door you haven't, and let me tell you, it should've stayed locked. Buck, man. It was horrible." He paused to accept another mug of cider, which he downed just as easily as the first, then he took a moment to center his racing mind, calming his nerves. "Have you ever seen a room that had no lights? Was completely black?"

One or two of the elder creed members nodded, though those that did soon shared a worried look amongst themselves, Door Cracker included.

"Well, this one was, and at first is wasn't so bad, I was excited, you know? I had just broken through a really difficult lock that not even master Door Cracker could get through, and I was feeling great. And then there was this lovely breeze coming in from the darkness. It felt wonderful, because I spent the whole damn day down there, picking away at that stupid bucking lock!" At the moment he said that, the elder group shared extremely worried glances between themselves which only got worse as he continued. "Fresh air felt wonderful, but then I thought about it, why the hay was there fresh air flowing in from a room in an underground series of tunnels? Then I took a step back from the door, thinking about what I was told, about uncharted areas. And then I smelt something in the breeze, something close to rotting flesh, mixed with fresh blood, that terrible copper smell. Then I realized what was going on, and right about that time, noises started ringing forth from within the darkness. Buck, I have never been so quick to lock a door back up in my life!"

"Holy buck, not again!" But Blaze wasn't anywhere near finished.

"I locked that door so hard, and I ain't ever unlocking it, ever! But when I had finished that, I turned to head back up here, when I saw some creepy ass shit, man. There was this giant floating ghost, just floating at the doorway, my only exit, and it was staring at me, and I kind of panicked, but I didn't know what to do. It was just standing there, staring at me. I froze, and after a moment, it raised one of its things and pointed it at me, then it disappeared. I couldn't move or think or do anything for the last hour."

"Holy buck, you have no idea how lucky you are, Sweet T. Others went through the same thing, and didn't manage to make it back to tell us." One of the elders he hadn't really met with spoke up, and another mug of cider was offered, the truly old members knew exactly what this kind of trauma did to a pony, especially the young ones. "Tell me, what did this ghost look like?"

"Um, I wasn't really focused, you know? Kind of panicking. Well, um, it was tall, like really tall, pale white and blue, hints of red along its length, four limbs, two and the base, two near the top, head was small, though. Um, chains, so many bucking chains. Some around what I think is a neck, some around each limb, several across the body. It looked like it was wearing some kind of cloak, but with the mix of colors and chains, I don't really know." Blaze swallowed the last of his drink, then set the third mug on the counter, which the bartender picked up and washed away.

"Kid, go home, get some rest, don't come back for a day, get some rest." Door Cracker's tone left no room for argument, and Blaze wasn't sure he even wanted to argue with that. He could use some rest, and that job Al wanted him for probably wasn't going anywhere, so he nodded. "I'll tell Al what happened, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Thanks." Blaze stood on shaking limbs, but felt the cider calming his body, and he walked steadily out of the building, heading home. The walk was a lot easier than he anticipated, but he was thankful that he could get home without any trouble nonetheless. As he opened the door, he was greeted by a group huddling around the fire, sharing their evening meal while conversing about the door. They turned to face him at the sound of the door opening, and each smiled at his return.

From within the group, Asta, Muffin, and Sweet Flower rushed forward to tackled him in a group hug. He chuckled, it lifted his spirits that these three were able to be happy, though it helped that things were looking significantly better. Still, nothing in the warehouse really felt the same without Star, and that thought plagued him every day, and every night in every dream he ever had.

"You're back!" The three attackers said joyously as they backed up so that Blaze could stand, while the rest of the adults around the fire resumed their conversations. Blaze chuckled to himself while he nodded to the three, rubbing each of their heads in turn as he waited for them to release him. "Why are you early? Normally, you stay out late into the night."

"Just decided that I needed a break. Saw something that I probably shouldn't have, and figured we got enough going on around here that I can take a day off." He shrugged, finally rising to his hooves and looking each foal in the eye. He looked at the adults sitting around the fire, obviously taking a break from the constant renovations or repair work that they all have been doing around the warehouse. An idle thought crossed Blaze's mind, as he wondered just how valuable this place had to be, considering that they basically invested their lives in maintaining this building. But, like all things that happened in their lives, he didn't have time to wonder about it, as he had a conversation to participate in with a certain old fool.

Blaze let the foals go off and play while he approached the elder pegasus, who had been sitting back in his chair, watching the younglings and their antics. As Blaze neared, the elder straightened his back, knowing that they were about to discuss something important.

"Can we talk outside?" Blaze asked gently, nodding his head in the direction of the back door, where a couple of stallions were exiting, presumably to start work again on the nearly completed second story. While he waited for the elder to get up, he took a quick glance at the progress they had made. He was impressed, the individual rooms looked to be coming together, the walkways were done, and it seemed all they had to do left was finish the railings, and whatever was left in the back.

Blaze led the way outside, with the elder following shortly behind him, and the two found themselves in a somewhat secluded corner, waiting for the others nearby to leave the area. Once they were alone, the elder turned to Blaze, the questioning look on his face betrayed his stoic silence.

"I wasn't joking when I said I saw something today. I don't know what it really was, some kind of ghost or something. Whatever it was, it scared the living shit out of me, and the guys recommended I take the day off. I'm probably going to have to be a lot more careful in the future, because whatever it is that is hiding beneath this city. It is not friendly." The words just flowed out of the young pegasus' mouth, faster than he had time to process what he was even saying. As he took a breath, the elder interrupted him, holding a hoof to his mouth to silence him.

"Wait a minute, there boy." He said gruffly. "What do you mean 'ghost?'"

"I saw some kind of spirity thing. It was glowing all ghostly blue, it was _floating_ for Celestia's sake! And the guys at the creed even said that there was some crazy shit happening in the past. It was the whole reason they had the majority of the underground complex sealed shut." Blaze explained in his hushed voice, hoping that the others around didn't eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Well, that is very bad information, Blaze. I think we need to go to the Princesses about this." The elder spoke slowly, watching a cringe formed on Blaze's face. "Look, I know you don't like them, but if this is a serious threat, then the entire city is in danger, and I think it would be best if you went to them about it. You already told us that you have their support in finding you brother, which means you have some kind of good terms with them. They will hear you out if you tell them that there is a major threat to the city."

"Look, I know you want what is best for everypony, but I don't think that we have to go to them about this. I mean, the creed has obviously got this under control, and they have for a long time, otherwise, we probably wouldn't be here." Blaze retorted, his blood starting to roil at the thought of the royalty intervening in more of his life. He didn't need them, he had this under control.

"Sonny. . ." The elder began, but he was cut off by Blaze shaking his head and flaring his wings open as he prepared to take off.

"No, I know we got this. We are fine, and everything is under control. Let's just leave things be, and keep the princesses out of this." And with that, he leaped into the air, pumping his wings to gain altitude. As he rose above the buildings, he began to notice a few changes that made his heart lighten just a bit: the number of crumbling buildings were rapidly falling, as they were either being renovated, or they were being torn down. He understood that more buildings were now missing than before, but that meant that the newly freed regions would be used to stimulate the population into growing, and the whole country would be able to rise from the destruction and chaos wrought on from Discord.

Things were really starting to look up, and aside from the random disappearances, the ponies were finally able to be hopeful for the future. As much as Blaze tried to, he couldn't resist feeling like things were indeed getting better, maybe his family wouldn't live with the fear of starvation much longer. He couldn't let his heart grow to hopeful, though. Building hope only makes loss and failure ever more potent.

He learned that the hard way.

He soon found himself flying way above the city, staring at the zones of the city obviously under renovation, and he was happy that the city was rebuilding itself. He looked over the remaining sections of the city, how the setting sun made the smoke columns rising from the occupied homes glow bright orange. Maybe things wouldn't be too bad, now that the city had found it's hooves and was about to get back up and start walking again. He still needed a constant source of supplies for the community, if not to consume at the warehouse, then to honestly trade for other things. He couldn't steal everything.

Deciding that what he needed was a strong mug of cider, and maybe some time to just process what the buck he had seen. Nodding to himself, he decided to put those wise words to the test, and see if he couldn't indeed drink his sorrows completely away. At least for tonight, because he was still debating whether or not to commit fully to alcohol. He fumbled around with the pouch of bits tied around the belt he had started to wear. It was convenient for him, because he could store his bits and some picks on the belt, and it wasn't too intrusive for him.

He began the trip back to the creed, knowing it was but a short glide away, and began doing just that. As he approached the building, he noticed an obvious lack of activity within, and he decided to make a subtle approach. Gently landing outside, he crept through the door, noting the disturbing lack of noise from within, and he carefully made his way through the foyer, bracing himself at a corner at the entrance to the main hall. He listened to the sudden emergence of voices.

"I'm sorry, Princess. But I simply cannot just offer up one of my better workers. He is valuable, and I need him where he is, because he is one of the driving forces behind me having the power to do what I need to do." Al's voice echoed in the halls, and Blaze felt his fur stand on end as he thought about why the princess would be here. Who did they want?

"We see." Blaze was fairly sure that was Luna, he had spoken to her enough to recognize her voice. "We art willing to offer thee compensation for the deterring of a worker. That Gold Wing has to come to us of his own free will, and if he is loyal to thine, then he shalt remain among thou thieves."

Now Blaze was beginning to understand why the princesses were here, though he was doubting whether they were being completely honest about their desire. He knew they wanted him to be their puppet, but he didn't think they wanted him willing.

"Look, until this city is fully repaired, and until these bucking Changelings are dealt with, I need him here!" Al suddenly shouted, making Blaze shift in hiding uncomfortably. What did he mean: 'Changelings?'

'What the buck are Changelings?' He thought to himself, wondering just what was really happening behind the scenes in this place.

"Those Changelings have been snatching our precious citizens, Al Capony. Remember who it is that has been holding those vermin back." Celestia suddenly spoke up, causing Blaze to flinch again. "If we had Blaze Burn, then we would be able to put an end to them once and for all. If we had his abilities at our disposal, then thine city would be safe, and thine guild shalt have no competition."

"I simply cannot give him up, not when we are at the point of making it or breaking up permanently." Al took in a deep breath, and Blaze heard him flop into his seat, the chair making a loud creaking noise as it took the sudden weight. "We had an incident with him today. One of the guys has been teaching him how to pick locks, downstairs."

Blaze heard murmurs of acknowledgement coming from the princesses, as if they knew what Al was talking about. For Blaze, that only raised more questions than it helped settle anything.

"He opened a new door, one that even our best hadn't been able to open, and it had some bad effects on the kid." Al continued, pausing to take a breath, and Blaze was wondering just what was going on here. He was craving answers, and he had a feeling that this was the only way he was going to get them.

"What did he see?" Luna asked.

"From what he said, he ran into one of the ghosts that patrol the upper levels, and he had nearly stumbled upon one of the Reapers. Poor kid said he was feeling something from within the depths, said he smelled death. I can say without a doubt that it was a Reaper, and he was smart enough to lock the damn door. I just can't imagine it; a Reaper so close to the surface."

"Keep us informed." Was all Celestia had to say, and as Blaze sneaked a peek around the corner, he saw the sisters sharing a look of confusion. Before he was caught, Blaze whipped his head back around the corner, hoping that he remained unnoticed, as his white coat was not something that made sneaking around easy. But then again, whenever he was in a situation where he needed to sneak, any color wouldn't have made a difference, as it was usually day time, or brightly lit.

As Blaze prepared to strain his ears to listen just a little more, he heard the unsettling sound of hoofsteps coming his way, and he knew for sure that he was done. If he didn't get out immediately, he'd be found, and he couldn't have that.

Yet, as he stood to turn and silently leave, he heard Al speak up. "What do you want me to do about Blaze. I can't just offer him up, he is far too important to us, but if you think he can take out some of the problems, then what should I do?"

Blaze had enough time to hear the response before he soared out of the building.

"Get him to distrust thee. We need him willing."

Feeling that his heart was about to burst out of his chest, Blaze soared through the evening sky, feeling the heat of the setting sun as he rose above the buildings and into the sunlight. He hovered where he was, wings lightly working to keeping him aloft, using an updraft to conserve energy, as most of it was being spent in his mind. He wanted to process this as much as possible, and in order to do so, he needed his brain working overtime.

'So much for a nice mug of cider.' He thought sourly as he flew towards the outer walls, wondering just what he could do with the information he obtained. The first thing to cross his mind was the mention that the princesses wanted him to distrust the creed, and that they needed him. They _needed_ him to deal with some threat of theirs. That was something that he would never have thought he would have had to come to terms with, especially since he figured they just wanted to coalesce as much power as they could. 'Buck, why can't I just get some solid cider, or maybe mead. I hear Gryphonia has some high-quality mead.'

He idly flew as if on patrol, following the wall as it made its way closer to the rich districts, though his mind was heavily processing what he thought about the information. He felt pleased that the royalty was starting to think so highly of him, though a small part of him that he cherished deeply was furious that they were just now taking an interest in him. Had they taken up the curiosity a year earlier, maybe Star would still be with him, and he wouldn't have been so keen to dislike the over-rated alicorns.

Then there was that little fact that was used as leverage, that there had been Changelings invading the city, taking ponies. Maybe they were responsible for Star being gone, but if they were, then what the buck was the letter for? Things were starting to get so muddied, and he really needed answers.

Blaze growled in frustration, because despite his best efforts at making things better, things only seemed to be falling apart around him. No matter how hard he as trying to catch up, everything just seemed to speed away when it was just out of his reach. He flew silently over the tip of the tower that marked the edge between the normal city walls and the luxurious district. Luckily for him, he had no fear of the guards around here going after him, as the shifts would be changing soon, the sun had already set, and he could just barely see the moon rising in the east. No doubt the day guards would be too busy heading in to call it a day to notice him soaring above.

When he felt he had trespassed enough to feel rebellious, Blaze flared his wings, tipped his body back, and did a flip, turning completely around, then as his momentum pulled him closer to the ground, he spun, turning right-side up. With three quick pumps of his wings, he had regained his original speed and was heading back along the wall towards the parts of the city where anypony was welcomed.

'Maybe a Changeling spy, or whatever the buck those creatures are supposed to be infiltrated the city, managed to break Star's mind. He was babbling nonsense, and that was the product of the Changelings making him believe that he wanted to leave, using him to fake a trail.' Blaze thought, his brain starting to hurt from the constant need to know what happened to his sole reason for existence. He was not a detective, but he had common sense, and the explanations for his dearly beloved brother's disappearance just couldn't stand up to scrutiny. He had nothing to go off of except speculation, and there seemed to be no evidence to go off of.

"No matter what anypony says, I can't give up on him." He muttered to himself, that small part of him began to loath himself that he had nearly given up on the search. "Never again."

Subconsciously, he was feeling a burning desire for closure, for any knowledge of what had happened to his brother. Maybe in his roots, maybe in the future, maybe in friends or family. He didn't care, as long as he had something to go off of, and that was the biggest problem, he had nothing.

As he flew, he noticed that he had strayed from his original path, and had once again wound up in an older section of the city, with rundown buildings. He would have been very surprised to find if any ponies lived here still. The place was like a wasteland, with absolutely no signs of life. That was the census, until he turned a corner, now that he had landed to take a closer inspection of the condition of the neighborhood. As he rounded the corner, he witnessed a single figure, slumped up against a crumbling wall, in what looked like part of what used to be a building.

As he approached the figure, a body hiding behind a cloak, they shrunk back from him, glaring towards him from under the shadows of the hood. With the sunlight nearing nonexistence, it was impossible for him to recognize the pony hiding in the hood, assuming he knew them to begin with.

He slowly inched closer, and with each inch he gained the figure seemed to shrink back another. Until he got fed up with trying the silent approach, so he lowered himself to appear less a threat, and he began trying to talk to the figure.

"Hello, there. Are you alright?" He began slowly, hoping to not frighten the cloaked pony flinched as if they had been slapped, reeling away from him ever that much more. He stopped, doing his best to appear as non-threatening as possible, though all his efforts seemed to have been in vain, as the figure only slipped steadily away from him. As he stopped pressing the advance, the figure noticed a crook in between two buildings, and used the pause he took to dive into the shadows before he could react.

Slightly disheartened that his attempt at helping another pony find some peace and safety had failed, Blaze could only shake his head, as this neighborhood was not easily navigable even during the day. The figure was probably comfortable in this region of the city, and knew where they were going, he had no hope of following them. Deciding to not waste any more time here, Blaze unfurled his wings, preparing to launch from the ground, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

Wings still half-way raised up, Blaze looked over by one of the somehow still burning lamppost, staring at a tree that he hadn't thought he would see again, as it had been from early in his childhood. One that he had enjoyed many a late evening in its branches when his mother was out working the stallions. He stood up and closed his wings, pressing the white feathers back against his side, and slowly walked over to the tree, staring at the gnarled branches that wouldn't dare support his weight anymore. It brought back a wave of nostalgia, and he was tempted to run back to his old home, if only it brought Star back. If only he could have that time when things weren't always about taking from others, the constant suffering, where he was able to play in his house, and not have to worry about where he would eat. Not that those days lasted very long, he just wanted peace and happiness again.

Sighing to himself, while silently kicking his own ass for letting his emotions get the better of him again, he shook his head clear of the heavy doubts clouding his judgement, and decided that he had better get back home. Maybe grab a quick bite to eat, head off to bed and get an early start back at the creed.

The creed.

Just thinking about the thieves, he was immediately reminded of the strange thing that was both the princesses desiring him to separate from the creed. He really wanted answers, but he was worried about how the backlash would be if either Al or the Sisters found out that he knew what he did. He shrugged it off, something to worry about in the morning, he had more important matters to attend to, and none of them included that at the moment. He repeated his process of unfurling his wings, only adding taking a couple of steps back to have some air clearance as he took off. Flying above the city, he had a chance to process why he had felt that sudden urge to go back home, maybe it was that he hadn't even heard wind of his mother in the year or so that he and Star had been gone. Maybe his mother had found Star, convinced him to come home.

'No.' Blaze shook the though from his mind, sure that he would have known if his mother had shown up. That hadn't even included how she would have had to be able to find them, then get to Star without anypony else noticing. He was certain his mother had nothing to do with them anymore, though that was something he was still on the fence about regarding how he felt. His mother had done her best, but that wasn't enough. 'Tartarus, nothing back then was enough, and I was doing everything in my power to get us by. Then again, I'm sure she was doing what she could for us, raising three isn't easy, especially when one was a newborn colt, and her line of work didn't allow for her to take them to work, nor could she afford a nanny. No, she did what she could, and we just helped each other out, she had no other worries, and we were able to learn what we needed to survive.'

Blaze nodded to himself as he crept through the door, entering the community warehouse, once again surprised by the amount of work that always seemed to happen while he was gone. Though what had caught his notice this time was that not a single pony seemed to be awake, even the resident ancient pegasus had called it in. He guessed he shouldn't be too surprised, as it had been a long week, with the most intense part of summer hitting in, it would be difficult for them all. His mood turned slightly flustered at that thought, as he recalled memories of the year before, and his own personal experience with summer.

He never really had a chance to process how he felt about that, either, as it was something that just got swept up by the renovations and all the other work that he had to do. Star disappearing, renovating the warehouse, working for the creed, lessons from the creed, stealing supplies from the castle. He knew he had kept himself busy for the sake of not dwelling on the shit that was passing in his life, but hindsight revealed that he should have made time to think. Now he was creeping through the halls, hoping not to wake anypony, as sleep was a precious commodity these days, and he knew they all worked hard to earn it.

Just as he got to his door, his mind restarting its ever-constant processing of how things were turning out for him, he felt something in the pit of his stomach. He hesitated for a moment, before nudging the feeling away, hoping some sleep would knock it away, only as he opened the door, he suddenly noticed where the feeling had come from.

He hadn't noticed the only light inside the building seemed to be coming from his room, and as the door slid open, he soon learned why. Candles.

Candles were lit and placed in a large circle around the room, sitting on any place not on the ground, and with a large number also on the ground. Rose petals were thrown around carelessly, though their origin of casting was appearing to be from the bed, his bed to be specifically. And sitting upon said bed, though sitting would have been the wrong word to describe it, as it was more of seductively lounging across, had been a particular mare that Blaze had been equally hoping and dreading would be there. That lead mare from last year, that was being completely avoided by nearly all the community this time around, as word had spread like wildfire over her actions and presumptions, though little seemed to have changed.

The look on her deep red face could only have been described as sultry, lusting, and filled with desire. Blaze tried to peel his gaze away, though only half-succeeded, as he had turned his face down to the ground, yet his eyes lingered on everything that he could see at his angle. And the way the mare lay across the bed, there was little left to the imagination at his angle, and that all too familiar fire soon sprang to life in his stomach. It burned through the queasiness that was flooding his gut just moments before. One thing that he hadn't noticed before, due to the thick aroma of three mares in heat, was that the mare before him was a unicorn, with magenta fur that clung to her body a little too much, shining in either a sheen of sweat, or moisture from a recent bath. If Blaze could rely on his sense of smell, he would have to guess that the invading, overpowering scent of mucky sex dictated that she was most definitely covered in sweat. Blaze saw a light purple aura engulf her horn, and he felt more than heard the door behind him drift shut. The demanding scent of lust in the air, the heat in the room, it all only dramatically increased, demanding his most primal instincts take over.

Blaze knew that his brain wasn't going to function for this, and unless some random pony came to his rescue very soon, he probably wasn't getting out of this. Not that he was really complaining.

 _ **(Sex is coming.) You have been warned.**_

The temperature in the room seemed to raise drastically, and before he even knew what was going on, he had stumbled his way over to the bedside, though he had stopped to admire the curvature of this mare's flanks, the way her sweat made her coat shine in the flickering candlelight, the deep contrast of light and dark only expanded by her lovely fur. She caught his gaze momentarily, and as motivation, she encouraged him through a seductive flick of her mane, flashing a dark violet, nearly black that had twin stripes of a lighter violet and a wonderful pink. Blaze wasn't all that encompassed by the motion, but the scent that wafted over him through it nearly sent him completely primal. He hadn't really heard her gasp, but what did pass within his attention was the hoof that went to her muzzle as her gaze dropped to somewhere on the floor directly behind him. Then he felt the blood, or lack thereof, going to his brain and he understood: she wasn't looking at the floor behind him, but what dangled nearly on the floor, slowly reaching up, just under him.

"My, oh my, aren't you quite the stallion." She whispered, eyes darting between his two heads, the top having his eyes as the focus of her attention whenever her own were above eye-level. "I think I made the right decision in paying you a lovely little visit tonight."

Whatever little brain function he had right then was not to be wasted on trying to stumble around with words, as his body was dictating his actions, and low on that list was speaking. He chose a much more direct path of action, and finished the trip to the bed, pulling his fore-legs onto the mattress, putting him face to torso with his benevolent master. He leaned in, inhaling as deeply as he could, enjoying every last whiff that his lungs could possibly hold, while he finally felt himself standing as tall as he was going to be able to get without attention. His body sent him eternal thanks, however, as he climbed his better half onto the bed as well, rolling the mare onto her back in the process.

Blaze blinked for a moment, briefly surprised by the fact that he now stood atop a mare, fore-legs on either side of her shoulders, their muzzles nearly touching. Her sweet, hot breath washing over his nostrils, filling his lungs with desire, with the succulent scent of a mare in heat. Her eyes were half lidded, revealing hints of the same lavender that was her coat, though as her own fore-legs pushed his torso down, his hind legs collapsing beneath him with weak knees, he lost them. He didn't understand what she wanted, but his body sure did, and had he had brain function, he wouldn't have tried what he was engaging in. He slid the remaining distance down to her body, his chest gathering a large amount of her sweat as their bodies rubbed.

Blaze found his fore-legs wrapping themselves around her hind legs, which were twitching ever so slightly. He kissed her stomach on the way down, inciting small moans of expectation and pleasure from the mare he was teasing.

Soon, he found the stomach gave way to a pair of very erect teats, something his body registered immediately, and he gently bit down on one, making the mare gasp sharply. As he ran his tongue over the tip of the nipple, his teeth delicately pressuring it, the mare let out a moan, her hind legs and core muscles tensing before she relaxed to take in a breath.

Blaze's member demanded he quicken the pace, as he was demanding attention as well, and the more instinctual parts of the stallion's body knew the order of attention in this game of pleasure. He let the teat free, and he inhaled enough to get him down to the golden area, already soaking through the neatly trimmed fur, and dampening his sheets beneath. A moment of thought registering, and Blaze had to blink, as his brain found himself staring down what his body so deeply desired. While he was able to think, he was heavily shocked to know just how badly his body desired this, almost as if he wanted this more than the mare did. Then he let out the breath, which only hit the unicorn's marehood, before circling back into his nostrils, and his brain shut off again.

His brain out of the game for a play or five, his ears tuned back onto the mare, who was moaning and groaning, her hooves reaching down to firmly grab onto his mane. He had enough time to suck in a breath and his tongue work its way free before her hooves pulled his muzzle into her honey pot.

The first thing that registered for Blaze was the overpoweringly strong taste of lust, something he hadn't known had a taste. It reminded him of dried bark, and the sweetest of candy treats at the same time, it was both revolting and craze-inducing. With his lips firmly attached around her lower ones, his tongue made a wide sweep from the bottom up, and as the mare moaned, he felt her body vibrate, yet before he gave her a moment to breath, his tongue brushed her clit, which had peeked out at the hint of his breath, and when she hitched a breath _very_ sharply, his body reminded him of the fire inside him that needed care. His tongue attacked with sudden vigor that took them both by surprise, diving back through her lips, taking a swipe at her clit on the way, and before she could register the pleasure, had taken three quick jabs deeper inside of her.

When his downward stroke registered for her, he returned to her clit with a gently suck of his lips, then he rammed his tongue against her lips, briefly catching against the inner lining of her lips, marking his inexperience, before they landed home. As his tongue penetrated, he pulled her closer with his fore-legs, compounding the depth and making her squirm and wriggle in pleasure.

In another sequence of consecutive thrusts with his tongue, he pulled out, leaving a strand of saliva between their lips, while he scooched forward and adjusted his angle, looking slightly down at her marehood. With his new angle, he focused his efforts on her clit, circling it with his tongue, occasionally sucking it back, before diving inside her folds again. Whenever he abandoned her clit with his tongue, occupying it elsewhere, he pleasured that region by rubbing her with his nose. Before he had gotten long into eating her, his muzzle had been embraced and welcomed by her fluids, he found it mildly difficult to breath, but he had only mentally shrugged. It wasn't all that high in his priority list, after all, he could still breath, and he only needed minimal oxygen while his brain was off.

After another series of thrusts into her with his tongue, before quickly pulling out to suckle her clit, he was rewarded with her muscles beginning to rapidly contract and pulse. He redoubled his efforts, forcing his tongue back inside her, twisting it with renewed vigor, folding it to thicken the width and surface area, jabbing at random intervals to prevent her adjusting to it, all the while he had a hoof rubbing her clit or the insides of her lips. His right fore-hoof had quickly become evidence of local flooding in the area, as did his entire bed.

Within a minute of his redoubled efforts, and within the longest, most intense seven and a half minutes of his life, the mare let out a hormone-driving scream of pleasure, her legs clamping around the poor stallion's head and neck, and her nether-region muscles had clamped as well. He had enough time to slam his eyes shut and plant his mouth around her opening as the floodgates released, filling his muzzle with her cum.

As she rode the wave of pleasure, her legs finally granting the white pegasus air to breath, he felt his body growing more and more anxious for what was rapidly approaching. However, with the reintroduction of the active ability to breath, his brain momentarily flicked back to life, and he sincerely hoped none of the other residents had woken to her screams of pleasure, that most definitely would have been an awkward situation they'd have found themselves in.

The mare let out a sigh, her horn lighting up enough to catch Blaze's attention, and he was pulled up to meet her gaze, on equal level. She locked their lips together, and just like that, his brain shut the fuck up, turning off once again. Blaze felt it only right to return the kiss, and he applied his own force, and as she accepted his return, she made the advance, her tongue finding its way past their shared boundary, and Blaze began the wrestle for dominance within his own mouth. With the sudden intrusion in him, though he was by no means complaining, he felt himself hardening to a degree he thought unsafe. And he wasn't even thinking at the time.

As he felt a surge of blood going southwards, his member brushed against the lower reaches of her stomach, the tip gathering a small mixture of sweat and mare ejaculations, only furthering the experience. With his member primed, ready to go, and now lubed up, he forced his tongue against hers, invading her caloric intake center, while his secondary, arguably primary, head prepared to enter her unholy sanctum of pleasure. As he slowly dominated her mouth, his tongue hit a sensitive node in her mouth, inciting a pleasurable moan from the unicorn, who had to wrap each of her legs around Blaze to keep herself from shaking too badly. He hind legs locked around his waist, lining him up the last little bit that he need, and as his tip applied the slightest pressure against her opening, he paused, pulling his tongue from her muzzle, a strand of saliva once again connecting the two.

"Ready?" Was the only word, the only question, he needed utter, as with her eager and slightly exasperated nod at the lack of a tongue to wrestle, he stormed the unholy castle of retribution. The slightest hint of resistance caused a frown to appear on his face, though when he looked at the mare under him, and her look of utter pleasure, he refused to stop. As his head breached her, she took to engaging him in oral combat once more, moaning the whole time his length slowly made its way through the love tunnel. He hadn't gone in all the way when he thought to stop, though the negative reaction made him momentarily pause from penetrating both ends.

"Did I say stop?" The unicorn asked, her hind legs forcing Blaze to continue to ride deeper into her, though they quickly had lost the ability to continue to do so, as they fell to the sides, trembling from the him suddenly filling her quite quickly. He felt her trembling, but she was nibbling on his ear, constantly begging him not to stop, and he had to admit that he quite enjoyed the feeling on her teeth grinding away at his ears. He felt the pressure of her insides adjusting to his size, slowing enough for her to readjust herself, then he pushed the last few inches in, fulling hilting her, and as he did so, she let out a brief gasp in equal parts pain and pleasure. He felt her nodding into the side of his neck, unable to find the words to tell him continue. He paused for five seconds, then, just as her hind legs attempted to wrap around him again, he began to pull out. She let out a long-winded moan the entire way, until he was just about to fully exit.

He looked her right in the eye, and as she flashed another sultry grin, he returned it, and for half a second, she looked concerned, but neither look lasted. He pumped back into her, not going all the way back inside, but most of his length was buried in her, and the only response she could muster was to arch her back, only building the pressure they both felt. Out of her maw followed a scream of ecstasy, and then he hilted once again, before one of his hind legs, numbed and twitched, causing him to lose his balance.

As he rolled to the side, due to their bodies entangled, he pulled her on top of him. As they swapped positions, she could only bite into his shoulder to keep herself from erupting all over him again, she wasn't ready to cum again. The two rode out the pleasure of the sudden shift, until they settled again, and Blaze couldn't help himself, for now riding him was a purple unicorn whose eyes were completely panicked. He bucked his hips, simply trying to settle into a comfortable position, but that had been more than enough to send her back over the edge.

Blaze suddenly felt what it was like to have a mare climaxing around him, and it was nearly too much for him to handle, her body was so tight around him, and the muscles constantly shifting, constantly rubbing him the right way. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on, but he figured it was long enough. So, he started bucking as wilding as he could, knowing the end was nigh upon them both. Blaze felt himself getting close, and he was just about to say something to her when he hips twitched, inciting a spasm that slammed her front legs onto his chest. The impact made him buck her up, out of rhythm and causing her to slide off of him, and land on his stomach with a very wet plop. His torso was sprayed with a mix of her juices and some of his precum.

They let out a simultaneous sigh, interrupted out of either riding a climax or rapidly approaching one. Before the unicorn could return to her mount, Blaze grabbed her by the back of the neck, pulling her down into a deep, lust-filled kiss. As they engaged in oral combat once more, Blaze wrapped his wings around her, and they swapped places again. Blaze pulled back, sitting on his haunches, while he sat at his full height, eyes gazing down at the sweaty, filthy mare beneath him, and a thought occurred to him. Her rubbed her stomach with an idle hoof teasingly, then grabbed himself with the other, aiming it back at her entrance.

With a devious smile, he pushed himself into her, and began his slow, methodical thrusts, each one punctuated by a small moan from the mare, who merely lay there, taking all he had to offer. As he built in pressure, he picked up his pace, until, after another minute of heavy pumping, he was pounding himself at the mare, who was only gasping ragged breaths, adding another thick layer of sweat to what was already there. He let out an animalistic growl, feeling the pressure building in his loins to an unbelievable amount, and he grabbed at both of the mare's legs, his tempo picking up even more.

As her screams became more and more frantic, more pleasure-filled, she slowly remembered what was about to happen. She couldn't have him doing the deed in her, mares in heat and all that, so she shook her head at him during a period of her breathing, and he seemed to understand, though he finished with a final, heavy, deep thrust inside, then he pulled out, feeling the steamy air groping around his member. The feeling of her body tensing finally around him as he pulled out launched him over the edge, and his body screamed for him to go back inside her, to spread his genes, causing a final thrust. The only thing that happened with the thrust was as he came, his seed in thick white ropes, fires at her stomach, caking her torso, neck and face in white goodness. The mare didn't mind, it was far better than him coming inside of her. As Blaze let himself be emptied over the front of her body, he let out the breath as steam wrapped itself around the pair of lovers. Once he had released his stores, he let himself collapse on top of her, their combined chests and bellies making the white ropes mix into their fur, though neither cared much, after what they had just finished.

 _ **(Sex is over)**_

"Well, that was one of the best performances I think I've ever had, even for your lack of experience. I dare say we should do this again." She spoke up after they each had a moment to gather their wits around them, after they had stretched themselves across the mattress, sheets cast aside to cool themselves off. Blaze could only grunt, finding himself extremely exhausted after their activity, he was already dosing off, though his brain was finally able to start clicking back on, even with limited energy.

"Yeah it was." He finally spoke up, after a single minute of silence, only broken by the light panting that was still coming from the unicorn, who had taken to rubbing her slightly sore genitals, her attempts at preventing the soreness she knew was going to hit her hard the morning after.

"Not that I regret anything we did, because that was exactly what I think we both needed, but I know for a fact that I won't be able to do a whole lot tomorrow." She said with a light chuckle, imagining how her friends were going to react to the news of what she had done. What she was unaware of, though, was that those very same mares had been sitting at the door, working each other's heat off to the sounds of the two lovers within the room. Also unknown to any of them, though would not come as a surprise, was the sheer number of ponies that had woken up due to their antics.

Blaze grunted slightly as the mare shakily got to her hooves, shuffling her ways to the door, making him lean against his headrest, watching her in interest as she left. She turned her head back to him, catching him staring, and gave a little wiggle of her rear as she went to the door. He grinned at her little show, feeling himself steadily rising, though he had no idea how he had the energy to do so. The mare watched in ill-concealed fascination towards his regrown member, a sultry grin plastered to her face.

"You ready for round two so soon? You know, for a virgin, you sure do have a large value to you. Think you up for the challenge?" She asked as she made her way back to the bed, doing her best to act seductively towards him, though she was exhausted from her hoofing herself three times before he showed up, and then the bucking he showed her to.

"Nah, I got work to do in the morning, and I think it'd be best if we just cleaned up before going to bed." He replied coolly, rolling out of bed as he felt himself shrink back inside his sheath. Once he was sure that he was presentable for the public, he led the mare out of the room, unaware of the fleeing ponies just around the bed. He led her to the back rooms, grateful that the summer weather was pleasant at night. Else their bathing would be rather uncomfortable.

Blaze walked into the showering portion, where several large tubs lined the walls, pipes running from the walls that could draw water from the well-reservoirs underneath the city. Being summer, and with a unicorn to heat the water, they wouldn't freeze to death. Actually, when Blaze thought about it, life without unicorns would have been very uncomfortable, as they wouldn't have had all the useful unicorns to do basic things like this.

Blaze turned the tap, allowing the water to flow into the tub, while he waited, he turned to the mare. "Will we be bathing together? I know you can clean yourself, and I know I can do a decent enough of a job by myself, but it is just so much easier to do one with another pony."

"Together. Why take the fun out of it?" She replied with a giggle, which Blaze returned with a smile, then he turned, checking the tub's water levels. Once he was satisfied with how much water he had, he closed the tap, letting the water settle, before gesturing for the mare to enter the tub. She complied very readily, hopping into the tub with not a drop of splash coming out. He waited for her to get settled before joining her, all the less gracefully, and as he splashed in, she had to slap him with some water across the back.

With Blaze situated in the back of the tub, they began to wash each other clean of their endeavors, Blaze using a bar of soap in his hooves to scrub her mane, while she faced forwards, her head slightly turned to the side to see what she was doing. She watched with keen eyes as her magic brushed through his chest and fore-legs with her own soap. As they scrubbed each other's juices off of themselves, they enjoyed a lull of silence to focus on the cleanup.

"So. . ." She suddenly began, causing Blaze to pause and cock his head to a side, allowing her to sweep the soap over that part of his neck, while he resumed scrubbing down her back, in regions most difficult for her to see what she was cleaning. "That was fun, you want to repeat the fun sometime in the future?"

"I don't know. Maybe, if things keep up the way they are, I'm sure we'll have some free time on our hooves to enjoy a little recreational relaxation." Blaze responded with a similar grin on his face as hers. However, his grin faded as something registered in his mind. "Buck!"

"What?"

"Oh, just thinking about the fallout of this. I don't know how many of the others know what happened, but I know there is no way that at least some don't know what happened. How are things going to pan out from here? I guarantee you that somepony is going to tell the others, and word is going to spread far too quickly. Some of the others aren't going to like that we did this, the old dude in particular." Blaze sighed, letting himself idly finish scrubbing her back, while he lathered a hoof to get her tail. Meanwhile the mare had finished his torso and neck, and was pulling him forward to get at his back. She started with him mane, using an excessive amount of soap to clean off the dirt and grime from the last few days he hadn't cleaned himself from.

"Just imagine how they are going to react. I know some like the old dude and Scaled Equilibrium are not going to like it, especially since they had done so much to keep us away from each other." He continued his thoughts, resting his head on her shoulder so he could scrub her chest.

"Well, think about it this way: no matter what they say or think, they can't change what has happened. So, even if they aren't happy with our decisions, which shouldn't matter anyway, they won't be able to do a thing about what we have already done. If memories are all we are allowed to have, then memories are what we will always have." She tried to sound cheery, though as he worked soap into her chest, she sounded more and more like a tired pony who was rambling whatever came to mind. Her scrubbing got more and more sloppy, basically becoming just soap moving along whatever surface it was following.

"Yeah, but if I talk to them, I think I'll be able to turn them to our side, or at least a neutral party, neither for nor against. But then again, what would they be against, exactly? Are we going to be a thing, or what?" He asked, snapping her out of her nap that she had just begun to fall into, her magic suddenly disappearing from her magical grip. She blinked her eyes back awake, then looked into his navy-blue ones. Purple clashed with blue, and for a moment there was a silence that was both comforting to them, yet more tense than either wanted.

"OH, um. I haven't actually thought about that. Okay, well, um, I think that, maybe. Oh, I don't know. You are just so young, and I don't want to take away any crush's chance of having you." She stumbled around, trying to think of a good answer, while staying awake and finding the bar of soap she dropped.

"Ha! Somepony having a crush on me? In case you haven't noticed, the only mares in here that have ever shown interest in me have been you and those mares that hang around you, and it's not exactly like you have been diving at my heart." Blaze responded with a good laugh, though in his heart, he did regret not having proper relationships with ponies his own age. He knew that he needed friends that were close to him in age, if only for good, quality friends that would be able to understand his troubles while just being age-appropriate for him. He really needed to find better reasons to get friends. The unicorn had finally found the soap she was using, and had started bathing him again. She started with his wings, which caught him off guard, and the sudden pressure made him jump a little. "Easy on the wings please. They are sensitive."

She complied silently, thinking of how to continue the thoughts she had, the things she need to say, maybe wanted to say. She also needed this silence to figure out whether she was genuinely interested in him, or if it was just the heat, and her need to be satisfied by a stallion? He picked up on the silence, but he understood, he had been instructed early in life that a mare in heat is never the same mare as when she was not. He knew that her interest in him was most likely just for what he had hidden between his legs. He didn't blame her, because he understood the needs of the flesh if today was anything to go by. He also understood that while he had no clue how old she was, there was at least a significant age gap between them, which would have made a relationship between them difficult at best. The relationship between the other residents of the community would also make things slightly uncomfortable, because while this mare was not really terrible to be around, heat made things awkward. And a damaged relationship is never able to be fully repaired.

The pair finished bathing, and as they stepped out of the tub, the mare pulled the plug, allowing the soapy, filthy water to flow down the drain, away from the building. Blaze had flapped his wings dry, then flew over to the towel rack, offering one to the mare while toweling off his mane. The two found themselves clean, dry, and utterly exhausted from both a long day, and a pleasurably exhaustive night.

"I suppose we can continue this conversation when we have time to, because I am bucking tired, and I think my brain will begin to start failing on me during any longer conversations. Good night, and maybe we can talk in the morning, eh?" Blaze asked as he held the door open for her to leave. She nodded, giving him a slight hug and a peck on the cheek before trotting down the hallway to her own chambers, a happy pop in her step as she went. Blaze wiped the cheek, not out of disgust, more of subconsciously knowing it wouldn't matter. His gut told him that he had other issues getting rapidly closer, mainly with the princesses, the creed, this 'Changeling' invasion, as well as the job the creed wanted him to do. He also knew that at some point he'd have to deal with the internal stress that came from seeing the ghost thing from the basement in the creed warehouse.

'Yet another busy bucking day tomorrow.' He sighed as he walked into his room, the scent of sex still suffocatingly thick in his room. He sighed to himself, partly regretting the act, but only because it was sure to stir shit up around here, and he was extremely grateful that he had a window in this room, though he guessed it wouldn't do a whole lot to help, mainly due to the window having been open the whole time. He would just have to accept that his room was going to be smelling like a whorsehouse for a day or three. He took a single look at his bed, the rugged sheets tossed around, the stench clinging to it for dear life, the stains no doubt going to remain there for a while. He nearly decided to say 'buck it' and go to sleep anyways, as it was he half did so. He just slumped onto the ground, happy that the candles had burnt out, and the flower petals on the ground helped mask the sex scent on the floor.

Blaze happily passed out right there on the floor, stretched out on the pleasantly cool concrete, body welcoming the chance to recover from the exertions of the day.

 _Blaze walked through a field of grass, trotting just outside the old town, walking by where his old house used to be, past the old warehouse. He walked around the region that would have been the area the market had been in, where only grass now lay, where the Everfree had reclaimed to the best of its abilities. He trotted towards his new shelter, something thrown together with wood scraps and sheets of metal that he had salvaged from the old armory in the castle._

" _I believe that your words are fateful. I believe we're the broken ones." A voice rang out, practically singing from inside his head._

" _Not bucking now, Sombra. I've got more important shit to do." Blaze Burn snapped, throwing the knife in his grip into the ground, growling at the sky, wondering just why shit had to turn out the way it did._

" _Don't let me down again, praise me, free me. Don't let me down again, you're key to my disaster." Sombra chuckled in his deathly dark voice. "Don't let me down again. Blame me, bleed me. Don't let me down again, you're key my disaster."_

" _Sombra. I said shut the buck up. I swear to all that is under Celestia's sun, if you keep that shit up, I'll cut so deep that you start bleeding." Blaze growled, picking up his knife as he trudged over to his shelter, just in time for the rain to kick in. He sat on his porch, wondering why he had to give into the darkness, why he had to be so weak._

" _I can see there are thoughts unfaithful, and I'll concede that our hearts are black. You believe that we should be able to bruise your body and to break you back. You believe that our mind is feeble, and every day we reveal the cracks." Sombra chuckled darkly, watching from Blaze's eyes as the pegasus raised the knife, grabbing it in his jaw, serving both its intended purposes. "I believe this is finally over, now we've suffered through you last attack."_

 _Blaze felt a moment of panic, before it was crushed asunder by the malevolent force that was Sombra living within his skull. Then, all that remained was a calm, a bliss of knowledge that the attacks were over. The pain would subside, to be claimed by the numbing sensation of life's very force being sucked dry. No more pain, no more attacks, no more betrayals. He looked around the clearing, the massive space that once held the capitol of Equestria, now reduced to nature's field. He wondered just what had happened to all his friends, his family. What had happened to Asta? Muffin? Sweet Flower? Did they all accept his passing well? What about the old dude? Did he manage well enough? Blaze found it hard to believe otherwise, the guy was always strong, always level-headed and solid. He would have fared just fine with the change of events. Blaze was most worried about Asta, as the two had grown so close, they were basically father and daughter, and to lose somepony close like that, Blaze knew that it would have torn her apart. What happened to her? Did she stay, to keep close with those others that had adopted her into their herd? Did she die here, get buried here? Just like he would._

" _Let me cross the line, so I feel alive."_

" _Bit ironic, ain't it, Sombra?" Blaze asked, working around through the blade handle in his mouth. "I'm here, about to do the final act of punishment, to drain my own life, to offer it as sacrifice, and here you are singing about crossing lines to feel alive. It's just so bucking ironic."_

" _Key to my disaster."_

 _Blaze just chuckled at the answer, then he took the knife in jaw, and slid the blade down his mud-stained fore-legs, feeling the bitter sting of flesh being torn apart. It felt so real, so suddenly true, he had crossed the line, and there was no going back. He was the final key, the only true key, in all honesty, that was to lead to his disaster. He was the one to let himself down, praised, freed, blamed and now bled. He was the key to his disaster. If only he had seen this coming, maybe he wouldn't have followed that path._

 _His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the popping sound of a unicorn teleporting in, something he had hoped would take slightly longer. He had only slight a single leg open, and if Starlight was already here, then he had better male this next slice count. Before he could bring the blade down, the purple unicorn was around him, the blade far from his grasp, being enveloped in a light blue aura. She had him leaned against her chest, a strip of cloth going around his leg._

Blaze awoke, once again, to the rushing of a certain princess of the night, who had snapped him from his room, and he was now in the Castle, in some unidentifiable room. He found himself currently sitting on a couch, rubbing his head, as these kinds of wake-up calls were not all that pleasant, and they left the unfortunate soul with a splitting headache for a few hours into the day. Once he had regained his vision, he looked at where he was, which happened to be some blue and black-draped room, what could only be assumed to be one of Luna's personal chambers, colors being the only evidence. And maybe the fact that the very same Princess of the Night was sitting in a similar couch as the one he was on just across from a small coffee table. He blinked a few times, just to make sure he wasn't still dreaming, slapping himself a few times, and once he was satisfied that he was indeed awake, he sighed in defeat. He was in for a long day.

"What do you want, Luna?" He asked curtly, already wishing he had just stayed up all night, then he remembered that he had to be at the creed this morning. He groaned loudly, slamming his hoof against his skull, causing the princess to frown at his actions.

"We hath simply to ask thee about thine dream." She replied, frown still plastered firmly on her features, though Blaze wasn't too worried about it as he was preoccupied with getting back to the creed. That was the moment that it clicked for him, and his memories suddenly flooded back to him, about the princess trying to split him away from the creed. Now he was more curious about the real reasoning behind it, because he was not buying that they Royal Sisters of Equestria needed some lowly pegasus to help fight off an invading force of some weird bug-pony things. Unfortunately for him, his mental debate had taken longer than the princess had liked, so she waved a bell in front of his face to get his attention.

"What?!"

"We hath asked thee a question."

"Not technically. You only told me why you had brought me here, which was to something about asking about dreams or some shit like that. Look, right now I really don't care, because you waking me up like this really bucking hurts, and I got a lot of other shit on my plate at the moment. One ridiculous bucking dream is not worthy of the attention of a Princess." Blaze retorted curtly, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a hoof, while the other ran circles over his temple, in hopes of removing the growing headache as fast as possible.

"Oh. Well, if thine head hath an ache, then we shalt get thine an ice bag combined with a morning meal." She rang her bell louder, summoning a servant that popped up out of nowhere, she gave the order, and the servant disappeared just as quickly. Blaze blinked once, before resorting to his 'not caring' attitude. He had a lot of shit to do today, and talking with the more intrusive of the sisters was not on that list. Within minutes, minutes that were occupied with Luna's vain attempts at opening up Blaze to conversation, the servant reappeared with a tray on her back, Luna grabbed the tray with her magic, and the servant, much to Blaze's disinterest, vanished into the shadows. "Here art thine morning aids."

Blaze reluctantly accepted the items, as he figured he might as well get this shit over with, he pressed the ice bag to his head, while he scanned the breakfast he received: eggs, toast, and some fresh grapes. He shrugged, popping grapes into his mouth, all the while Luna stared at him with a slightly unnerving fascination. One time did Blaze dare to return a glance at the princess, only to be met with that overly curious stare. He had quickly returned his attention to his food.

To say the breakfast was awkward would be like saying the Everfree Forest is just a little untamed. Blaze had rarely felt as out of place, as under inspection, as uncomfortable as right then and there. His one saving grace was far too brief break when a second servant appeared from the depths of Tartarus to inform the princess of one thing or another. During that momentary lapse, he had put the tray on the coffee table, and he cast a quick glance at the princess. He observed her interaction with the servant for the five seconds her attention was diverted. Once the servant vanished, and as Luna was turning her head back to him, he dropped his stare to the table. Only to gawk at the fact that the tray was now gone. He had to do a double take, just to make sure that it wasn't his head playing tricks on him.

He let out a sigh, knowing his time was up, and he had better get the important things out of the way as soon as possible. "Okay, princess, why do you really want me here?"

"We art, not of an understanding." She answered slowly, her brow furrowing as if she was trying to understand something incredibly deep or complex. "We hath simply the desire to ask thee about thine dream."

"No, okay. Let me be clear about this. I know what you and Celestia want, how you want to drive some wedge between me and the creed." Luna's eyes popped open, she hadn't seen this coming. "It has been made obvious to me that there is something behind the scenes going on here, something that neither you nor Celestia are telling anypony, and I want to know. So, let's ask you again, why am I here?"

"Oh, dearest Sister of mine. We hath not expected this outcome nor turn of events to happen." Luna paused to center her thoughts, wondering just what she could answer without her sister to help her. Then an idea flashed in her mind, and she smiled warmly, disappearing with a subtle popping sound. Less than a minute later, both her and Celestia reappeared. Luna's smile had disappeared, and Celestia didn't seem exactly thrilled to have her least favorite, favorite pegasus here. Especially under the current circumstances.

"What seems to be thine problem, Luna dear sister?" Celestia asked, her tone going all Regal Tongue in the presence of the Gold Blood, though her eyes never left poor Blaze Burn.

"He knows of our plans for him, dearest sister." Luna's simple answer came immediately.

"Oh."

"So, yeah. Now that you're both here, can we please just answer my question, I've got an important date, and I would very much like it if I wasn't late. That and I would like to not fall into your trap of separating me from the creed." Blaze tried to sound cool, but in truth, his last interaction with Celestia had been less than thrilling, and he very much wanted to stay as far from her attention as possible.

"What be thine question, Gold Blood?" Celestia's reference to his supposed heritage caught him slightly off guard, but before he could show it, he masked his reaction behind indifference to the situation.

"What the buck do you all want with me?" Celestia and Luna shared slightly surprised and amused faces, respectively, before they both shrugged in unison.

"Hasn't thine answer always be obvious?" Luna chose to speak for the pair. "We hath the desire to have another Gold Blood under the Service of Equestria once again, as it hath been a great number of years since the last hath taken the task. We hath a desire to see you take the mantle of Gold Blood, to serve Equestria and thine fellow citizens."

"We would greatly appreciate it if you joined forces with us, Blaze Burn. Maybe together we will be able to find out what has been happening with all these recent issues, regarding the disappearing foals, the invading Changelings, and the overall reconstruction of Equestria as a whole." Celestia's sudden shift in tone visibly surprised Blaze, as he hadn't expected her of all ponies to drop formalities for recruiting of something of apparent import. She broke formality for just a fraction of a second, but for that brief span, Blaze thought he saw a smile break across her face.

'It has been _so_ long since we've had Gold Blood, and this time, it's my turn.' She thought to herself when she saw him break, and that thought nearly cost her her image, but she repaired the damage before it got out of control.

"That doesn't sound too. . . No! No, I can't let you get away with this. This is exactly what you want, you want me to break away from the creed, to go to you willingly. Well, let me tell you something, I won't abandon those that need me, and I won't just give up on the creed. Yes, they may be a bunch of cheats, scoundrels, and drunks, but they are not all bad. They got heart, and they got each other. I'm a part of their family." Blaze shook his head, trying to break away from the prospect that the Princesses offer, because he couldn't allow himself to be lured in by false promises. He had to keep a calm head, keep himself collected, keep his wits about him.

"Well, let us ask thee this simple request: think over what we hath discussed in this discourse, allow thine thoughts time to weight the advantages and the disadvantages." Luna bargained, showing her elder sister that she was also capable of being diplomatic, not just a war faring, militaristic princess. She even flashed her sister an extremely brief smile, one that wasn't lost on any pony in the room, being it Celestia, Blaze, or the three servants chilling in the corner.

Blaze hesitated for a moment, because the idea of having the princess' power and influence to do this city, hay even this country, some good: it tempted him very much. In the end, he wanted to be cautious, but maintain some shred of hope, so he simply nodded. His gesture made both the sisters smile, politically of course, but a smile nonetheless.

"Very well. Dearest sister of mine, would thou be so kind as to sour our friend back to his residence. It be as he hath said: he hath a busy day to commence." Celestia said, reverting to the Regal Tongue, and as she stood, preparing to head back to her breakfast, Luna nodded, her horn glowing blue as she warmed the teleportation spell that would send Blaze back to his room. Blaze just cringed to himself, knowing this was bound to be an unpleasant experience, though he was grateful that they had ceased their questioning early.

It seemed as though Luna had followed this line of thinking, however, as a large, cruel and sinister grin planted upon her lips as she trotted closer to the poor guy. Once she was standing over him, using her larger stature to tower over him, and in a voice lower enough to sound intimidating, she spoke to him. "Don't think that thou shalt be free from this unfinished discourse regarding thine's dream. We shalt continue during the night, during thine's dreams."

And with that, Blaze found himself sitting on his bed, though that wasn't the best place for him to pop up, as the little breeze that had come in had done nothing to alleviate the stench in the room. The one thing that he regretted from the night's frivolities was the after-effects that it had, namely, the scent, and the new interactions with the community he was going to have to deal with. Sighing to himself, he prepared to face the masses of undoubtedly knowledgeable ponies over breakfast, and a fun breakfast he was going to have. Until a stray thought saved him from needing to deal with awkward discussions: he already ate breakfast. The best thing about the visit to the Castle, and with that Blaze merrily trotted out of the building, though most of the residents were still asleep. He did have to acknowledge that it was barely the crack of dawn, so he had about an hour before they would have to get up anyway, though the cooks would probably be up by now, they did have to prep meals.

Blaze quietly left the building, hoping that one of the few intelligent ponies in there would think that he just had to head out for work early today. It would be so much better for him if he didn't have to explain to everypony why he wasn't there for breakfast, if they didn't ask questions that would be great. But then again, if they didn't ask questions, then they would just be simple, mindless masses that had no real value other than labor bodies. That would have been a nightmare to deal with, so in a way, Blaze was happy they asked questions.

'It is way to early for this shit.' He thought to himself, wondering just how in the hay his thoughts had wandered their way into that territory. He wondered for exactly three seconds before he decided that it wasn't worth the effort to travel down.

So, shrugging to himself, Blaze wandered his way through the nearly empty city streets, which were getting significantly cleaner in the last year than they had been, which was another one of the many things that was making this place more and more beneficial to society. Things were really getting better for everypony. Except those that went missing. They still got the short bucking end of the 'buck you over' stick. Blaze once again cleared his thinking, as there was nothing he could do to change the past, only to change the future. Maybe the princesses were tight, and maybe he was this Gold Blood that had some super amazing power that can make a difference, something he would have to look into. There was that thing with Scaled Equilibrium and the Spirits telling him he had the blood, and that he was destined for greatness or some shit like that. He was scared half out of his wits, he didn't remember everything that happened that day.

And even though she had told a few of the more trustworthy community members, she had decided it would be better if the number of ponies in the know was kept at a minimum. He didn't completely disagree, hay, he felt that most of the ponies in the community would not have acted as positively as he had. Yeah, it probably was for the best that she had decided to keep it mostly a secret for her and her most trusted friends.

Blaze ran right into the door, muzzle first, the door didn't even budge. He was even walking fast enough that as his eyes slammed shut to protect themselves from the assaulting door, his hind legs got some slight air, and he nearly headbutted his own ass.

Unfortunately for him, his eyes started to smart, and as he took a step back to rub his nose clear, he heard snickering coming from behind him. He turned to see Door Cracker following him up to the door, a massive, shit-eating grin on his face as he retaught Blaze how to open a door the proper, socially acceptable way.

"You know, Sweet T: I know I've been teaching you how to pick doors, but the basic principle of opening the latch is pretty much a constant on nearly every door. Lesson 1 in door opening, turn the handle if the door has one. Remember it." He just knew that the creed was going to hear about this, and they were not going to let him live it down any time soon. Blaze followed Door Cracker into the main lobby of the warehouse, already a mass of pony bodies were grouping together, ready to receive word about the policy changes that were announced to be updating soon. Blaze stuck close to Door Cracker as the larger earth pony plowed his way to the front of the crowd, near the hall that housed a joyous-looking Al humming a tune only he could hear. Blaze stopped at the edge of the crowd, blending in with the crowd as much as he could, trying to avoid the occasional sneaking glances Al sent his way.

In half an hour, the sun was shining about the city-line, and Al called for silence in the hall, his voice carrying farther thanks to the magical amplification that his unicorn powers gave him. He stood atop his desk, staring out at the crowd, though he snuck glances at Blaze every now and then as he waited for the crowd to shut up.

"Hay, everypony! Shut the BUCK up!" Door Cracker called from the edge of the hall, the crowd immediately dropping silent.

"Thanks, Door Cracker." Al spoke, returning his attention to the crowd gathered before him. "Alright, as you all know, I told you that policies were going to be changing a bit, and today we start the first of the changes: most important being we are back in full operation. All jobs are up for grabs, we get our full business back in tow again, and that means we got a lot of fat bucking merchants to rob, eh?!"

The crowd erupted into cheers at the news, until Al silenced them again with a raised hoof.

"That said, we are also going to be adding some other things to the professionalism of our little, dysfunctional family. Only important one you need to worry about is the corruption: alright listen up! We got our hooves in some of the deeper pockets of the government, but that means don't be going around bribing every official and guard you can. We'll be handing out a list of important figures in the cities that we have under our control. Happy thieving, you bucking idiots!"

The crowd happily dispersed, the overall mood jumping thanks to things being back in full swing. But before they could fully disperse, Al called for several of the major thieves to gather at his desk, including Blaze, Door Cracker, Vex, and a few of the other majors.

"Remember that job that I've been telling you all about for some time now?" Al asked, once he had taken his seat back behind his desk, which had been cleared from the dead business. The gathered ponies each nodded, each wondering why that wait, though they each knew. BIG jobs take time. "Well, this one has finally fallen right into our lap, and I do believe that we have everything set up for it perfectly. Follow me, and we can go over the details."

With that, Al's horn lilt up a sickly green, something about it not seeming right to Blaze, but when he looked over at the others, they didn't seem bothered by it. Instead he shrugged internally and returned his gaze to Al, who had opened the door behind him, which was now leading to a set of stairs. Blaze felt slightly cheated, because that stupid bucking door was the prank door for rookies, and now he found out that it was an actual door. He really hated magic sometimes.


	10. 10 Burning Path

Chapter 10: Burning Path

Blaze shook his head as he followed after Al and the others down the steps of the hidden staircase, delving into more of the depths of the basement region of the warehouse. For a lightning brief moment, he felt a wave of panic at the thought of being in the basement again, but he quelled his worries when they left the stairs and popped into a large circular chamber, with what appeared to be vault doors being the only other path out.

The group of skilled thieves marched across the cobble path, hoofsteps clinging in the otherwise silent room, walking towards the vault doors, in front of which sat a large, heavy oak table. Resting on top of the table were several files and stacks of paper, but those were insignificant to the main attraction that dominated the table: a massive model of the city lying in the center of the table. As Al approached, the model, what constituted more of a magical map, started to glow, and they rounded the table, each taking a spot to look at the map.

Blaze stared at the map, watching in open awe as he saw tiny models of ponies walking through the streets, some tearing down buildings, others repairing or building new ones. He noticed a patrol of pegasi flying over the city, and the color scheme struck him as odd. The guards were glowing solid red, while most of the other ponies blended in with the city, a dull grey. Then he saw the market district, where several of the wealthier merchants had stalls set up, and his attention was divided between the golden-colored merchants, the blue beggars wandering around, and the red figures stalking the rooftops. Blaze heard a throat being cleared, and he turned his gaze up, only to find the rest of the thieves all staring at him, making obvious that they had caught him staring in wonder. They weren't judging, as they each had the same reaction when they first saw the table, and they understood its allure.

"Welcome to the fold now Sweet T." Door Cracker said, slapping the pegasus roughly on his back, the younger thief giving just slightly under the weight of the larger pony's strength.

"This area is reserved for the elite among us, the best thieves, the ones who have proven their use, their loyalty." Al explained, drawing Blaze's attention his way. "We can have a formal induction after we complete this job, and you can consider it your initiation into the elite, kid."

"What job?" Vex Hooves asked, shifting her weight between her sides anxiously, hope finally pulling her energy up. It had been far too slow for her to work enough, and she was more than ready for a good heist, or maybe a high-end robbery. She didn't care, so long as she got to tear away at the wealth the nobility hoarded for themselves, as long as she had a chance to put her skills to work again.

"I'm getting to that, just give me a moment to let our newest Cutpurse Burglar take in the fact he rose ranks. Now, let's get the formalities out of the way." Al turned to face Blaze once more, the latter inclining his head at the shift of attention being placed on him again. "Blaze Burn, you are hereby being inducted into the Blackguard, as an honorary member and taking the temporary title of Cutpurse Burglar until a final induction is held. In order for you to have the privileges of the Blackguard, you must make a few oaths to the creed."

Blaze stiffened at the mention of oaths, before shrugging to himself and nodding for the master of the creed to continue. "Do you swear to hold your tongue should you be questioned about the Creed, be it under arrest or torture?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to return all property that rightly belongs to the Creed, be it from contacts, this here Warehouse, or anything of value stolen from those who wish to hoard wealth?"

"I do." He had a slight hesitation for this one, wondering just what constituted valuable items.

"Do you swear to protect the Creed, should any seek to harm the Warehouse?"

"I do."

"Well then, welcome to the Blackguard, kid. As honorary Blackguard, you now have access to everything we have to offer our finest. Now, everypony, let's get down to the finest business we have had in a rather long time." Al smiled, leaning his hooves on the edge of the table, staring down at the city magically sitting before him, eyes scanning the market districts for his target. "As you are aware, there have been rumors in circulation of a particularly wealthy family of ponies moving into the city, and due to their wealth and influence, they have their most prized possessions being stared in the Castle vault for safekeeping.

"The family themselves have purchased residence in the nobility district, getting a large slab of land that has been under construction for their manor." He pointed his hoof in over the empty plot of land that had several dozen grey workers constructing a large building. Sitting outside the construction site, no doubt enjoying an early breakfast, were three golden ponies. "They have a wagon train outside the city, holding the bulk of their items, under heavy guard. However, we aren't interested in their cheap items, as the luxury shit we are interested in is being kept within the castle."

"If it's in the castle how the hay are we going to get in there?" Door Cracker asked, obviously worried about the guards that were constantly protecting the palace from the intrusion of unwanted guests. Over the last year, Blaze noted irritably, the guard numbers had shot up, most likely due to the rumors of beasts attacking the country, and the influx of dangerous creatures in the Everfree.

"Actually, I think that I can help with that." Blaze spoke up, flinching when Door Cracker's and Al's gaze snapped to him. "If you can sneak past the guards on the walls, there are several servant's doors that lead into the Castle itself. I'm not familiar with the entire layout of the Castle, but I'm sure we could find a way to the vault without too much trouble."

"And you know this how?" Vex scoffed, pruning her grey wing with an idle hoof.

"I know this because over the last year I've made about a dozen trips inside the castle, with only a single buck up. I know how to sneak past the guards, I know which servant's doors are better for easy access, and I know the basic hall structure to get from the outside to the kitchens. I know where to go to avoid the throne room, and I have a limited, but basic understanding of the patrol routes that the guards take." Blaze replied, looking at the fellow pegasus, he had heard of Vex Hooves. She was the resident master burglar, an experienced thief that did the particularly rough infiltration jobs, mostly working with snatch and pass jobs. She was also considered one of the better lock-pickers in the creed, but Blaze had suspected that that would only make sense, as she would have a great many doors to open dishonestly.

He observed her as she planted her hoof back on the ground, and her gaze evened out over him, studying him as he studied her. She liked the arrogance in his tone, but she felt that he was too green for a job like this, but arguing with Al never really ended well for anypony, so she kept her mouth shut.

"Well then, kid. Show us where these entrances are." Door Cracker offered him his spot next to the table so Blaze could reach the royal district of the city, housing the castle. Blaze looked up at him, nervous to have the attention of the Blackguard on him, and walked closer to the real-time map of the city. He watched the guards patrolling the walls of the castle, observing their patterns as he figured exactly where he had made his infiltrations. Once he had figured it out, he lifted a hoof and pointed it at the eastern wall of the massive structure, near the royal gardens and the other buildings within the keep's enclosing walls.

"The one I have found easiest to sneak into has been this one, it's kind of a danger going in, as it connects to the hallway leading to the throne room, but the patrols are looser around there during the day. It also has a fairly easy loop to the kitchens." He answered, removing his hoof from the map before stepping back to his place away from said map. Door Cracker returned to his position, and studied the map for a moment, tapping a hoof to his chin as he thought.

"Why would you even try to trespass the castle grounds so close to the north-eastern gates, kid?"

"The district around there is full of the wealthier families." He answered, as if that explained everything, but when he saw the confused faces of the others around him, he had to elaborate. "Because of the influence they have had in the development of the city, I'm guessing from the earliest days of a united Equestria, they have lots of buildings using the sides of the walls as support. It makes getting close enough to hop over significantly easier. The hardest part being timing the patrols, but it's not like you guys don't have experience runnin' from the guards."

"Oh, I guess that makes some sense." The earth pony shrugged, turning his attention back to the map to scan the area as he watched where the guards on the walls went. "It'll help us that the sun sets in the west, so we could even try to hop over during the guard shift swaps."

"Ain't that good of an idea actually." Vex spoke up finally, pointing at the shift that was already in the process of changing. The night guards were obviously restless, while a surge of the day guards was marching out of the various doors towards their posts. "Sounds good on paper to hit it while the guards were done with guarding, but double the number wouldn't be helpful in the slightest."

"I think I can remedy that." Al said, placing both his front hooves on the map, his horn lighting up and a bottle of whiskey floated over to him, a shot glass following shortly after. "We need to scope the place out, along with figuring out just what it is that is being held in there. So, Sweet T: since you are all familiar with how the in's and out's work of sneaking in there, how about you take Vex and show her what you know. Find out what's going to be waiting on the inside, and I'll take Door Cracker to gather whatever we can on the merchants."

Blaze nodded, but it took Vex a moment to agree. "Sure, but how are we going to slip past the shifts? We go in too early, they spot us, too late and we hit double guard numbers."

"We'll get to that tonight, just head out and find out what you can, then meet back here to go over what we find. And remember, I just want you two to perfect getting past the guards, because I have a way to get information from the inside. I don't need you two getting caught by the watch, so just stick to the outsides for now."

"Sure thing boss." Vex sighed, turning around to leave, but Al's voice halted her in her tracks.

"Once you both feel that you got the patrols down, and have everything you want out of the way, meet me in the markets just outside. We should have everything we need to pull this off by tonight, or at least we should have enough to start prepping for this job." With that, he flicked his hoof, signaling that the meeting was over, and the group of expert thieves left the chamber, climbing the stairs. Blaze trotted out of the hallway, bolting in front of Vex and beating the fellow pegasus to the door. He kicked the door open, stopping just outside to hold it open for the three following him, though Vex simply grunted in return of the gesture, Al didn't seem to care, and Door Cracker cracked a small smile.

Once the two pairs had exited the building, Vex flared her wings to take off, with Blaze following shortly behind her, and they parted ways. Blaze and Vex went south, intending to follow the residential district to the border of the wealthy region, then fly east until they reached the edge of the city. Blaze took the lead once they hit the wealthy district, though he hardly had to lead the mare, as she was well acquainted with the region. They flew just above the rooftops, skimming the thatched roofs as they made their way closer to the wall bordering the castle proper.

The pair landed on a flat roof, watching the ponies below as they began to move about the streets, no doubt ready to begin their morning affairs. Blaze had just finally managed to adjust to the time, as he felt it was supposed to be later than it actually was. He surmised that it was because of the time he had already spent indoors, and in the Blackguard chamber beneath the warehouse that had no access to the morning rays of sunlight.

"Take not of the guards patrolling the walls, kid." Vex muttered to him, her eyes firmly glued to the skies as she kept watch for the sky patrols while she leaned closer to the edge of the roof, stance ready to dive below should they be noticed. It was still early, and both pegasi doubted that they would raise too much concern, though they were worried that some guard might want to ask them something. This nervousness led the pair to taking extra precautions, namely the two leaping down onto the street.

As they landed, a single merchant let out a startled grunt, before he grumbled to himself and walked away. Glad that they avoided getting caught up in any useless arguing with a pony that most likely had a stick shoved up their ass, they slowly walked along the street, occasionally casting discreet glances towards the battlements behind the houses. Blaze already knew this portion of the wall fairly well, though the guard numbers had increased since his first hop over to the other side. He was still worried about trying to find a way to have the guards that patrolled the path be distracted long enough for the group to be able to sneak past.

While Blaze mulled it over, Vex was busy keeping her head low and her eyes on the skies. Far above them was a survey team, something that had her pretty worried, as the two pegasi hovering over the city would likely be a huge problem for them if they tried anything odd; like, say, hopping the wall when the guards weren't looking. She had to be careful to not look like she was staring at the guards above, as she would certainly draw attention to herself.

Sighing, she pushed Blaze lightly with her wing, his gaze pulling over to her slowly, a questioning look stapled to his face. "Come on, let's loop around this row of houses and see if there is a place that we can find to stake out the guards."

Blaze simply shrugged, he didn't have a better idea, and let her lead him around the first corner they passed. The pair trotted along at a sedated pace, looking as casual as possible to any early morning passerby's. Eventually, after a few minutes of patiently strolling around some blocks, they found a large building that had a real-estate sign displaying in bold letters: "For sale." Vex glanced at Blaze, but he was already checking the vicinity for any unwelcome gazers. He nodded it was clear, and the two quickly leaped over the fence, landing softly in the front lawn of the abandoned mansion. Blaze cast a quick glance at the building, noting that it had a large tower in the back that would be perfect for watching the wall for quite a long time. Slipping into the shadows, Blaze and Vex wound their way towards the building, hiding from any gazing eyes by sticking within the bushes, hiding up in a tree as they passed one, and hugging the wall as they approached the building itself.

Blaze turned to watch their backs as Vex pulled out a lock pick and pry bar, then set to work opening the garden-door they were standing in front of. Within a few seconds of silent work, Vex slid the oak door open, gracefully dipping inside, with Blaze hot on her tail. The two welcomed the darkness, as the interior hadn't been lit, and the old blinds had been drawn, though Blaze guessed that the amount of dust being kicked up suggested that the blinds had been closed for quite some time, completely undisturbed.

Vex led the way to the first pair of stairs they could see, and creeping up the stone path, they made their way onto the second floor. Blaze was amazed at how much space there was in the entry way alone; he could fit the entire community on this floor, and still have some space left over. Along the dimly lit hallway were several busts and an ancient rug that probably had been forgotten about long ago. As the two crept back towards what they could only assume was the stairs leading to the tower, they passed the eastern windows, noting that slight rays of sunlight were beginning to break through the cracks in the curtains. With the faint amount of light provided to them, they found themselves standing at the base of the stairs leading higher up, narrowing and confirming their suspicions; they had indeed found the tower.

Finally perched in a place that would keep themselves undetected as they observed the patrols, the two sat in silence for the better part of two hours, taking as many notes as they could dare remember about guard positions and paths. Blaze enjoyed the view, mostly because he could see the guards patrolling on the ground just behind the wall, and he was able to draw up a path in his head about where to go to get the thieves in and out without too much hassle from local law enforcement.

After those two hours, Vex groaned audibly, the sudden break from silence felt like a lightning bolt slapping off in their ears. The dark grey mare stretched her back, her wings flapping lightly as she tried to get blood back into her extremities. Blaze followed suit shortly after, glad that they had made some progress.

"So, what do you think?" He asked as they began to trot down to the ground level, both sets of hooves kicking up larger amounts of dust as they hurried to get out of the building before anything else decided to show up. Vex didn't reply until they had gotten back to the garden door, then she turned to Blaze with a frown burnt into her muzzle.

"I think this was a stupid idea, there are way too many guards, and the patrols are all aligned, there are no blind spots, there are multiple ponies watching the same areas. And all the while, there are several groups of pegasi doing laps around the castle, at least one facing in either direction at all times. I think we shouldn't have tried to do something like this." She growled as she pushed the door open harder than she would have like to, causing the wood to abruptly slam onto the white stone that made up the rest of the building. She flinched a little, pausing to listen for anypony to complain about the noise from the abandoned building, but when none came she just shrugged and kept going out.

"Really? I thought it wasn't going to be easy, but I think I found a pattern and a way to go around the guards, and under the patrols." Blaze replied as he gently closed the door, returning the deadbolt back into place using his own lock-pick, removing any evidence the possibility of suspicion of the duo being there. He hoped the dust resettled before anypony checked out the house. Vex stopped right in front of the colt, and he nearly ran right into her.

"How?" She asked incredulously as she slowly turned around to look at him like he was spewing nonsense from his muzzle. "There were at least twenty guards just patrolling the walls, four alone on the section you want us to go over. I saw the patrols inside the wall, too! There had to have been a dozen guards moving about the place! If you want to try and get in there, please, please explain to me how the buck you are going to do it!"

"Alright, it's pretty simple, don't get your feathers in a twist." Blaze replied with the barest hint of frustration in his tone, but he got himself under control and motioned for them to keep moving forward. Daylight was burning. "Don't even know why you wouldn't think about it, though."

"Spill." She snapped at him.

"The guards on the wall are the only real challenge, but all you have to do is get their attention focused on a distraction. Something simple and away from where we are going to go. If we are to hit the castle at night, which I believe we will, then we will be able to hide in the shadows behind them as we slip by." The two stalked through the loose foliage of the run-down garden, using whatever shades they could to hide from spying eyes. That was their job.

"And what do you propose we do to get their attention?" She asked as they carefully peered over the wall to wait for a clear moment to hop back over. Once the street had emptied enough for them to slip past unnoticed, the pair quickly leapt over the short cobblestone wall and landed gracefully.

"I figured we could get some of the drunks that like to wander around the streets, pick them up and drop them in front of the buildings, down in the streets. Give them a reason to start a brawl, and while the guards are entertained, we slip past." Blaze thought aloud.

"No, that won't work. It would be too hard for us to get the drunks there, and the guards would be sure to notice us if we tried. We need something a little more subtle than that." Vex put a hoof to her chin as they started to fly towards the market, intending to reach Al and Door Cracker in the lunch-hour traffic. "Something that would be sure to not only get their attention, but hold it for a while. Hmm."

The pegasi landed gently in the market region, quickly slipping into the crowd to blend in better. They worked their way over to one of their guild stalls, as they saw that Al and Door Cracker were already waiting for them there. Bobbing between ponies as they made their way through the crowd, Blaze also put his thoughts into what they would be able to use for a distraction, though nothing was coming to mind. Sighing in defeat, he just decided that if the four of them couldn't come up with something, they'd be pressed for how to get past the wall. He trusted them to figure it out, however, as Vex was one of the most talented burglars in the creed, while Al was the head of them for a reason. He turned his attention to what he remembered of the guard patrols within the outer perimeter of the wall, and he slyly grinned as he saw the shitty gap that they left in their paths. Right next to the blacksmith building, just behind some of the other outcropping buildings within the inner courtyard, he saw a gap. The gardens were regularly patrolled, even though said patrols were only the passing guards taking a quick glance in the bushes. Four ponies would have no issue hopping over the wall as a patrol turns around from investigating the gardens. Then all the thieves would have to do was stalk their way behind the roses, hiding when the next patrol gave the gardens a glance, and be patient for them to return to their duties.

It was slightly unnerving that the rest of the castle would be so tightly locked up, but then this one sliver of space would be so loose. Shrugging to himself to not look the gift pony in the mouth, he thanked whoever would listen for his good luck. The hardest part so far would be getting a proper distraction that would catch the guards' attention, but not alert the whole damn palace that the place was under threat. That would be bad.

"So, what did you find?" Al asked as the pair of winged ponies made their way up to the other members of the Blackguard. The four looked between each other until Vex gave Blaze a little wing-slap, forcing him to take the helm and report what they found. Blaze gulped slightly, though he knew he had something to work with, which was significantly better than nothing.

"Well, Al. The guard numbers have shot through the bucking roof, and I think that our chances at getting in are being attacked by the Sisters. I know we can still do it, we just need some time to prepare a course of action that can get us past the walls." He began nervously, then at Al's nod to continue, he sucked in a deep breath and centered his thoughts. He relayed what they had observed in the castle grounds, causing both Al and Door Cracker to scowl in distaste. He was happy that they hadn't totally rejected his desire for a distraction, though what made him particularly happy was that Vex, the current master at creeping into places unseen hadn't dismissed his ideas entirely. It made him excited that his knowledge of burglary was enough to pass as acceptable to the experienced members.

"I'll take a look tonight, after we deal with the merchant dilemma." Al said, motioning for Door Cracker to explain to them their own findings as the leading Blackguard turned to the merchant behind the stall. The unicorn nodded at the fence, before the latter reached under his stall and produced a bottle of Northern Prussian Vodka, and offering the entire thing to the Blackguard. While he was receiving his alcohol, the other three were discussing why they were needing to keep an eye on the merchants that were moving into the city.

"Apparently, with Cloudsdale being rebuilt now that Discord is gone, these merchants have been moving in significantly more resources than we thought. Turns out, we're gonna watch them for the next day or two as they move in supplies to the city, figure out what is going where, and how to deal with it." The earth pony explained to the two pegasi, leaning back against the stall.

"Why don't we just hit the moving teams hard, take it while it's out in the open, and haul the loot back to the warehouse?" Blaze asked, curious as to why this wasn't brought up earlier, though Door Cracker only shook his head in response.

"No can do there, kid. The teams moving the goods are said to be more heavily guarded than the castle itself. And before you ask; no. We are not going to try to rob their caravans outside the city, what with it being guarded by a bunch of the city guard, a squad of the Sisters' own royal guards, as well as the bulk of the mercs that the merchants have hired on as guards." Door Cracker continued, looking around the market, scanning the crowd for anything important. Eventually, his eyes settled back on the group of thieves as Al made his way back into the circle.

"Kid, do you think you can come up with any other ways for us to get inside the castle? Door Cracker, Vex and I are going to take a peek at some of the moving teams while we figure out what is going to the merchant's new property and what is being carted off to the castle itself." Blaze shrank a little at the thought of being cast aside from the interesting work, but perked back up when he thought about it. He nodded to the unicorn, preparing to take off to watch the guards again, and devise a way to break past the defenses undetected. "And before you go, remember to stay sharp, because this is the biggest job we will be doing for quite a while and I don't want you to buck this up."

"You can count on me sir!" He exclaimed with a sly salute before launching himself into the air, heading off to the wealthier district to find a good place to take a 'nap.'

"You sure we can trust him to do this, boss?" Vex asked after the white pegasus had left, leaving the veterans to deal with the nasty business of getting some information out of the lone merc they had captured. The three knew what to do, having done more than one dirty job to get information on a potential hit. They all slowly walked back to the warehouse, knowing that Al had already put the poor guy in the dungeons for interrogation.

"I do. Kid's got heart, balls, and the fire in him to keep us afloat. Just got to worry about the Sisters interfering with him, because they are really bent on getting him on their side." Al replied coolly as they walked down the crowded streets towards the quiet of their base. The comment made Vex's ears perk up, as she had only heard the rumors about his heritage, and she ahd to admit she was curious as to their validity.

"So it's true then? He does have the old blood in him?"

"More than likely so, which is why we need him." Al responded, opening the warehouse door for the other two with his magic, closing it shut tightly behind him as they made their way into the warehouse proper. "Just imagine the possibilities of having a Gold Blood working for the creed, the amount of wealth we could acquire. His wings will be one of the biggest assets to us, so for now we have to stay on his good side, make him want to stay here. The Sisters made in abundantly clear that they want him to join their forces willingly, and having him upset at us is the best chance they are going to have to twists him under their hooves."

"What are we going to do about it then?" Door Cracker finally spoke up, inciting both Al and Vex to look over at him, as he had remained silent for the entire trip back. "The Sisters, I mean."

"Well, since they were adamant about wanting Blaze to tear away from us on his own terms, I suppose we will have to give him a reason to remain loyal to us. You're doing a fine job of that yourself, Door Cracker. Just keep him on good terms with us, keep this relationship he has with the creed as strong as possible, we can't afford to lose him."

"Well, actually, boss. . ." Vex spoke up, the attention of the other two shifting to her. "If we pull this off, the news will spread pretty damn fast, and if word gets around that we have the skills to break into _the_ Castle of the Two Sisters, then our reputation is going to skyrocket. With that much cred, we might not even have to keep the kid, because all sorts of thieves are going to come flocking to us."

"Good point, but I still don't want to lose him, not yet at least. I made him a Blackguard, and you all approved of it, and it would look pretty bucking bad if a new Blackguard, an elite among thieves, were to suddenly up and quit the creed. All that reputation won't do us shit if we don't have the means of backing it up if the kid were to leave. We need him here for as long as it will last, and even then, we should hold onto him a little longer." Al said as he led the other Blackguards down to the elite chambers, taking them towards the dungeons. The trio made their way down through the corridors, the stones cold and damp even though torches adorned the walls at even intervals. "Come on, enough of that. We got a job to do, and information to get out of a stallion."

They broke through the stone corridor to another large circular chamber, lit only by a few braziers used to heat iron rods for torturing prisoners. Lining the back wall was a line of cages, each buried into the side of the chamber, five of them in total, yet only the centermost one was occupied. A lone stallion sat on the sooty floor, staring in rightful terror at the Blackguards that had him caged. The black iron bars were locked tight, and the flickering light from the brazier did little to break the darkness within the cell. Yet the stallion sitting there was perfectly able to see the three thieves standing just outside his door, watching him and silently deciding how to go about garnering the information they needed.

Eventually, Al sighed, having had enough of trying to intimidate the fool into giving them what they needed. He walked forward, his horn lighting up, revealing in the slightest hint of light the conditions of the cell. The stallion backed away from the door, screaming incoherently as the thief opened the cell and walked in.

"How about we cut to the chase, eh friend? You know why you are here, and we would greatly appreciate it if you would comply with our wishes and tell us everything we need to know." He spoke calmly, almost friendly to the stallion, who had only backed as far as he could into the cell, hiding away from the fate that would befall him. "No? Well, I guess it has been some time since I last had a little fun. . ."

"I ain't gonna tell you nothing!" The stallion shouted, a sudden burst of courage surged through him as he leapt towards the unicorn standing above him. Al didn't even flinch, his horn simply grew brighter and the charging stallion suddenly found himself wrapped in a murky brown aura as he was held still by magic. He struggled briefly before he felt his hooves slam against the stone floor, an audible crack resounding in the chamber. There was silence for but a moment, then cries of agony pierced the room, echoing and growing louder as pain surrounded the stallion as he dropped from Al's magical grip and landed heavily on the floor.

"Let's get this over with, okay? I am going to get this information, whether you want to hide it or not, and I would rather you make this as pleasant as possible for yourself. Just tell us what arrangements are being made to house the valuables in the castle, because the sooner you tell us, the sooner the pain will be over." Al said in what the other two Blackguards considered to be his most comforting voice, though the twinge of irritation lurking in the back alluded to the paint he stallion would receive for refusing.

"I'm, I'm not saying anything." The stallion choked out, his hooves tucked tightly against his body, though his hind legs stuck out at painful-looking angles. Al just breathed a light sigh, a smile creeping its way onto his muzzle as his horn flashed again. Instead of floating in the air, the stallion noted that his mane was floating of its own accord, and when he turned his head to see what the head Blackguard was doing, his neck was suddenly jerked up. His hooves flailed around as his body was forced into a somersault, and he landed on his back, a pained scream escaping his lips when his head smacked against the stone floor. Door Cracker looked away, while not shy to brutality, he knew that things here would escalate quickly if Al didn't get answers soon. The merc cried out, flailing his hooves in front of Al's face as the unicorn's horn lit up once more: "Wait! Wait!"

"Going to tell us what is going on with the treasures your boss is keeping?" Al spoke up, hope barely concealed, hope that the stallion had broken before the unicorn had broken a sweat. He shoulders sagged for a moment when the prisoner spat a blob of blood-laced spittle at him, though a small chuckled escaped him as he readied his next spell. "Very well then. I was hoping to get some practice with getting information."

His horn flared brightly, and the prisoner found himself launched against the wall, several of his ribs cracking with the force of impact, while a howl of pain echoed in the empty chamber. Door Cracker resumed watching the interrogation with a frown on his muzzle; sometimes he wondered why sell-swords like these even bothered holding back anything. It wasn't like they were renowned for loyalty, and they all knew that this wasn't a situation that the prisoner was likely to get out of just by being stubborn. Vex, on the other hoof, had a grin plastered on her face as she watched in glee at the torture. She was giddy with excitement, as this was one of her favorite parts of the job, the only other competition was the looks on the faces of the ponies she toyed with as she stole their valuables. Shouting at her as she dipped into the night with their goodies.

Al wasn't done, though and he made this known to the prisoner by taking the stallion in his magical grip and throwing him against the wall again. And again. He heard the loud crack of ribs breaking from the force, and only then did he give the prisoner a chance to rest.

"Make this easy on yourself. All you have to do is tell us what we want to know." He cooed at the stallion, who had curled up into a ball near the wall, pain forcing tears to streak down his face.

"Buck off." The prisoner replied weakly, though it only made Al's grin grow wider as a new technique for interrogation entered his mind. His horn glowed, and as the prisoner clenched to prepare for another bout of pain, he let out a startled yelp when he began to glow gold, a healing spell repairing the damage to his body. Vex let out an irritated growl, as she was hoping to see the merc suffer for defying them. "What the hay?"

"Yeah, what's the big idea boss?" Vex called, stepping up to the pair of stallions, glaring down at the prisoner before her gaze shifted to confusion as she turned to question Al.

"See, we aren't all that bad. Just think about how this could all be over, and it is as simple as you telling us what we want to know." Al spoke to the prisoner, though his words carried the answer that Vex was asking for, and as understanding bloomed across her face, she smiled and trotted back to the door, standing beside Door Cracker in her original position. "This could all be over, and all you have to do is answer that one, teeny, tiny, super simple question. Make this easier for yourself."

"I-I can't! If I told you what was going on, they would kill me!" The prisoner panicked, his hooves running down his sides as he felt his broken ribs completely repaired. When he was sure that he was back in one piece again, he glared at Al, whose horn had begun to glow once more. "Look, I don't want any trouble, I just want to get back home, I needed this job to get me the money I needed to survive!"

"Shame." Al muttered, his horn bursting with light as the prisoner felt all four of his legs snap, the sickening crunch making even Vex flinch momentarily as the stallion began to scream in earnest again. Al let the prisoner squirm on the ground for a little bit before he returned his magic to causing pain for him. "Tell. Me. What. Is. Going. On. With. The. Goods."

Each word was punctuated with him snapping one bone or another, a scream from the prisoner, and happy little squeals from Vex. Once Al had finished his phrase, he let the prisoner sit on the floor in silent agony, while Vex was getting more and more excited. She had gone so far as to rapidly applaud Al for his work, but silenced herself when he shot her a glare. She shied away from the cell, backing behind Door Cracker to avoid the glare that Al kept on her until she had shrunken away from the room. Once the room was clear of her sadistic qualities, Al returned his attention to the prisoner, who was silently sobbing in a heap against the wall.

Al walked up to the stallion, using his magic to gently lift him so they could look each other in the eye. He then used his magic to heal some of the more prominent injuries, fixing up the worst of them and allowing the guy a chance to catch his breath.

"Now that we have that out of the way, why don't you just tell me what I need to know, huh?" Al asked as he laid the prisoner back on the ground, albeit gently this time, reassuring him that he was not going to be punished unless he acted stupid. Feeling broken at what had happened to his body, being broken down so easily, the prisoner felt his will shatter, though it really had disintegrated once he felt his ribs break through his skin, one piercing his lung during that last rout of abuse. He nodded weakly, giving in to the pressure, and succumbing to the unicorn.

The stallion stood up on shaky legs and looked around the room, eyes darting rapidly between AL and Door Cracker, only once did he dare to look at Vex. Sighing in defeat, the prisoner revealed everything he knew, which much to the Blackguards' disappointment, was absolutely nothing useful at all. He knew that valuables were going to the Castle Vault, but other than that, he could only give vague details about what was being moved around. He did have a single promising point, which happened to be that he knew the vault was buried in the castle, fairly close to the throne room, and that it had guards stationed outside of it all the time. Al didn't bother to mention that that piece of information was useless, as all vaults like this were to be guarded 'round the clock. He let it slide, however, as he knew he had just broken he guy down to a blabbering mess. The stallion continued to list off every little detail he could think of, even trying to please Al with information about the merchants themselves, such as their eating habits, and the wife's habit of taking certain employees into her room at questionable hours. While Al was entertained by the information, it was completely irrelevant to the topic at hoof, and he had to finally silence the guy with a raised hoof before he rambled about breakfast for another several minutes.

"Thank you, my friend. Your information has been quite helpful." He lied with a happy smile on his face, allowing the prisoner to return the grateful gesture before he stood up, offering a hoof to the stallion and pulling him onto his hooves. "Now, let's get you all patched up then we can all leave and finish the day doing what we have to do."

"We're just going to let him go?!" Vex screeched, leaping around Door Cracker and back into the cell. "After all the work we put into this interrogation, and you're just giving his a slight slap on the hoof and letting him go to tell the merchants what we are up to?!"

"Vex, please." Al held up a hoof to stop her and give her a chance to take a breath before he continued. "I said that I would patch him up, and I am nothing if not a stallion that keeps his word."

He finished the sentence with a kind smile as he turned to the prisoner, who still bore the extremely grateful smile on his face, though it had hints of worry about what Vex was going to do. "So, let's get you all fixed up."

As he said that, his horn glowed brightly, and an enveloping light wrapped itself around the prisoner, while he sighed in relief. As he was being healed, Al winked to the other two thieves in the room, and Vex suddenly caught on, seeing a blade appear just behind the prisoner. As he laid the stallion back onto the ground, he offered a smile before giving a brief apology, yet the prisoner had a short opportunity to be confused before the blade buried itself in his skull. With a soft thud, the blade slammed through the bone, sticking into the front of his skull, though the tip could barely be seen jutting out of the stallion's left eyeball. Before the guy could register that he had been crossed, he was dead, his body dropping to the ground as his muscled lost input from the now-dead brain. Al sighed in relief, glad that they had that taken care of, and with a flash of his horn, the body disappeared, vanished in a cloud of smoke.

"Wonder how Sweet T is doing." Door Cracker mumbled as the trio made their way back out of the prison chamber and back through the cold, damp, grey stone corridors. The other two simply nodded their agreements, each thinking of some aspect of the job or another.

As they made their way back into the warehouse, each busy mulling over something to do with this huge of a job, their final key to getting this job done watching the guards. Blaze was assigned the task of finding the best ways in and out of the castle, and he was going to do just that. He was slightly surprised that he hadn't had Vex here to help him, as she _was_ the master burglar, but he didn't mind. To him, this was an opportunity to prove that he was just as deserving of the title of Cutpurse burglar as well. . .

Blaze had to think for a moment to wonder if he even knew if anypony had been given that rank, then he realized that he wouldn't know, because just today he learned about the bucking Blackguard. Shrugging to himself to get over it, he returned his attention to the task at hoof: watching the bucking guards do absolutely jack shit for work. He knew the importance of knowing exactly what guards were going to be where but he was getting bored with just sitting there in the tree, doing nothing. The guards hadn't even taken water breaks, and despite being about a bazillion degrees outside, they remained steadfast in discipline. He respected their fortitude, as he was in the shade, wearing a jacket and his saddlebags, and he wasn't even liking the intensity of Celestia's sun right then. He checked his surroundings once again, making sure none of the nearby patrols didn't decide to stumble across his spying from his tree. He was actually a little surprised at how easy it had been for him to get passed the guards and over the wall, even when it was midday.

All he had to do was wait for the pegasi team above the wall to fly towards the northern portion of the castle and then he leaped into the air. Using the massive tower on the south-western corner to stay out of sight, he just zipped past the single guard posted on top of it. Once he had gotten around the tower guard, he had simply dropped down below the inside of the wall, waiting in the shadows of the tower for the patrols on the ground to clear out, before he dived towards the buildings outside the castle. Once hidden from the walls, he had taken up to hide in the tree, safe from the pegasi, and out of sight of the ground troops. His branch was just high enough for him to see over the rooftops, though he couldn't see a whole lot. He did manage to learn a few things about the tower weakness, though.

All he had to do was get the guard up top to look to the city, facing away from the wall, then he would have some kind of distraction on the other end of the wall. The guards down on the ramparts would investigate it, the guard above would be facing away, and then there was more than enough room between the tower and the closest guards for several thieves to sneak past undetected. The only real hitch was going to be taking care of the pegasi, though Blaze was working on how to solve that as he mulled over the rest of the information he had learned.

Feeling that the best thing he could do was think it over while discussing what he now knew with the rest of the Blackguard, Blaze prepared to leave. He sat up in the branch he was resting on, feeling his muscles welcome the movement after spending two entire hours. He waited for the nearest patrol to turn around, and then he silently hopped off the tree branch, landing in a tiny cloud of dust coming from the sun-dried dirt paths around the buildings. Slinking back into the shadows to hide before the next patrol stumbled across him, Blaze slowly made his way back to the outer wall.

As he slid through the patrols like a snake in the grass, he kept an eye on the pegasi patrols flying above the castle so he could remain undetected. He was forced to stop at the edge of a building, hiding behind a crate on the corner as another winged squadron soared overhead, and then something really bad happened.

He took a single, careful step forward, leaning around the crate to continue on his way, when there was a bright flash of light, and a sudden popping sensation, then Blaze found himself blind and dazed. He rolled backwards into the shade offered by the building once more, blinking rapidly to clear his vision and evaluate the situation better. Rubbing his eyes with a hoof, he was finally able to clearly see what had happened, though the moment his mind registered that Princess Celestia herself stood in front of him, a wide grin plastered over her face, there was another bright flash. Blaze felt like his insides were being stretched from him, twisted and pulled around while being dunked in a pool of fire. Then the sensation stopped, though for recovery, his body's only reaction was to relieve the stress by removing any left-over materials that may have been in his stomach.

He heaved his early breakfast onto the floor, and continued to do so for a good several minutes. Once his stomach was thoroughly cleaned, he wiped his muzzle with a shaking hoof and took a moment to observe his surroundings. He found himself sitting in what looked like a study, there was a pair of high-backed chairs, bookshelves lined the walls, and underneath the chairs lay a massive golden rug, which extended to just before his pile of returned breakfast.

He slumped back onto the stone floor, leaning away from the acidic pile of half-digested food, and looked around for where the Princess Celestia waited. He soon found her standing at the edge of his vision, and he shot to his hooves, backing away from her as if she was a violent criminal. Her grin never left her face as her horn lit up and the puddle of breakfast next to him vanished, and she slowly walked closer to him. Blaze kept backing away until he felt his ass hit a bookshelf. He gulped as her grin only grew wider with each step she took to close the distance between them, each one slow and deliberate. He felt that she was taunting him with her power, letting him know that she was in charge here.

"What do you want?" He asked, desperate for anything to get her to stop and give him the opportunity to escape. Her grin lowered slightly, until it returned full-force, and she halted her advance to cock her head to the side.

"I hath only the wish to speak to thee." She responded, her voice radiating with a passion and warmth to rival the sun, something that Blaze most definitively noticed as new. When he remained silent, she took a careful step forward, making Blaze back further into the bookshelf, though he felt no more comfortable by the books that pressed against his flanks, reassuring him the he had nowhere to run.

"If that we the case, I doubt you would have foalnapped me back there." He responded, hoping that by humoring her, he would buy the time to escape. He even went as far as to offer her a weak smile, though under the circumstance, and by her reaction he knew he done fucked up. Her grin turned momentarily into a scowl, but returned once more and she suddenly took three large steps and closed the distance. Her magic flared up, and Blaze felt himself wrapped in her golden aura as she pulled up so they could look eye to eye. "Not that it matters, though, does it?"

"Why hath thee intruded upon mine property?" She asked, not unkindly, but Blaze felt that the language wasn't really meant for casual conversation. He could understand the romanticizing of it, and even the regal use of it, but this? He was rather uncomfortable with the method that she was speaking. His mind snapped back to the question, as he realized that her stare was bearing down on him while she waited for an answer.

"Uh. . ." He groaned to get something in his brain to come up with an excuse. "I was sightseeing?"

Celestia stared at him for a moment longer, her grin turning into a loose smile as her eyes faded out while she appeared to think about it. Her horn glared brighter, and Blaze felt the pressure around his body tighten, and her pink eyes refocused on him, making him audibly gulp. She smiled warmly at him, then her eyes sparked to life, and Blaze found himself slammed against the books, his wings flaring out in surprise. Before he could make any motion, Celestia pressed her face up close to his, eyes bearing down on him with an intensity that he was unsure whether to be terrified of or rebellious to. While he felt insecure about his current situation, with her eyes hardened into intimidation, her voice held that soft, lovely tone that made his ears want to beg her to keep speaking. "Let us try this one again."

"Wait!" He blurted out, tucking wings against his sides again, preparing himself for another beating while he tried to get an answer out that she could believe. "Would you let me go if I promised to not come back?"

"Thee does not hath an answer to our question?" She cocked her head to the side, her grin and fierce eyes deeply conflicting with the tender tone she was speaking in, and Blaze knew why she was the Princess of the Day. She wasn't one to be bucked with, he suddenly understood that she had the skills to appear pleasant, but make one's life a living-Tartarus. "We shalt make sure thee understands that thine Princess shalt hath an answer from thee."

He braced for impact, knowing that pain would soon grip his body as she beat the truth out of him, and he inhaled sharply, expecting pain any moment. With eyes shut, he hoped that she would be a little gentle about it, and after a moment of remaining non-broken, he opened his eyes. He had to flinch back, because the strength and frustration in her eyes had been replaced with a tender look a mother would give to her foal when they got hurt. Her grin was replaced with a sad smile, and Blaze felt himself numbed with shock.

Celestia lowered Blaze with her magic, gently setting him on the ground as she walked over to one of the chairs. She sat in it daintily, and her horn flared up, turning the other into a couch, before Blaze was lifted again and placed on the new furniture. Once he was sitting on the couch, Celestia summoned a tea kettle and two cups and began to fill them. She offered one to him, while taking the other for herself. "Tea?"

He was still processing the fact that she had stopped from beating him, so his body went on auto pilot, and his hoof reached up and took the hot cup. His gaze fell blankly on the princess, and she had her own resting on him in a curious manner, an expression that was unreadable to the pegasus. She gently blew into her cup, then took a small sip from her drink, all the while their eyes never left contact. After a minute of relative silence, Blaze was finally able to accept that the princess that was just about to beat his ass was now enjoying tea with him. He shook his head, trying to understand what had transpired in the five minutes before, but decided that he would be better to just forget the whole ordeal even happened.

"So, how goes thine involvement with the creed?" The question snapped Blaze back to the matter at hoof, though he still felt that something was off, but he just couldn't put his hoof on it. So he decided that he should just get on with this, and maybe he could get out of the situation without a scratch. He shrugged, finally taking control of his body, and he looked down at the cup of tea is his hooves. Lifting the drink up to his lips, he waited a moment for the steam to indicate the temperature of the drink, and he took a careful sip, finding the temperature to be bearable. He nodded to both the question and to himself, and he took a larger gulp of the drink finding that while it wasn't as good as cider or mead, it was enjoyable in its own right.

"Fine." He answered as he finished the drink in one final gulp, and then the cup was glowing gold, floating as if by magic, and refilled from the kettle. The cup floated back to him, and he nodded his thanks to the Princess, who was merely happy that the Gold Blood had finally decided to be civil with her. She waited for him to expand his thoughts further, and took another drink of her tea, noting that in another, she would have to refill it. Then there came an uncomfortable silence as Blaze lacked the feeling that he should continue with an explanation of how his occupation was going, while Celestia was happy to listen to what he had to say.

"Is there anything that thee hath to enjoy working with thieves? Anything else that thou hast think that thee could have some skill at?" She pried gently, and then Blaze realized what she was doing, though he was also glad that she didn't know that he knew what she was trying to do. He felt that it would have made things a lot more complicated and less friendly during this conversation, so he decided to humor her.

"The guys are alright, the work pays well, and I can really have time off whenever I want, aside from any major jobs we have to do." He took a drink from the tea, waiting for Celestia to come up with whatever response she would give him. He felt that this was merely a ticking clock, and at some point, things would take a turn for the worst, and it was all riding on his playing dumb.

"And hath thee always wanted to be but a common thief?" She continued, and while she sounded sincere in her question, Blaze knew the truth. Without his prior knowledge, Blaze figured that he would have taken the bait without hesitation and fallen for the trap, but as it was, he didn't really enjoy lying, even if it was to Celestia. Still, lies had to be made.

"Not always, but now that I am a part of the family, I can't imagine any place I'd be better suited for, now that my only family is gone." He realized the mistake he made much too late, as he could see the gears already turning in her head. He let out a small sigh and finished his drink again, noting that the Princess was too distracted to refill it.

"Just imagine what could have happened if thee had ignored thine coworkers in crime: how much more time thee would have had to keep watch over thine little Star Burn."

"No." He shook his head, trying to keep it straight so he wouldn't fall into another trap, but the memory of coming home to find out that Star had disappeared, emotions were welling in him again. "If I hadn't joined the creed, bad shit would have happened to us, either the creed themselves showing up to make us keep our silence, interrupting our dealings within the market. Tartarus, we wouldn't have even been able to make the money to do half the shit that we haven't been able to do without those guys."

"We hast thought thou would have been able to find a form of employment that offers more compensation than those criminals, perishing thine thought that thine current occupation is far from a legal business." Blaze felt that this was a poor excuse for her trying to sway him to her side, but he kept his tongue and decided to place his empty cup on the side of his chair while he thought of a response. Unfortunately, Celestia seemed to feel that she needed to elaborate her argument, and didn't give him the chance to make a valid counterargument. "But we can't change the past, and we hath only the ability to look forwards, which is where we shalt go with this next question. Thinking about the future, dost thou really see thine's self with mere common criminals such as thieves? Dost thee really think that that band of thieves, burglars, and criminals is the place where thee truly belongs?"

"Yes." He replied without hesitation, which caught her off-guard, if only for a moment, but that moment was all he needed to smash her train of thought. "I can't imagine any other place that I can be that would not only provide for those that I have under my wing, but also give me a set of skills that I will be able to use for a long time. Nor can I think of any place that would fit me, as a runaway colt that has nothing to his name other than more mouths to feed. The creed offers me a place to learn and grown, and a place to keep my new family fed and safe, while also allowing me to collect enough money to ensure I can retire. There is no better place than where I am now."

Celestia was speechless for a moment, as she knew that he had taken the role of the primary provider for the community in the warehouse he lived in, but she hadn't thought that he was the _only_ source of income. Eventually, she nodded to herself, finding a way to resume her argument, and with new fuel for her argument, she thought no better way to put it than this: "So, protecting thine family and future is thine's primary concern? Well, we hast thought we can imagine several occupational positions within this castle alone that would be grateful to have a young stallion working in them. And each position has a stable income, acceptable job security, and is protected from danger by myself and mine sister, Luna."

"No thanks. I can't just betray the creed like that." Blaze waved off the offer, opting to take the tea that was floating in front of him instead. He finished the tea before Celestia could respond, and set it on the end of the couch before standing from said couch and stretching. He was very glad that this little banter had turned out to protect not only his hide, but also their plans for the robbery. "Speaking of whom, I really should start heading back, else they get worried about me."

Celestia wasn't having any of that, though, and her horn lit up, holding Blaze mid-stretch. She sat from her own chair and walked over to him, looking him in the eye. "We aren't done speaking to thee yet, young Blaze Burn. We hast suggest that thee return to thine seat and listen to our offer."

"Fine. Not like I have a choice, do I?" Blaze sighed, and once he was finally free of the Princess' magic, he let himself get comfortable, as he knew he was going to be here for a while. "But if you want to keep talking, please drop all that stupid 'thee' and 'thou' shit, it gets really bucking old really bucking quick. I feel like our conversations are taking place over an important diplomacy meeting that I couldn't give a flying buck about."

"Why hast thee an issue with the royal tongue thine leaders hath use for formal speeches?" She cocked her head to the side, eyes gently running back and forth as she processed the request, before her eyes lit up and a light scarlet blush spread over her cheeks. "Oh, we do apologize! We understand: this is not a formal meeting, nor are you interested in exchanging idle banter in a form of speaking as complex as this one."

"It's not that it's too complex, it is that it is just so bucking irritating trying to translate what you say into normal bucking Equus. Just speak normally, and then we won't have any problems. I don't speak in 'fancy' and I'm not interested in learning it, so if you want an actual conversation, then we are going to have to talk like this." Blaze said, pulling his front legs under him so he could lay on his stomach and be as comfortable as possible. Celestia seemed to agree with the sentiment, as before she took her seat, she cast a spell and replaced her reading chair with a small couch, only slightly smaller than his own. She mimicked his actions, laying on her stomach with her legs tucked under her, though her couch barely fit her length. "And now that we are settled in, and you can hopefully control your urge to speak like a damned Princess, what else did you want to talk about? I don't exactly have all day."

"Well, the first order of discourse-"

"Stop." Blaze interrupted, raising a hoof into the air to get her attention better. "Simple Equus, remember?"

"Right, apologies. Well, the first topic I would like to speak about is your current impression of the thief's guild." She said, though after a moment, her gaze dropped to the ground, and she looked up with a small frown on her features. "This is significantly harder than we hast originally thought."

"You'll get used to it if you want to have any more conversations with any of your actual citizens, and not just those snobby nobles that think that they own the world." Blaze dismissed her comment as he resumed his resting position, while Celestia smiled and nodded for him to answer her question. "And you want to know how I view the creed?"

She nodded, causing Blaze to sigh so he could think about how he honestly viewed the creed. His first thought was that they weren't all that bad, and that some of the members were pretty cool, like Door Cracker and Vex. Though he felt that there was a lot more to Vex than he probably wanted to know; to him she simply felt, almost scary. Like there was a monster under her skin, or that she wasn't entirely Equine. Then he thought about the basement, and how bucked up it was to have that shit down there, but it wasn't like he could really tell the Princesses about something like that, because they already knew about it. Sometimes he wished he didn't know what he knew. He wondered if it would be worth it to just tell her the truth, that he wished he didn't have to steal from others, but then he remembered that he wasn't stealing from the innocent, though the rest of the creed didn't seem to follow his ideology. But the biggest thing holding his tongue right then was that just that morning, he had received an honorary title amongst the Blackguard, something that Blaze knew was going good for him. For him to snitch on the creed, especially after working to the top of the rabble, he understood that the phrase had truth to it for a reason: "Snitches get stitches."

Celestia clearing her throat returned Blaze to the real world, and he had to shake his head to center his thoughts and remember what he was doing and then what the question was. Once he had regained his bearings, he smiled an apology, which Celestia returned, then he set his face back to thinking about how to answer her request. Then inspiration struck, and he had his answer, so his inhaled to begin this web.

"I first thought that the bastards were alright, that they had everything in the city under their control. I thought that they would be a bitch to really enter the ranks of, and when they told me they needed hooves in the field earning their name back, I was thrilled. I had a chance to become part of the greatest creed of all time." He began in fake excitement, and he knew that Celestia was going to catch the lie, but he knew that she didn't know that he knew that she knew about what he knew or didn't know. That made his fabricated excitement hold a shred of truth to it. "And when they led me to their headquarters just outside the city, I understood why it was that they were the best of the best. I had joined the elite, and I knew that I could earn not only my keep, but that I also had the chance at earning enough bits to take Star and I away from the city.

"Then, as time went on, I discovered just how deep in the dumps the fuckers were, and I realized something: if I were to work my flank off, bust my ass hard enough, maybe I'd be able to rise high enough to really earn some dough." He continued, though now that he had a decent story riding on, he was getting worried that he would have to keep it up for the sake of appearances. But of course, he had spun to much of a story to just stop now, there was no way of saving face and turning back now. "That's where I've been, over this last year, busting my ass and working my flank to get some serious bits stored away. Not that it matters anymore, though, what with Star having disappeared."

"Yes. Actually, we have a proposition for you about that, if you would listen to us?" Celestia offered, because she well knew that the story he had spun was nothing but bullshit and she wanted to just move on, but she also figured a little fun wouldn't hurt. "We are well aware that thee, sorry you, have been ascending quickly within the thief's guild, as your leader Al Capony gives us regular updates on you whenever we visit that little warehouse of yours."

Blaze couldn't help but smile, as he had been caught in his lie, though his smile was twofold; one side was that he had no more web to maintain, and the second was that she obviously didn't know that he already knew that she knew about him. He simply let out a fake sigh with his grin, and motioned for her to continue, though she showed her mild curiosity that he wasn't freaking out about her revelation.

"However, back to the matter at hoof: my sister and I were wondering if you had ever considered joining the guards, as your abilities with you wings would make you extremely valuable to the reclamation of order and harmony to the lands." She finished, her pink eyes staring directly into his navy-blue orbs, and he was satisfied that she hadn't wasted time, as he had heard the political system had a tendency to do. He did appreciate her direct approach, though him being privy to previous knowledge also leant him hindsight, and he had to choose carefully how he would go about this. He wanted to keep his hidden advantage exactly that for as long as possible: hidden.

"Having you trained as a guard would allow us to employ a Gold Blood into restoring our cities, and repairing the damage wrought by Discord."

"I like the offer of doing good, and I see you trying to appeal to my inner sense of morality, but I do have one major issue with what you are asking of me. My issue is this: what could I possibly have to gain from this? I know that you want to appeal to my justice, but my justice extends to those that are like family to me, and my family is in no immediate threat from the past damage Discord did. They are all safe, and I see no reason to leave the creed and betray my brothers and sisters in crime for some lifestyle that others wish me to pursue."

"Wow, you show intelligence beyond your age, young Blaze Burn." Celestia remarked, the white porcelain tea kettle vanishing, as the two had emptied it, before a midnight blue and black one replaced it. She poured them both more tea, and offered him a cup, which he took graciously. He couldn't hold back the smirk forming on the edge of his lips, as the idea that she thought he wouldn't see through her attempts at wooing him. "Tell me this, though Blaze Burn: would it be worth it to you to join our cause if we were able to help you deal with those menacing spirits underneath the city?"

Blaze froze with the tea cup just inches from his lips, and he stared down at the Princess hard, wondering just where she was going with this. She only chuckled at his response.

"Or how about if you were to join our fight for harmony, you would be able to put the best of our resources into finding out what happened to your dear brother?" Blaze felt warmth flooding back into his body at the mention of Star, and that warmth soon turned into a wave of anger that she was trying to pull the same card that Luna had already used up.

"Do you honestly take me for a fool, Celestia? You must surely know that Luna already offered to spare royal resources in the search for my brother, and what good did that do? I made more progress in figuring it out on my bucking own! There isn't a damn thing left for me to search to find him, HE IS GONE! Don't you get it?! Star _disappeared_ , and he isn't coming back." Blaze slumped back into his seat, sighing and looking down at the spilled cup of tea that now lay shattered on the floor, the tea soaking into the carpet. He glanced up to see Celestia walking towards him, though he was no longer in the mood to do anything, all he did want to do was just go back to the creed, tell them what he knew, then go home and sleep.

"I apologize for my brashness earlier." Celestia said as she plopped her royal white flank on the seat next to him, her horn glowing as the pieces or the cup fit themselves back together, and with a pop, a towel began to soak the tea from the rug. Blaze felt a wing rub his back, and if he was in the mood, he probably would have snapped it off of him. As he was, Blaze only wanted to be able to rest, to properly mourn for his lost baby brother, and while he knew this wasn't the place to do it, he was running on low energy about it for a while now. "I shouldn't have brought it up, it was my mistake, though I do wish to try to help you find some closure on the subject."

"Please, just don't." He whimpered, feeling more unsure about how he was going to make it through another year without Star. Hay, he was wondering how he had managed to make it through each and every day without being able to come home to see that adorable little blue face, with those cute little lavender eyes that sparkled with youthful excitement and awe. Blaze felt the floodgates breaking, and he knew there was no holding it back any longer, no way he was going to fight this one off, so he just stopped resisting, and felt himself fall apart at the loss of his only reason to fight.

"I don't want to force this on you, but I want you to know that I have been trying to get my guards to go out and interact with the city more. I want them to be able to relate with the citizens, to be able to connect with their struggles, and to help them through losses such as these. You could help prevent other brothers and sisters from being separated, you could stop others from having to experience this pain." She quietly spoke to him as he sobbed on her favorite couch, her wing never stopped stroking his back They sat like that for longer than either dared to think, until a knock on the door alerted the pair that there was still a city for the princess to manage. "Just promise me you will think on it, okay?"

Blaze weakly nodded, and was about to head to the window to make his escape from the castle, when Celestia's wing wrapped itself tighter around his shoulders. He looked up at her in confusion, but was met with her facing the door, leading him to it, and panic welled inside him as he thought she was taking him to the guard. He tried to resist, his strength now returning thanks to the emotional ride being over, but the Princess was stronger than he had expected. Just before she opened the door, he made one last ditch effort to escape, only to be held down by her magic as she stared at him with a face that said, _'Shut up and do as I say.'_

She returned her gaze to the door, and it became wrapped in her golden aura, opening to reveal a guard standing at attention. The guard barely flashed a glance at Blaze, before his attention returned to staring directly in front of him as he waited for permission to speak.

"What need hath thou to say, Shield?" Celestia sounded more annoyed than anything making Blaze believe that this 'Shield' character was probably more of a nuisance to the Princess than anything else. And if that was the case, and he is still on the guard, Blaze was starting to think that maybe the Sisters actually needed guards more than he originally believed.

"Your Highness, the advisers await your appearance in the Court Hall to discuss plans regarding the development and reconstruction of the city." He said after a short bow.

"Please offer my apologies to the council at my delay, and inform them that we shalt be there posthaste." Celestia said, once more losing a sigh that indicated she would rather be away from this particular guard than anything else. Said guard merely bowed and then trotted off to what Blaze assumed would lead to this Court Hall. Celestia then continued to walk out of the room, there was only a single guard standing at her door, clad in golden armor and bearing a large sword strapped to his back, while his hoof was wrapped around a short spear. As the two occupants of the room walked out, Blaze noted that the guard did seem a little jittery in the presence of the Princess, though he didn't do anything to move other than a subtle shake that was barely perceivable. "That be another topic that we wish to ask of thee, you Blaze Burn. Tis of a more personal nature, of certain sorts but should thee join the royal guard corps, we would have another body to add to the list, and a more competent soldier than most of the riffraff thou shalt see anytime soon."

"Why are all the guards so bad, then?" He dared to ask, hoping that he didn't insult the guard following them enough that he would lash out at him. Blaze didn't think that would happen, as Celestia had called into question herself the quality of the guards on patrol, which he was certain would be a major blow to the pride, but he felt safe enough to brave the question.

"It is not the fault of the guards, perish the thought please Blaze Burn. No, the issue hath been found in the difficulty lying in wait in the current times, as ponies in Equestria struggle to regain their hoofing, not all are able to sacrifice thine time to patrol this lonely castle." Celestia explained as the trio made their way to the entrance hall of the castle, just before the throne room. "We would hope in the years to come that we hath have the opportunity to enlist more guards that are qualified to patrol, and even more to train new recruits coming in."

"So you want me to become a guard, grow up and then train other guards?" Blaze sounded incredulous that the princess would want him to teach others, teaching just wasn't his thing. Celestia gave a light chuckle, shaking her head as they continued to walk down the hallways, soon arriving at the double doors that would lead to the outdoors, and the path to Blaze's freedom once more.

"No, we hath a dream that you would grow into a fine stallion that serves his country not because he has to, but because he desires to." Celestia explained as she led him further outside, the sun beating down on them as they made their way towards the nearest gate. Blaze was surprised, as he had expected an entirely different situation, one in which Celestia left him at the doors, and he would have to evade the guards as he made his way to the city beyond. The princess in question caught on to his thoughts pretty fast, and gave him a light slap on his side with her wing, and she also picked up on the face he made when he felt their feathers brush. She also noticed the blush creeping into his white face, though she chose not to comment, she thought it was cute. "We bid thee farewell, and that the next time we meet, it shalt be a joyous reunion."

Blaze nodded his reply, and trotted through the open gates, feeling the wind blowing through his mane as he leaped into the air, embracing freedom once more. His first move once freeing himself from the castle was to head directly to the creed, hoping that Al or Door Cracker was there so he could relay what he found out about the castle patrols.

Walking towards the bar, Blaze was surprised to see all three of the Blackguard members sitting next to each other as they enjoyed their drinks. Blaze approached them, taking a seat to the right of Door Cracker, while Al sat in the middle, leaving Vex to take the left seat. He waited for the earth pony next to him to finish his drink before he began, and at the nod of the stallion, Blaze took a deep breath before he began. Yet before he could tell what he had learned, Al interrupted him by looking over Door Cracker's shoulder, a solemn expression on his face.

"I hope you have an explanation for why our guys and gals inside the castle saw you having a nice little walk with the Princess." Was all he said before he turned back to his drink to listen to the tale as comfortably as possible. Vex's ears perked up at the words from the head Blackguard, and she turned to face the pegasus to hear what excuse he had cooked up for them.

"Alright." Blaze began nervously, unsure as to where to begin to get the information that he had, so he just told them what had happened to him, starting at how he had slipped past the guards on the tower, and how he believed they would be able to slip by unnoticed as long as they timed everything right. He explained his notes on the patrol patterns on the grounds below, in the courtyards and around the buildings, before finally finishing with his run-in with the Princess of the Sun. He spared them quite a few details regarding the actual conversation, but he got the gist of what was said to the trio of thieves that needed the information. "And then she got all cozy with me, kind of weird, if I'm going to be honest here. The only good thing about it was that she was able to let me out without too much of an issue, though I wish I had the practice of getting back out of the castle without any issue."

"Are you absolutely sure you are going to stick with the story of you not telling the Princess our plans with the loot in the vaults?" Vex asked, her eyes narrowing on Blaze as he sighed and turned to face her, his own scowl appearing on his face to match hers.

"I literally just told you what had happened, and if you don't trust me, then that is your own damn fault. I did the best fucking job I could with what I had at my disposal at the time, and I would like to see you do better when you have a bucking _Princess_ trying to convince you to do something. It's not like she was going to force me, but she damn sure wanted me to go to her guards." Blaze shot back.

"Enough you two, we don't need our own damn partners at each other's throats over something like this. I really doubt that Blaze told the princess anything, if his past reactions to royalty are anything to go by." Door Cracker told Vex, who didn't seem in the least convinced that the pale pegasus was trustworthy. "And on top of that, we can all verify the information that he provided, and using what he had also given us, I know we can trust the kid to not buck this job up. Too much is riding on it, and he wants us to be able to keep on going, don't you kid?"

Blaze simply nodded, his glare never once leaving Vex's, and the two had a silent standoff while Al had refused to comment on the information that was being offered. After a tense minute of silence, Door Cracker having given up on resolving the conflict, Al decided to bless the younger generations with his knowledge. "It's not the best of information, but I think you did good with what you have. Detailed patrols routes, consistent information that we can verify, and alternate routes of entry should others fail. I wish you had the time to explore the castle a bit before we get this job done, but it is what it is."

"What do you mean?" Blaze looked confused at why they didn't have time, surely, they had a day or two, which was more than enough time for him to take a sneak peek within the stone walls to find out where they are going. "We got plenty of time, don't we? I can just run inside the castle tomorrow or the day after, get you some information on the path to the vault, then get back out in no time."

"What I mean to say, kid, is that we are going to hit the vault tonight, and that we need to prepare for the job. Vex, Door Cracker and I have been coming up with distractions for the guards on the wall, and I think we have everything we need to pull this off." Al explained, finishing off his mug of cider before standing from the table, Vex and Blaze following shortly after. Door Cracker opted to remain in his favorite seat, ordering another bottle of mead, while Al led the other two towards his desk. Once the head master of the creed had taken his seat and gotten comfortable, he rested his fore-legs behind his head and leaned back into his chair, observing the two pegasi before him. "I've got special instructions for you two, seeing as how you got both the lock-picking skills and the infiltration skills that are needed to pull this off."

"Wait, wait, wait. Boss, you telling me that Blaze and I are gonna work together on this?" Vex halted Al before he could finish, and while the youngest member of the Blackguard agreed with the burglar on this, he was curious. "Because that just ain't cool boss. Not cool."

"Vex, just shut up for a moment, please." Al sighed, pinching his nose with a hoof, before resuming his original position and reclining back as far as the chair would allow him to. "Now, as I was saying, because this is such an important job, and because I need special skills for specific purposes on this, I got us four and a few other important ponies working on this job. Vex, you and Blaze are going into the castle, you are going to help each other crack the vault, steal whatever valuables you can that the merchants own, and get out of there as quickly as you can.

"Blaze, this is your first big job, so I wanted to make a few rules clear to you. First rule, and this one is extremely important; get in, grab what you can carry and still fly with, and get out in less than a minute. Normally, we'd give you five minutes to grab shit and bail, but with this literally being the bucking Castle vaults, we are going to be very pressed for time. Second rule: Only grab what the merchant owns, we don't need the royalty to come crashing down on us for stealing something priceless to them. Trust me, kid. I speak from experience." Al chuckled as he recalled when one of the older members had tried to steal several gems from the Princesses, only to find out that they were the most prized possessions the Sisters owned. The creed took a hit like never before when it was discovered who stole the Elements of Harmony. "Third rule to know: If you get captured, keep your mouth shut. Snitches get stitches, unless you reveal something inexcusable, then we'll make sure prison sounds like a lovely summer vacation with what we'll do to you."

Blaze nodded, the rules made sense, of course he already figured that snitching would be beaten out of the system, and he could have guessed about mobility with loot. A thief that has massive wealth but can't go anywhere is not a good thief, but the one that has loaded pockets and wings that carry him, well he has money and freedom to steal some more. He wouldn't have to worry about the second rule as long as he was told what to grab before the job. "Anything else I need to know before I find out what I should be looking for in the vault?"

Al shook his head, waving the pair off while he levitated a hat over to his head so he could take a nap. As Blaze made his way back to the bar to get a lunch-time drink, when Vex's wings stuck out in front of him. He stopped to listen to what the mare had to say, though he wasn't thrilled about needing to work with her, she was the best at breaking and entering, something he agreed was only slightly important for a mission like this. "Look kid, I like this about as much as you do, but boss said we have to work together, and he told me that we gotta behave if we want our cuts, so how about we call it a truce until the job is over?"

Blaze hesitated for a moment, looking at her outstretched hoof, a nicety that he wasn't quite expecting, though he was happy it was there. He flashed a kind smile, taking her hoof in his own, not before spitting on it of course, just to piss her off a little. "I'd love to earn my cut."

Though feeling disgust at his childish behavior, Vex couldn't help but be humored by the fact that he had the mindset to keep business above personal vendettas. She wiped her hoof on her vest, then began to leave the room, heading for her own personal chambers to get some rest before the big job that night. Blaze would be happy to admit that he was a little nervous about robing the Princesses blind, right under their noses, but he felt better knowing that he also had three Blackguards with him, along with whoever Al decided to bring. While his thoughts were focused on the job, Blaze felt it necessary to find out just what the buck he was supposed to be taking, so he went to Door Cracker, who was still seated in his stool sipping at a mug cider.

"Hey, Door Cracker, got a minute to answer a question or two about tonight?" Blaze asked as he took a seat next to his master, nodding thanks to the bartender when he was offered a mug of cider, though he wouldn't have complained with mead either. The earth pony merely shrugged, pulling a list from somewhere Blaze couldn't really see, and offered it to the younger thief. Blaze examined the contents on the sheet, typical merchant valuables: table-sets, silver and gold items, jewelry, bags of bits, etc. etc. Blaze sighed and gave back the list, expecting this to be an interesting night, figuring he had better get some rest of his own, after all, it had been a long day, with little sleep last night.

Blaze had one final thought that he wanted to pass by the Blackguard before he left however, so he stopped himself halfway through turning around on the stool and looked at the stallion. "Hey Door Cracker, what do you know about the other ponies that Al said he'd be bringing along, and what are they going to do?"

"Meet up back here an hour before dusk, we'll be going over everything else then, but other than that, I ain't got a bucking clue, kid. Al said he had some old friends that owed him favors, so he's got some others that are probably going to either be sentries or getaway fliers. I imagine that Al would inform us of what the final plan is as we get everything set, so let's hope this all can go off without a hitch. Been way too bucking long since we have had anything on this level of crazy, I was afraid that Al might have been starting to get a little sanity in his system, then we'd all have shit jobs to work."

"Yeah, I'm sure we're all glad the insanity runs in the family, huh?" Blaze joked, plopping his now-empty mug onto the counter for the barkeeper to tend to when he got to it. "Well, I'm off to get ready, get some rest and make sure I got everything I'm going to need for tonight. See you then, eh?"

Door Cracker raised his mug, then took a hearty chug of the mead, Blaze smelt the honey from where he was, and he was suddenly very tempted to stay and share a mug, but he knew that one would turn into three, into five, into ten. He didn't have time to challenge Door Cracker again, probably ever. That bastard put down alcohol like Celestia put down cake. Blaze shook his head at the thought, seeing the amount of cake baking materials he had seen in the kitchens, every bucking time he broke in, it amazed him how anyplace still had flour or eggs. Sugar should be about as rare as blood diamonds with how much frosting goes on Celestia's cakes.

Blaze flew his way home, dearly hoping to have a quiet day with a small late lunch/early dinner, and then he could get some rest and maybe a nap before he made sure he had everything he needed for the job. Flying to the community, it struck him as odd how things were suddenly in motion that he had never even considered, and now he was wondering just where life was taking him now. A small part of him was relieved that life was kicking back into gear, but another part reminded him that he had a lot of shit that still needed to be done.

Giving into his need to prepare, Blaze walked inside, welcomed by a party of three workers, who were finishing the railing, while he presumed others were in the back rooms preparing everything. Blaze waved his greeting, then trotted towards his room, stripping off his jacket, though once he entered the room, his nose shriveled at the smell. He was amazed at how long sex could make itself known from the past for so long, even with the damned window open.

Sighing to himself, he just threw the jacket on his bed, sliding out of his saddlebags, instead choosing to go in his birthday suit and free himself from sweaty clothing until he had to wear them. Sneaking in a white coat of fur wasn't easy, thus the jacket and saddlebags. He walked to the washroom, glad that it was empty, and pulled the tap, allowing the tub to fill, once more with cool water. Once he was satisfied with the level, he stopped the flow of water and slipped into the tub, allowing the cool water to wash away the heat and grime from a long day in the dust and dirt.

Once he felt he was cleaned enough, he climbed out of the tub and let the water drain away, toweling himself off while he walked out of the baths. Satisfied that he was dry, Blaze immediately wound his way to the kitchen in relative silence, only greeting a single pony along the way, until he was in the empty kitchen. He was mildly surprised nopony had made anything for lunch, but he shrugged it off, opening the pantry and pulling out some crackers to snack on while he figured out what he wanted to eat for a real meal. After some idle munching, he decided on taking some of the fruits and vegetables from the cooler, and mixing himself a small salad. Eating in the kitchen to save time, Blaze made short work of his short meal, then let loose a sleepy yawn and left his bowl in the sink, intending to head to his room.

He had made it exactly three feet from the entrance to the kitchen before he was stopped by a familiar pegasus. The little fur ball of happiness leaped up and tackled Blaze to the ground, hugging him tightly, before he wrapped a leg around her and stood up. "Hey Asta, what's up?"

"Nothing, just wondering why you're home early." The pegasus filly replied, shrugging her light brown shoulders in a way that Blaze found nearly as adorable as Star when he did that. His smile almost faltered as he thought that, but he managed to stop himself from ruining the moment, instead, he let out another yawn, feeling ready for a nap.

"Just trying to get some rest before I head back out again tonight, if I'm going to be honest. I gotta head out to work before the sun sets, and I'll probably be gone all night, so I'm here to get what I need, sleep and food, and then I'll be heading back out." He explained as he placed the brown pegasus on his back and marched to his room, stopping just outside to drop her off, as he really didn't want to have to explain to her what the odd smell in the room was. "I'll be back before the morning, so it won't be too bad, but this is really important for work that I be gone tonight, think of it as a special occasion meeting with some friends of my boss."

"Okay." She sounded unsure, but Blaze knew that she would drop it, after all, they trusted each other, and after a parting hug, one that Asta insisted be as long as she could hold onto him, they finally separated. Blaze entered his room and shut the door behind him as he stumbled over to his bed. He pulled the sheets over him, glad for the light cover, and not feeling overheated because of a blanket, he soon found himself gently drifting into sleep.

 _Blaze walked through the burning city, pillars of black smoke rose from buildings that only held fuel for the flames. He carelessly trotted down the main street, passing many shops and businesses that he had become familiar with. The only things left untouched were those made of fire-resistant materials, like the stone castle, or the walls, but he knew what was happening. This was the Chaos Wars, and Discord had finally chosen this city to perish under his power. Celestia and Luna had assigned troops to deal with the minor nuisances that the foal Prince of Chaos brought out to play, while the Sisters themselves took care of the master himself._

 _Blaze didn't care about all that though, he was busy mulling over why he had to choose this life, why he had become a royal guard in the first place. What had he done to warrant this? He kicked a pebble, watching as it bounced around on the cobblestone street, until a knurled claw stopped it. Blaze finally decided to look up, and saw a large timberwolf, easily as large as Luna. The timberwolf was larger than they usually were this time of year, and this one had sickly green orbs of eyes that pulsated with the power that Discord was using to control them. What sick creatures, Blaze couldn't help but feel bad for them, as Discord only created them from the Everfree for the sake of entertaining himself._

 _The Prince had no thought put into whether these things would even want to exist, he just made them so, and here they were, terrorizing ponies for a fool's enjoyment._

' _Come a little bit closer, before we begin.' The wolf seemed to hear his thoughts, nearly obeying his silent command through the Gold Blood's sheer willpower. 'Let me tell you how I want it, and exactly what I need.'_

 _Blaze waited for the wolf to attack, but it merely bowed to him, and he ran his hoof down the hound's back, patting it on the side as he continued to walk. Things weren't too bad here, all things considered, the city was burning, yes, creatures were attacking ponies ruthlessly, sure. But at least there still was a city and ponies in it. Cloudsdale had been ripped apart, Trottingham had been leveled, not a soul left alive in the city, Manehattan had been swiped from the face of Equus._

' _So come on and tell me, can you fly like you're free? "Cause I need to feel, yeah I need to say:'_

" _I must confess: I'm addicted to this, shove your kiss straight through my chest." He shouted, the sky parting as a streak of lightning flashed overhead, illuminating the cotton candy clouds as chocolate milk rain began to descend from the heavens. "I can't deny, I'd die without this, make me feel like a god!"_

 _Music, love, and sex._

 _Blaze calmed down, taking brief shelter in what was left of the creed warehouse, wondering just what to do. Surely the Sisters could handle this, because this was way before his time, he had only seen what happened after they defeated him. He pondered it for a moment before deciding to just go with the flow, and that meant that he was going to follow this timberwolf and see what it would do. Not like he had anything better to do._

 _That was, until something much better to do came into his field of vision, and he had to do a double take to make sure he saw that right. Standing out in the chocolaty rain, soaking from the liquid, stood the most beautiful mare he had ever laid eyes upon. He galloped through the rain, not caring much for what hit his cloaked body as he tried to reach his destination._

' _Adrenalize me.'_

" _I crave excess, Blaze Burn. Turning wine into sweat, dripping down my neck." The mare purred, making the stallion nearly trip as his heart beat sped up several times, and all he wanted was to get to this lovely mare, this most beautiful, attractive, damnable sexy unicorn mistress. He finally reached her, and she awaited him with open hooves, and as the two slammed into each other, Blaze heard music faintly playing in the background. 'I can't deny, I'd die without this. Make me feel like a god. Adrenalize me.'_

 _He kissed the mare wish as much passion as he could, feeling his heart pick up pace again, adrenaline rushing through his veins as he finally achieved what he wanted, what he had desired for so long. He got the mare! Then something in the wind shifted, the rain stopped pelting against his cloak, and the mare stopped kissing him back. Confused, Blaze opened his eyes, only to find that the mare had fallen to the ground, a shocked expression adorning her face, and then he watched as the life drained from her eyes, the color leaving her face. He watched as the fire inside of her slowly flickered out, leaving the body, the beautiful body, without a pony inside, without a pony to love, to cherish. This husk was all that remained. And the music died. Blaze knelt before her corpse, wondering just why in the hay did she have to die, and why couldn't he take her place._

 _Then something began to whisper in the back of his mind, and he jerked up, only to look at the ugliest thing in the world, next to Discord. It was Grogar, and while he absolutely hated necromancy, there was a glint in the goat's eyes that made Blaze hope. It made him believe that he could have his love back._

" _Name your price, Grogar." Was all Blaze had to say, and the necromancer merely smile, his bells ringing and then his eyes flashed a sickly green, with red mixed in for good measure. Then all the world went black, and Black felt pressure building in his skull, and it kept growing, and wouldn't stop. Blaze feared that the pressure would kill him, but he survived, and the pressure still kept building._

Blaze awoke with a sharp growl of pain, the memory of the pressure inside his skull now rapidly fading, but he couldn't help but hold his head with his hooves, wondering just why the buck he had to have these weird ass dreams. He got out of bed and left his room behind, walking into the main area, watching the groups of ponies doing what had become a pastime in the warehouse; sitting around the fireplace and enjoying each other's company. He smiled, glad that they had formed such a strong family connection, and happy that he was given the opportunity to save them from destruction. He walked into the group to engage in idle talk for the next hour, as he still had some time before he had to prepare to leave for the job.

He sat next to the nameless pegasus, listening to the old guy talking about some of the processes that had taken place in the reconstruction of Cloudsdale. Blaze listened until he found that he just wasn't focusing like he wished he could, so he excused himself from the circle and made his way back to his room, where he picked up his saddlebag, as well as the black jacket he had purchased. He draped himself in everything that he needed, packing some extra items in the saddlebags just in case of emergency; bandages, a small blade, a cookie or three, a splint, and some healing lotion.

Once he was sure that he was ready, he went back into the main room to tell the group that he was going to be gone most of the night, so they shouldn't worry about him. He got goodbye hugs from Asta, Muffin, and Sweet Flower, which he gratefully returned. "Now you three remember, no sugary treats past dinnertime, okay?"

"Yeah, we know." All three responded at the same time, though the grins they were sporting made Blaze think they were probably just going to get into trouble the night for sneaking cookies away from the pantry. Not that he particularly minded it, they were kids after all, and that was the sort of thing he would expect to see from kids. Not good behavior, but kid behavior regardless.

He patted each of them on their heads, and gave each of them a hug, if only because he was trying to kill some time before he had to leave. In the end, he ran out of excuses to stay, bade the community a good night, and left the warehouse. Once he was free from the building, he breathed in a deep, centering breath and thought about what he was going to do with his cut of the loot. He knew he was going to save a bit of it, he would need savings at some point, he couldn't keep investing all his bits on the community, especially not anymore, since they were becoming self-sustaining. That opened up avenues of consideration within shopping that Blaze had simply never been able to afford or had never had a lack of priorities to consider.

He was still thinking about what he would even do with the bulk of his cut when he found himself at the creed headquarters. He let himself in the ramshackle door, and made his way over to the bar, where a waiting Vex and Door Cracker already sat. Once Blaze made himself known to the others, they all grunted and began to head to the hallway, ready for Al to open the door and have the, all head down to the Blackguard chambers. The four soon entered the basement-like chamber, only to find that three ponies were already down there, each clad in black or white cloaks, all with red accents on them. In the dark, and with their hoods up, Blaze had no idea of telling who these ponies were, but a quick guess made him sure they were the 'friends' that Al had said owed him some favors.

The group of seven made their way over to the map of the city, where they surrounded the table, each pair of eyes quickly observing what the castle guard detail looked like, knowing that the shift change was in an hour or so.

"Before we begin, let me tell you all about my three associates here." Al spoke up, indicating the three hooded figures. "They are here to assist you with guard disposal and infiltration, and I think it would be best to let them do their jobs. They come from another creed, though theirs isn't thieves, so don't get in their way. They'll do their jobs we do ours, now let's go over the details one last time."

"Blaze and I are to infiltrate the castle and find the vault, where we are to enter and steal whatever valuables we can carry that belong to the merchant. Said items have already been discussed, so we can save time there." Vex answered hers and Blaze's roles in the job. One of the associates nodded to them, it was a mare, pegasus by the looks of the cloak bulges where her wings would be.

"And I'm going to be accompanying you to make sure that you remain undisturbed by unwelcome guests."

"Hate to break it to you, ma'am" Blaze said to the hooded mare. "But we kind of are the unwelcome guests."

"Shut up, kid." Al ended the debate quickly, not in the mood to deal with that shit then, they had a job to do. He nodded over to Door Cracker. "Us two are going to be monitoring the getaway route from the abandoned mansion. Making sure that the road leading out is safe."

"And that is where we come in." One of the two hooded stallions said, leaning against the table, placing his front hooves on said table to take their attention. "Us two will be the ones that actually make sure you guys can get in and out without being caught. That said, you guys mentioned that you are in need of a distraction, and that is our first goal; make a distraction so you three can break in. We'll keep an eye out for the exit, don't worry."

"Right, we all got the plan, so let's get ready to move out. Shift changes in forty-five minutes, so let's not miss the window." Al said as he backed from the table. "You three, wait for these two to cause the distraction before hopping along the tower. Blaze, you're lead because you have experience getting through that gap, which means you are responsible for getting all three of you into the castle in one piece, without guard assistance. Okay?"

Blaze simply nodded, trying to make sure his anxiety doesn't show, because that would have disastrous consequences on his reputation with the creed. The seven ponies went up the stairs and began filing out of the warehouse, each heading to their respective positions just out of sight of the exhausted day guards around the castle perimeter. And as the seven silently crept through the emptying streets, they became more and more like shadow hawks, gliding towards their unsuspecting prey. Just before the groups spilt up, Blaze had a question eating away at him, so he went up to Door Cracker to get the quiet phrase out. "Inside the vault for one minute, then evac, right? And how am I supposed to bucking handle two experienced ponies like this?"

"Don't worry about it kid, you'll be fine, just don't tell them to do something stupid and they will be able to handle themselves. Don't stress about stupid shit." Door Cracker chuckled to the pegasus to try to ease his nerves, because as much as they all would deny it, a job this big grates on the nerves of anypony trying to pull it off. Too many unknown variables, a lot of risk, but that sweet, sweet massive payload if done right.

Blaze was at least placated with the answer, so he moved to return to Vex and the hooded mare at their position just underneath the tower, waiting for the signal to advance.

 _Author's Note: This chapter is coming out early because I've got a lot, and I mean a lot, of shit I've gotta get done, so I won't be able to do a whole lot of writing any time soon. I f I don't get the next chapter out real soon, don't hold your breath for it. It may take a long time to come out._

 _Also, in the last chapter, I just want to point out that many of you know what I did with a particular scene, whether you know it or not is up to you. I know that you know that I know what I did. And I did it on purpose because Blaze has to have something about himself to be proud of; the poor fucker's losing everything so far._


	11. 11 Torch the Rest

_Author's note: Just have to say, I'm surprised that as many people have taken to reading this. Personally, I don't think I've got the talent for writing a solid story, but it is an enjoyable hobby. It does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying the story, well at least enough to keep reading it, and that I try my best to make a decent story for you all. I've got some plans for what I would like to do with the overall plotline, but the majority of this is last-minute ideas that morph as the story progresses. I'm not especially skilled in the art of writing romance, so you'll have to forgive me if it either sounds extremely corny, or it doesn't feel natural. I try my best, but matters of the heart are not where I feel at home as I write. I'm also really excited to announce that this story has finally peaked over a thousand views. Now I know that in the grand scale, that isn't all that many, but for me, to have people interested enough to read a chapter or two, and have 1000 of those: it means a lot to me. Thanks for the support guys. Also, there has been a huge change of plans, and a lot of things are still being moved around, so I still have some time to produce so more content before shit gets overwhelming._

 _Just wanted to clear a couple of things before we get to the actual story. First: I don't know how many people have noticed the little Easter eggs I've thrown into the story, but I try to entertain serious readers with a little extra knowledge that is far from cannon-worthy of Equestria. The biggest being the song lyrics, from some of my favorite bands. For any metal-heads out there, you Maggots and Knuckled Heads, you might notice some of the songs. For everyone else, I'll recap what songs I've added to the story, just for your pleasure._

 _\- The dream in Chapter 3: Tired by Stone Sour_

 _\- The dream in Chapter 4: The Infection by Disturbed_

 _\- The dream in Chapter 6: I Apologize by Five Finger Death Punch_

 _\- The dream in Chapter 8: Tell Me Why by Three Days Grace_

 _\- The dream in Chapter 9: My Disaster by Seether_

 _\- The dream in Chapter 10: Adrenalize Me by In This Moment_

 _\- This dream: You Want A Battle by Bullet For My Valentine_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics to these songs, nor do I claim any right to the names and titles of characters and/or places in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. My OC's are my own, though I don't care if anyone borrows them for their own story, just give me message saying that you did so, simply for me to check and see how the two would match up. I like to imagine my story has sparked some questions, so don't hesitate to ask, as I may be able to answer them like this, or I may include them into the story._

 _Now that that has been taken care of, on to the heist on the Castle! - Seer_

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Chapter 11: Torch the Rest

Blaze was feeling anxious to get this over with, he was ready, and with that wonderful nap he had taken earlier, he was full of energy. He sat hidden in the shadows, waiting for the signal to start the job, to infiltrate the Castle of the Two Sisters and not only break into their vault and rob them blind, but to do so without them even noticing. He was giddy with excitement as now things were finally in motion that cannot be undone, and then he heard it; the wonderful, sweet, beautiful sound of guards calling out in confusion, followed by the shrill call of a hawk. Blaze turned to the hooded mare with him and Vex, who nodded in affirmation, so he flared his wings and leaped into the air, launching himself up the side of the wall, in the alley between two large houses pressed against the very same wall.

Using his enhanced wings, Blaze found himself vaulting over the crenellations of the wall, slipping in between two and landing silently on the pathway, behind the nearest guard, who had turned to see what the ruckus was about. He heard the subtle wind brush that indicated one of the mares was right behind him and ready to land in his spot, so he tore his gaze to the shade of the tower, where he would hide his descent on the other end of the wall. He jumped forwards, sliding into the darkening shadows, thankful that the sun was already clipping past the treetops off in the distance.

As Blaze slid down the inner edge of the wall, constantly clinging to the shadows to remain hidden, he felt more than heard Vex behind him, preparing to enter the pillar of shade where he resided. Another shrill call from the pair of thieves in the mansion nearby indicated that they had little time to disappear into the courtyard before the guards returned to their normal stations and duties. Blaze utilized the moment to leap from the shadows against the wall and slide into a bush at the edge of the garden.

As he settled into position to wait for the other two, he watched in awe as the hooded mare slid gracefully down the side of the wall, having obvious experience with this kind of thing. Sliding into the bushes next to him, Vex had bad draw, as she growled at the thorn bushes she hid in. Blaze couldn't help but chuckle, though he muffled it with his hoof, that his partner in crime would have a rough start. Before he knew it, the bush next to him was suddenly occupied by the hooded mare. With a nearly mute whistle, she signaled for the two thieves to follow her lead, and she turned and began to weave her way through the bushes in the darkening garden.

Blaze was just about to ask the mare a question when a short, high whistle call sounded from her position, and they all froze. They watched in nervous energy as a group of pegasi landed near the outer edge of the gardens, looking into them before one of the guards turned to speak with another posted on the wall.

"What was that all about?" The pegasi asked. The three intruders held their breath to hear what was being exchanged, silently waiting for the two groups to part and return to their posts.

"Oh nothing. Just a damned animal got loose, started breaking shit in one of the houses below us, the owners started shouting at it or something. Either way, nothing to be concerned about, let's just get back to our duties." The one on the wall replied, sounding bored to the whole affair, and then there were hoofsteps clopping on the top of the wall. The trio inside the garden waited as the pegasi grumbled to themselves about wasting time on useless shit during the end of the shift. Then there was the sound of flapping wings and the air patrol was gone, leaving the thieves to resume their infiltration. As they got near the inner edge of the garden, the hooded mare once again gave off the short whistle, and the three paused to hear yet more guards approaching.

The froze when they saw a group of guards walk closer to the gardens, though the patrol stopped just before the edge of the shaded bushes, preferring to remain in the light given off through the window of a nearby building. They each took a glance at the gardens, though none dared approach, and after what felt like five minutes, the returned to their route, all except a single guard.

"Go on ahead guys, I gotta take a shit." The lone guard said as the others just waved him off, though one did stop at the edge of the building to call back.

"Why don't you just head inside? It ain't right shittin' in the gardens, especially in the royal gardens."

"I ain't a guard, so I can do what I like." The merc replied, heading deeper into the concealment of the darkening gardens as the sun finally left visibility. The sky was glowing bright oranges, violent pinks and striking purples, the bright blue sky steadily being replaced with a much darker shade of blue, nearly purple with the hints of clouds hugging the horizon. "Besides, when we get his all over with, and once I get my paycheck, I'm heading back to Saddle Arabia to live away from this shithole of a country."

The three thieves waited patiently for the patrols to head back to where they were, though the guard decided to hide himself fairly deep in the gardens. Blaze was wondering just how they would deal with him, as he was in front of them, nearly blocking their path towards the castle just a little ways ahead of them. He stalked through the bushes, glad that his cloak let him blend in with the shadows easier, and was trying to find a path around the guard, when a scraping nose caught his attention. He stopped mid-step when he heard the sound, and the guard before him gave off a startled grunt before the thief saw the hooded mare standing just behind the guard. She had stood on her hind legs, wrapping one of her forelegs around the guard's muzzle, silencing him, while she hit him in the ribcage. Well, Blaze had thought that she hit him, until he heard the distinctive sound of a blade coming out of flesh, and then the mare had gently lowered the guard to the ground, concealing the still bleeding body from any other patrols.

Blaze couldn't think of how to react to that, he had just witnessed a pony get murdered, right in front of him, and it was one of his own partners that did the deed. He had to blink several times, trying to process exactly what he had just seen, and whether he had actually seen it or nor.

He was snapped out of his stupor when the hooded mare walked in front of him, and slapped his senses back into him. He shook his head, and decided that he was better off trying to process what had happened after the job was done, though now that he had seen what these friends of Al would do to complete the mission, he wasn't sure he wanted to still follow through with this. Still, he couldn't really turn back now, he was associated to the crime, and he also held onto the fear that turning tail and running would only end with a blade in his back. So he stalked through the bushes, now following Vex's lead as she led them through the last stretch of the gardens. The group made it passed the vegetation zone of the courtyard without further incident, though once they reached the edge of the blacksmith, they ran into a problem.

They were currently hiding in the shadows of the building, using the moon's angle to hide themselves from unwanted eyes, and they had to only get across the road and inside the castle. The problem was that their position put them right on the path of an approaching patrol, and they were running out of options. Panicking, Blaze looked to the sky to see if he could spot the pegasi flying circles. Maybe the trio could hop up on the roof, hide from the patrol and then skip past the others?

Then they heard a second patrol approaching, and Vex stole a peek around the corner of the building, just to see what was going on with two patrols so close together. She kept her eyes around the edge of the building for about ten seconds before she pulled back to talk with the other two.

"Shift change. Looks like we were just a little too late. Damn."

"We can still do this, and there really isn't much point in backing out now, now is there?" Blaze said, feeling that they had gotten this far, and he saw no real reason to quit, sure a shift change meant tougher guards. "Besides, imagine the challenge you'll get from this, Vex. I'm sure the bragging rights for doing this job will extend to far beyond just our own creed, you'll be able to talk shit to anypony who calls themselves a thief, smashing them down that you pulled off the biggest heist in Equestrian history!"

Vex offered a flashy grin when he mentioned that she would be able to brag to anypony about her feats, though she mocked being wounded by his words. She placed a hoof over her heart while she grinned at the opportunity to steal from the most secure building in Equestria. "Your words wound me, but you truly know how to open a mare's heart there, Blaze. Let that be a lesson for when you get older, eh: a mare wants nothing more than her stallion to give her the encouragement she needs to never stop bragging. For a mare who hath not the ability to brag shalt not be namethed a mare."

"While I enjoy the cutesy act, we got a job to do, and guards starting to head our way, so I suggest we take positions to eliminate the threat less we risk jeopardizing our mission." The hooded mare said, and it caught both the others off guard as neither had heard her speak before this point. And now that Blaze was thinking about this, he hadn't seen her take off her hood either, though he had little time to think about that as the three had to hug the wall as they prepared to jump the guards. Blaze heard the familiar scraping noise, and when he looked over at the mare, he saw that her left foreleg was extended, and a blade had extended from beneath her robes. He was going to ask her what the buck she was thinking, when her wings pushed him against the wall of the building, forcing them even deeper into the shadows. As she did so, the patrol passed just in front of them, now becoming difficult to see in the fading light.

There were four of them in total, each clad in black armor, bearing Luna's moon on the breastplate, indicating they were actual guards.

And just like that, the hooded mare leapt forward, her hooves working like clockwork as she jumped onto the back of the rear guard, blade sinking into his back as her other hoof went forwards to cover his mouth. Vex stirred and jumped into action next, diving at the other guard who had just started to turn at movement in the corner of his vision. She jumped at him, slamming his face with her hoof. The two guards in front turned when they heard commotion behind them, and that was all Blaze needed to take action, and he burst forwards with his wings, slamming into the pair of stunned guards.

He wasn't sure which was more surprised, the guards at the intrusion, or Blaze as he took both of them to the ground. Before either could make a sound, he had slammed his hooves into their throats, silencing them as they choked on temporarily blocked windpipes. Blaze hadn't tried to kill them, and he was terrified that he may have caused fatal damage to them as he hopped off the two downed guards, though he knew for certain that the guard the hooded mare had stabbed would die. That only left the guard that Vex had in a chokehold.

When the final guard had been knocked unconscious, the trio took the limp bodies and threw them into the bushes, hoping their scuffle went unnoticed by any other patrols. The lifeless body of the guard that the hooded mare had killed was tossed behind the blacksmith, in a large bin that the mare herself had told the other two to dump in.

"After this is done, you and I are going to have a few words over the murders you have committed tonight." Blaze practically growled at the unfazed mare, to which she only shrugged and made a nodded to the castle, letting them know that she wasn't in the mood to do any more talking. Blaze was seething, he didn't appreciate her just shrugging him off like that, as taking lives was something he thought she should be considerate about during this. He didn't like the idea of lethal combat, and that she was readily killing, he wasn't a fan, not one bit.

"Blaze, forget it, we don't have time to argue over what is past and done, so let's just get to that bucking door, and break into the damn vaults! I want my cut of the wealth before the night ends, and we aren't going to get it by just standing here." Vex said, leading them back to the now silent street between the outer buildings and the actual castle. Checking that the coast was clear, she nodded back to the other two, while Blaze checked the pegasi patrols once more. With empty streets and clear skies, Blaze head the other two wait at the small building as he made a beeline for the door hidden in shadow and the base of the wide castle wall.

He gently tried the door, only to curse to himself that it was locked, before he reached into the pouch at his side, pulling out a pick and tension wrench. He fiddled with the locks for a few moments, until he heard the latch give, and the door slid inward. He peeked his head inside, making sure his intrusion went unnoticed. When it was, he nodded to the others, and stepped inside.

Once he was safe from air patrols inside the halls of the castle, Blaze found he was much more able to focus on the sounds of the castle as it prepared for a nice night's rest. He listened to the subtle hoofsteps of the trio of thieves as they delicately trotted along the carpeted halls, though his ears were listening for any potential guests. The three stopped immediately when they heard a group of heavy steps marching their way from the left, a direction Blaze knew to lead to the throne room.

As they panicked for a place to find shelter, Blaze looked up to the ceiling, remembering his once effective hiding tactic from sudden guards that he would prefer to avoid. To his luck, this hall had several large trusses running across the ceiling, offering perfect perches for a group of pegasi that wanted to remain undetected.

Without missing a beat, Blaze got the attention of the mares with him, nodding up to the trusses, and once he had their understanding, he flared his wings. Making sure he pumped gently but hurriedly, he silently landed along a metal truss, glad that the design of the castle had useful hiding spots for ponies like him. The three settled into their positions, knowing that making a sound would jeopardize their mission, and they stared with baited breath at the far end of the hall, where it separated into two sections. The first, which were being swung open by a pair of royal day guards, was a pair of massive oak doors leading to the throne room.

Then, off to one side of the doors was a second hallway, one that Blaze had never been down before, and was the region that they were each expecting to hold the vault, along with quite a few more guards and mercs. What immediately held his attention, however, was the massive golden alicorn strolling in between two gold-clad guards bearing spears in their grips. Blaze spared a glance at the hooded mare, whose bladed hoof was supporting her balance on the thin metal trussing. He returned his attention to the Princess now walking close to where they had been just moments before, and his heart breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed that somepony had shut the door behind them as the three entered.

"Do be a dear and get me my nightly snack, Shield." Celestia's voice rang out as the group on hoof made their way around the corner, with Blaze 95 percent sure that they were going to have the Princess of Cake's 'nightly snack' of a whole bucking cake ready for her consumption. The trio waited for a minute, giving the Princess and her guards time to leave them in peace, then they dropped back down to the ground.

"I have to say, I don't really remember there being a carpet in this section of the castle." Blaze muttered as they walked closer to the far turn in the hall, hoping that the guards on the other side of the door (should there be any) wouldn't hear them. "Of course, it makes our job that much simpler."

"Simpler, dude this has to be one of the easiest jobs I've ever done!" Vex said confidently, only to clamp her muzzle shut as she slammed her hooves to her mouth, hoping that they went undetected. Their hopes were valiantly smashed into smithereens when the doors to the throne room cracked open just a tad.

One of the guards on the other side peered his head through the door, staring at the trio of thieves with a look that could only be described as the statement: _Who the buck do you think you are? And how the buck did you end up on the same planet as me?_ He stared at them for a good fifteen seconds, which were fifteen seconds of utter terror and tension on their parts and frustration on his. After those fifteen seconds of him glaring at them, the guard had had enough of the ponies he assumed to be mercs. "You guys are getting paid by the day, protecting something that doesn't even need you, and on top of that, you were hired out by one of the wealthiest merchant companies in Equestria. No shit you got it easy, you get to sit around all bucking day while us guards have to deal with real shit with common criminals and distressed civilians. Shut the buck up about your lack of balls. No offence ladies."

The three stared at the guard as he shut the door, though they heard him from the other side muttering to his companion about spineless mercenaries who had no desire to do anything productive with their lives. Vex actually blushed at some of the insults that were being creatively used by the guy.

Not wanting to test the waters any longer, Blaze walked around the stunned mares, and pushed them along, moving them towards the side hall. He stopped when they had their senses returned to them by life, glad that he didn't have to push two fully grown mares about just to get on with the job. He waited as they fully regained their basic bodily functions, Blaze paced around them in a circle, glad for their luck. The guard had mistaken them for mercs, which only went to prove Vex's earlier point, that this job was sounding almost too easy for the three of them. Something about the fact that they had slipped into the castle so easily, it was starting to bother Blaze a little. He didn't want to say anything, because he knew that they would mock him for being a paranoid bitch, but he felt that his gut wouldn't lie to him about something as serious as this. As the two mares prepared to continue the job, and shook themselves back into the mood to do some burglary, Blaze put it out of his mind, blaming his nerves for the sense of foreboding inside him.

Blaze walked down the right side of the hall, sticking as much of his body in the tiny amount of darkness as he could. He knew it wouldn't do jack shit if he actually needed to find cover, but he felt better about it that he had some shade to cover his ass. The hallway extended beyond them for a while, before abruptly ending at yet another pair of oak doors. These doors lacked any guards, though Blaze knew that they were far from undefended. He looked back to the mares, who nodded at him, and he spread his wings, taking to the air once more as he sought shelter from the torchlight adorning the walls. He glided over the light, clinging to the shadows at this height, something that struck him as odd, seeing as how much of this castle there was. His thoughts were cut short by a slight clinking sound, followed by what he could only describe as a drawer sliding open. His first instinct was to push his wings forwards, falling back and dropping slightly while he tried to figure out what was happening.

Blaze watched as he fell backwards towards the ground, a rope had flung out of the wall, and was spinning through the air, just where he had been. He steadied himself, staying in place as the netting flew through the air, crashing against the far wall, then slid down until Vex caught it to keep it from hitting the ground and alerting any guards. They were nervous that the commotion from the trap hitting the wall would get the attention of at least one curious guard, but none came to investigate.

Blaze's worries only grew as they continued along the trusses, each pegasus feeling something in the air that screamed danger at them. Still, they had gotten this far, and they saw no reason to end now, so they pushed on. Vex set the trap on one of the trusses, wrapping the stone weights around the center pole to keep it from falling again.

Blaze had pushed forward, having finally reached the middle of the admittingly longer hallway, though he was far from fatigued, his gut was telling him to pause for a moment. Vex and the hooded mare caught up with him, both casting a curious glance his way as he stopped on a metal trussing, senses on high alert as he tried to figure out what was bothering. He sat there, examining the darkness that was extending from the depths below them, making the remaining distance in the hallway seem endless. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but his gut had never failed him before, so he felt confident enough to trust it.

"What's the hold-up? We don't have time to be taking a break, kid." The hooded mare said, landing next to him so she could stare at him in the steadily growing darkness. Once it registered for her what situation they found themselves in, her eyes grew as wide as saucers, and she tried to say something to the other two. Her mouth moved, but no words came out, though they wouldn't have been needed, as the thieves had already noticed the problem. Blaze wanted to panic, he really did, but with the smoke-like void rising up from the ground, thickening and growing more and more opaque, he felt his heart settle. A powerful feeling of content settled over him as he watched, his mind noting a figure slowly rising above the void.

"We hath not thought thee would show thine face here again, young Gold Blood." Luna said, her voice smug as she watched the three figures on the metal trussing, her wings gently bringing her up to their level, while the darkness below them suddenly halted its advance. Her blue wings rhythmically beat as she maintained her height, staring down Blaze as if he were nothing but a common criminal intruding in her royal sanctum. Blaze felt his calmness evaporate as the situation finally registered and his survival instincts kicked into overdrive to make up for lost time. His wings flared out, and he leaped backwards, only to slam straight into a wall of black that wrapped itself around him and forced him back to the other thieves. Luna only chuckled at his attempts of evasion, though her smile dropped when she saw the hooded mare. "Assassin, why hath a pony such as thine's self maketh an appearance on this night? We hath thought thine's kind was not to take action against thine's Princesses, and that thou shalt avoid thy royal city."

The assassin chuckled in response, reaching her hoof back to peel away her hood, and in the weak light provided of the castle torches far below, now illuminating once again in the lack of a void, the three got a look at the mare under the hood. Though Blaze was still trapped by a grip of void, he was able to lean forwards enough to get a good look at the mare, as he was admittedly curious about her features. He hadn't seen under the hood, and he figured now would be the best time.

The first thing that caught Blaze by surprise was the light blue, nearly cyan but with just a touch less aqua to her coat. As soon as he registered her blue coat, his attention was immediately diverted to her mane, which had the six main colors of the rainbow, from red into yellow and blue, finishing with a deep violet. He had to admit that he was most surprised that a mare as merciless as her was as colorful as she was.

He blinked momentarily, trying to get his wits about him before he came to regret it, and was just in time, as when he whipped his head back to Luna, he found her flying towards him. He only had time to react, and his mind went blank as he flipped his wings backwards, pulling his head towards the wall behind him, and started to fall. The wind picked up as he tucked his wings against his sides and tried to evade the princess charging him.

He landed on something rough, glancing down to see the black void once again taking physical form, and he leapt into the air to avoid capture. Luna landed heavily in front of him, eyes boring through his skull as he backpedaled to escape her, only to find his back pressed against the wall. Much to his surprise, Vex landed right beside Luna, diving to tackle the princess to the ground, though her efforts only paid her in a wing to the face, flipping her on her back in a daze. The assassin was gliding overhead, waiting for her chance to intervene.

Luna didn't spare a glance towards the blue mare above, her attention fixed solely on Blaze, who was pressing his chest against the ground, wings flared in preparation of flight. The blue mare glared at Blaze, her horn lighting up and her blue aura wrapping itself around the young thief.

"Surely thou would hath enough of a brain to question thine difficulty in gaining entrance into this castle? Tis not a surprise that thee would make thine's self appear tonight, for we hath encouraged circumstances to get thee into thine castle." Luna gloated, though now that they were all within torchlight, Blaze caught the briefest of glimpses of a sheen on the princess' face. He would have liked to verify it, but it vanished as fast as it appeared, and he had to focus on the current problem he had. "We hath a plan of bringing thee to us to show thee thine's error in thine's way, and to encourage thee to mend thou ways. Tis all part of thine's redemption."

"Well, that would explain the shit guard duties around here." Vex mumbled as she climbed to her hooves, holding one to her bloodied muzzle as she steadied herself on a ground that only shook for her.

"Yes, we hath removed guards from their duties to ensure thee would come to us." Luna replied rather quickly, and something in the back of Blaze's mind caught up with the rest of him.

"You're bluffing." He stated, rising to his full height once more, though under the fact that he was the youngest in the room by a few years, it didn't do much. He took a single step forwards the Princess of the Night, returning her original glare, though her face now was a mix of calm, and what Blaze thought would be some equivalent to confusion. "I spoke with Celestia, and she said that you guys were running low on guards, and that you really needed these mercs to boost the number of ponies on the guard. She even went so far as to say that she wanted to raise me so that I could train other guards in the future."

"THOU LIES!" Luna shouted, and for a second Blaze saw unconcealed fear on her face, though he wasn't able to get a good look, as a blast of blue, there was a blur of motion, a sharp pain in his skull, and then blackness. He was sure the void had swallowed him, but the pain in his head told him that there was more to it than that, most likely Luna smacking him around.

Well, at least he got the chance to rest for a moment, and maybe when he woke up, just maybe, he would be able to finally get some rest. He was having one Tartarus of a week, and a long nap might be just what he needed.

 _Blaze opened his eyes in pain, looking at the castle around him, though he was sure that things were about to get very strange for him. The first clue he had was that instead of the royal throne room being well-kept and cleaned to perfection, the place was in ruins. Like, it wasn't just dusty and had some dirt around the place, it was literally in ruins, the walls were cracked and aged, the ceiling had given long ago in many places, and the thrones themselves were shattered._

" _What in the hay happened here?" He muttered while he stood from his laying position, his cloak and armor making not a single sound as he moved. He reached back, dusting off his black cape, shuffling his wings from underneath it while his hooves carried him closer to the thrones themselves. His focus shifted from the two thrones, he had always known that they Sisters would move into the new palace that was being built, it was the reason they sent him there to look for suitable locations to construct another castle. But this: it looked like they had a fight before they could completely move, Blaze was surprised, as that looked exactly like Celestia's throne. She had dozens of little trinkets hidden under the cushion for her entertainment when she thought she was alone._

 _He trotted up to the thrones, now that he was able to study them closer, he observed that Luna's looked like the ground had been ripped clean open underneath it, as it was sheered in two. Behind her throne, however, was something that Blaze didn't know how to interpret: the wall was shredded, as if the same force that cleaved her throne in half had torn a chunk of the wall down. Blaze was worried, as there were few creatures large enough to do this to the castle, and even fewer still that would have been able to get through the rest of the city first._

 _The first creature on his mind was a dragon, a very large dragon, that was most likely pissed about hearing a pony had stolen a dragon egg. It was possible, but he imagined Celestia would have diplomatically solved that issue, covering up the fact that is was indeed him who had stolen that egg. It was Celestia's gift to placate others with false ideas and deceit to hide what she was doing for her country._

 _So with the dragon ruled out, Blaze was wondering if a hydra may have broken through the city and torn a chunk in the castle, but he had his doubts. The only way that a hydra could have done this was if it had been so small that it snuck passed the guards, and then had to eat enough ponies to spontaneously grow enough to attack the castle. If the guards acted quick enough, with the Princesses' help, they would have stopped it before it ruined the whole castle. But Blaze couldn't buy it, the hole was too small, and the strips of ruined ceiling, now this was something different. Blaze took a break from the thrones, examining the rest of the castle, though it seemed that consistent holes and damage appeared throughout the ruins._

" _It's almost as if there was a fight around the entire castle," He mumbled as he looked out the windows, which made him pause in his tracks. He would have been looking out at the city, if not for the massive trees lining the edge of the building. "What the buck?"_

 _He trotted back into the throne room, gliding his way to the entrance hall of the castle, though he was surprised by the lack of much of a hall. Half of the entrance was lying on the ground, with the frame of the door and two of the walls remaining standing. Through the openings in the castle, Blaze could only see trees, more tree, and yet even more trees. He looked up, gazing through what should have been the roof of the castle, and saw a large mass of storm clouds forming in the distance, towards what he assumed was the area that he had said was suitable for a castle._

 _He paused for a moment to consider where things were going, as this wasn't the first time he was sent forwards in time, though that last time was Celestia's fault, and she was terrified about the accident it was. He assumed that whatever Luna had done to him had sent him forward this time, though he was also assuming that if it was Luna, then she had also committed the accident._

 _In the utter silence of the castle, Blaze found himself worrying about whether the Sisters were alright in the new castle, as it was under construction when he last saw it. Shrugging to himself that he would get answers there, he shuffled his wings, the cape on his back shifting to make way for his large, pearl white wings. He took a moment to make sure they were the same, he didn't want any surprises this time around, one surprise was all he needed with these things. They were just as large as before, nearly matching Celestia's in size, something which he was sure both annoyed her and was a source of her attraction. He sighed a little at that, it was more annoying than anything else in his life, that the Princess of the Sun would constantly bother him about spending time with her. She knew how he felt about any relationship they might have, and he had even told her many times that he didn't reciprocate her feelings. He had to give it to her, though, she never gave up. Ever._

 _He returned his attention to the wings, checking the golden feather tips that marked his rank and heritage on the edge of his primary flight feathers. He much enjoyed the fact that his large wings had gold accents, the color making obvious his blood, and then he remembered the day that he got them. He had to shake his head before he went down memory lane, and get back to the task at hoof._

 _He raised his wings, preparing to launch into the air, and with a mighty leap, he nearly instantly found himself above the castle. His eyes adjusted to the sudden sunlight streaming in from above, and once his eyes were working properly again, he found his wings not doing so. He dropped to the ground in a heap, staring at the forest around him, where the city once sprawled, grand and recovered, there was nothing but the Everfree. He landed heavily, sliding a little before he shot back to his hooves staring at the horror before him, wondering just what the buck had happened this time._

 _He couldn't do much more than stare, though, and then his brain turned off and things flickered for a moment._

 _Suddenly Blaze found his heart heavy, and he was rocketing towards the new castle, which was under a massive storm, the black clouds swirling in an unnatural pattern that he was certain was not from Cloudsdale. He was nearing the complex, when he saw the armada of blimps anchored at the side of the city, and if his ears were indeed picking up on the crying of ponies, then this was an invasion._

 _He found himself crashing into a group of these large, ugly blue ape things that bore even larger spears. He stood from the group, quickly slamming a hoof into each of their midsections, hoping to down them without lethal force, and then launched himself forwards, tackling another pair of guards. He heard a shrill call from above, and watched as a little grey hedgehog with long white hair spiked up dive away from a cake he was eating and land away from the scuffle._

" _Who are you?" It called out, pulling a slice of cake from out of nowhere and being munching on it while it felt safe._

 _Blaze merely sighed and leapt at another of the massive soldiers, taking it down with a spinning roundhouse to the jaw before he left the little creature on its own. He had more important issues to deal with. He ran around a corner, finding himself standing in front of around a dozen soldiers, each with their backs to a group of chained ponies. He took a single glance at the ponies, noting their terrified looks and lunged._

' _Civilians.' He thought as he slammed down two of the soldiers, before his wings carried above the reach of their spears, and before they could react to his presence, he felt his blood magic fueling his wings. With a single, powerful pump of his wings, he sent a burst of air spiraling at the soldiers, a ball of twirling wind that launched half a dozen into those behind them._

" _You came here for battle, well here's a war!" He yelled as he dived into the confused mix, slamming hooves in a flurry of strikes, each sending another soldier into the realm of the Blessed Sleep. Once each creature had been dealt with, he turned to the petrified citizens, and releasing each of them from their chains, sending them into the nearest building to hide. After he had dealt with them, he took to the skies to find where his Princesses were, only to be forced down by several rocks thrown by a group of soldiers guarding-_

 _Blaze had to blink as he avoided the stones, just to make sure he saw that correctly._

 _-A cake? They were surrounding a massive cake?_

 _That was when all chaos broke loose, as the cake exploded revealing several pirate birds within, while the five mares hauling the cake suddenly took up a fighting stance. Blaze admired their courage, but noted their lack of any proper fighting skill, making him believe they were brave citizens that had a trap sprung._

 _He glided down to the group of fighters, taking out a pair of soldiers creeping up on the backend of a white unicorn with a curly purple mane. She turned at the sound of dropping bodies, gasping as she saw the stallion draped in black armor, steel shaded the color of the night sky._

" _We will not take this anymore!" A mare from the other side of the group shouted, using a cannon to take out a couple more of the creatures._

 _Blaze slammed a hoof into an approaching soldier, stopping it dead in its tracks before turning to the mare he had saved. When he turned around, his face dropped for a moment, as the mare had been staring at him and completely ignored the troops that were separating her from the others. He leapt over her, making her squeal and duck for cover, while he flared his wings and, with a burst of speed, tackled another creature. He grabbed the downed creature, heaving with his wings, and sent it back into a group of others._

" _Don't be afraid, no remorse, no restraint!" He called as he tried to rally the civilians behind him in a protective manner, though a mare that looked strikingly familiar shot out to his side to slam against a soldier that was about to get clobbered by the armored pegasus. "You girls alright?"_

 _Blaze grabbed a spear that was thrust at him, returning it to its sender, and then rising slightly above them, ready to use his blood's gift again. Seeing a group coming closer, Blaze flared his wings back, calling for the mares to take cover, and thrust his wings into the powerful move he had mastered so long ago. Another ball of pure, untamed power went soaring at the group. It created yet another mix of soldiers as they tumbled against each other._

" _These scars won't heal, now you're the victim I'm making you feel. Like you are me, I need you to know what you've done can you hear?" He mumbled as he turned to the group of ponies once again, though they were each staring at him as he was a gift from the heavens, with eyes shining of equal parts admiration and relief. The blue mare he noticed from before, a pegasus all the more, recovered first and pointed a hoof at him._

" _Dude, you are like totally awesome, can you teach me how to do that?" The mare burst with excitement, allowing Blaze a moment to be confused before he turned to the other four mares, and a purple dragon that looked eerily familiar. He saw the white unicorn, a bright pink earth pony with a fluffy pink mane, a buttery yellow pegasus hiding behind her pink mane like it was a mother's leg. His gaze then rested on an orange earth pony wearing what he assumed was a ranch-style farmer's hat, her golden mane tied back with a red tie as she stepped forwards._

" _Ah think that Ah speak for mah friends, an' we thank ya greatly for what ya just did, but we gotta get to our friends, so if ya'll just 'scuse us?" She said as she pulled the yellow pegasus and began leading the group towards another section of the castle. Blaze nodded and stepped aside, though not before asking for directions to the Princesses, which at the mention the group stalled._

 _They each looked back at him with horror and determination of their faces, making the armored pegasus feel a little uncomfortable. The blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and a rainbow-colored lightning bolt coming from a cloud answered his query. "We're heading to the castle tight now, you can join us if you like, and maybe with your fighting, we may get there faster."_

 _Blaze led the group, fighting every soldier they came across as he led them towards the castle, though the girls were adamant about quickening the pace after every fight._

 _Blaze had just finished dealing with a small group of soldiers when a much larger one ran from around a corner, and Blaze took the opportunity and had the girls continue while he distracted the soldiers. "You want a battle? Here's a war."_

Blaze's eyes snapped open, and he had to roll backwards, fearing that he was going to get injured, though when he tried to move, he found his body sluggish, untrained. He did manage to get from his back and onto his hooves, diving to the side as much as he could while his eyes refocused on what was going on around him. Vex and the assassin had Luna backing from him, each trying to swipe at her while avoiding her magic. He groaned, temporarily stopping combat, as each mare looked over to him, he shook his head one final time before taking to flight and heading to Luna with a glare planted on his face. She looked over at him sheepishly, then her horn flared brightly and then she was gone, leaving the two thieves and the assassin floating in shock at the passing of events.

"So. . ." Blaze began, unsure as to what just happened, though he was sure he was knocked out for a moment, if what happened had indeed just happened. "Yeah. That just happened, whatever the hay that was. Anypony care to explain?"

"We could ask the same of you." Vex replied, while the three made their way back into the trusses to take a break.

"Well, I guess all that I have to say is I blacked out and had a nice little nap, had a wonderful dream, and then woke up to you two fighting off Celestia. And boy oh boy does it just melt my cold, icy black heart to see two beautiful mares fighting a third over me." He chuckled to himself, receiving a hard punch from both mares in turn as they realized what he was implying. "No but seriously, I did black out, and then had this strange ass dream, something about an invasion when I'm older. Ponies everywhere freaking out and these strange creatures wielding spears were capturing prisoners, and then I came in, badass armor and super awesome abilities, tackling, slamming, and beating the shit out of the invaders. It was awesome."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've only heard it for three seconds and I've already lost interest in it. How about this: you finish getting back in today, and then we can head on out of here, because if the Princesses know that we are in here, then there is no way in Tartarus that we are actually going to get into that damn vault." The assassin muttered, pulling her hood back over her face, hiding the rainbow of color within the shadows of her cloth once more. The other two shook their heads, though it was Blaze that chose to speak up about it.

"Yeah, I would normally agree with you on that, but since we are already here, and we've gotten so far, I kind of want to just get this over with. Yeah, sure Luna knows we are here, but she just took off, so I don't think she really wants to deal with us right now."

"Or maybe she was just too tired to deal with us by herself, and she went to fetch guards to wait for us in the vault, or worse yet: she went to fetch Princess Celestia. We stand no chance of robbing this place if we have the two Princesses trying to capture us _in their own castle_." She retorted, shaking her head and leaning back to take flight, feeling more than ready to just leave this mistake of a job behind her before she got caught and jailed for good. The castle dungeons were renowned for their integrity, and she had no plans on testing their legitimacy.

"Go ahead and leave if you want, miss. I don't care what you want to do, sure you might make this a little easier, but you'd probably just kill a whole bunch of guards. I don't care what you do, but I know that Vex and I came here to do a job, and I ain't leaving until the job gets done, whether or not you decided to stay won't change the outcome. I will get this done, and not even the Princesses will stop me." Blaze declared, balancing carefully as he stood on his own segment of the trussing. His response only garnered a concerned glare from the assassin, her eyes scanning him to figure out if he was being honest, and insane, or just trying to pull her chain. When she was satisfied that she had her answer, she just sighed, turning to him in hopes of convincing him to abandon this before shit really hit the fan.

"Look, kid. I understand that you want to prove yourself to the elders, to show that you ain't no pushover, I've been there and I'm pretty sure we all have, but this is stupid. You didn't stand a chance against the weaker of the Sisters, during the night, when she is at full power. Just what on this sweet, green Equus makes you think that you would stand anything of a vertical chance, not even bucking standing, of facing _both_ Princesses?"

"Because I know how to avoid them, I've been doing it for a while now, hiding in this castle, evading guards on patrol. I know how to stay hidden when they look." Blaze replied, floating in the air to get in the assassin's face, causing her to back slightly on the edge of the metal beam holding her weight. "If I get into an open fight with them, then there would be no bucking chance I'd survive, but that's common bucking sense! Nopony gets into a fight with a Princess and expects to survive, so the plan is to avoid them at all costs. Trust me with this, I will be staying out of sight, and I will be just fine. Now head on home, tell your boss that you pussied out on a job, and let the real ponies get to work."

Blaze drifted down through the smoke, letting Vex and the assassin exchange equally confused and amused glances before the smoky-grey pegasus shrugged and joined her companion. The assassin stared at where the pair had left her, then let out a sigh grumbling about money and not getting paid enough for some shit or another, and joined the other two. She found herself hovering just above the floor, the void-like blackness having been slowly dissipating into the shadows once more, and the trio found themselves all in a hallway marked by a single staircase falling into the ground. It went down all of about fifty feet, a single path heading straight towards a platform beneath the marble floors of the castle above. They touched down gently, hoping to not disturb any unwanted guests as they observed their surroundings in better clarity. The hall was mostly barren of any decoration, though the carpet usually splitting the center of the halls ended sharply at the head of the stairs, painting a stark contrast between the glowing white of the marble of the floors, to the darker granite of the stairs. Blaze took a step forwards, being the first to have landed, and peered down the steps. The landing below seemed empty of any guards, making him believe it extended further on and probably turned at some point, hiding the rest of the protection detail.

Turning around, his face betrayed his mild surprise at seeing the assassin, but he recovered nearly instantaneously. He motioned for the other two to join him, and as they circled up, he spared a quick glance at the far entrance of the hall, noting its bareness of any guard detachment.

"Alright, girls. Here's what I was thinking we should do. The hallway goes down some fifty-ish feet, a straight path, hard stone that is impossible to sneak on, though we have wings, and a possible turn further down. No visible guards, which means either it's not what we are looking for, or the guards are all stationed further in. How about we all glide down, sticking as close to the ceiling as we can, then once we hit the landing, we find someplace to take cover, watch what we can. Work with what we have as it goes. We are on a bit of a time schedule, as Luna is sure to get either more guards or Celestia herself to deal with us." He explained as he motioned his head towards the stairs, hoping that there wasn't some bucked up trap at the bottom of the stairs that would make their night that much harder. "Try not to buck anything up, touch only what we have to, and keep any blades on us clean, maybe we can get out of here with more than we had originally planned, eh?"

"One problem with that, kid." The assassin said, sending a quick glance backwards to watch the entrance, something that Blaze had already done four times. He understood that they were paranoid about being caught by a patrol, or worse yet one of the Sisters, but they had to have at least some shit plan scrapped together before heading down. "We don't have any bucking clue what down there we will have to touch, and rumors are floating around that this place is trapped worse than an old stallion sending letters pretending to be a young mare."

"Gotta say it right now, I have never even bucking heard of anything like that." Vex said matter-of-factly, shaking her head all the while, while Blaze could only nod in agreement. "But not that it really matters anymore. Yeah, we ain't got a bucking clue what is down there, but exploring and maybe stumbling across the vault is a far better option than giving up and heading back, telling the boss that we did so. I'd rather try my luck at getting a bit cut out of this loot rather than try my luck at pissing Al off, because while I'm sure you are all fine with murder and violence, there are some ponies one dimply does not buck with. Al is one of those ponies."

"Speaking of comfort with violence." Blaze began, before his ears perked up at the sound of distant hoofsteps on marble in the distance. "You know what, we can continue this later, when we aren't pressed for time and in the middle of trying to steal shit from the most secure building in Equestria."

"But we aren't robbing the Creed Vault, Blaze." Vex pointed out, halfheartedly joking, though it was also part truth. Blaze didn't respond, he just flexed his wings, raising them to get into the air before gliding down the flight of stairs leading to what they all hoped was the direction of the vault. They were really wishing for this job to be over with as soon as possible. In and out was not exactly something that was an option, but it was still something that the thieves were used to following. Habits always died hard, and this was a habit that they neither wished to break, nor desired to have die on them when they were in need of whatever luck their thieving charms could bring them. Blaze had just reached the bottom of the stairs when he heard the distinct sound of wind being severed by wings, and as he pulled up to glue himself to the ceiling, he was met by the other two following just behind him.

They scanned quickly for anything to use as aerial cover, but were only met with blank stone, not even painted, for Celestia's sake! Sighing to themselves that they were now not only grounded, but also in desperate need of somewhere shaded to cover in, they turned to their new task. Blaze and Vex had difficulty finding an appropriate hiding spot, as the only real decorations along the length of the hall were numerous statues of ponies, though Blaze was sure these were generic pony heads, nopony specific.

The assassin, on the other hoof, had taken special notice to the statues, as she had known that these kinds of things were especially useful under the current circumstances, all she had to do was find one that was sufficiently hidden in shadows to take shelter behind. She scanned them, noting that about three pairs had no torches anywhere near them, though the nearest pair was a distance from the trio. Then the clopping of hooves on stone recaptured their attention, and Blaze went into panic mode, he searched every statue for anything that would help him, and while the indentations behind them in the walls seemed big enough for them to hide in, they weren't nearly dark enough. He cast a glance at the assassin, who was already in motion, and he found himself wrapped in her blue wings as she sent both himself and Vex into the darker crevices behind a pair of statues. He noticed that the assassin had her cloak wrapped loosely around them both, her wings clutching him as tight to her as she could manage, and her hood had been forced around them both.

Blaze had to hold his breath, though his was too stunned to really comprehend what was happening, as a group of ponies trotted by in the hall. The hoofsteps sounded consistent, moving from the stairs to the other end of the hall before turning around the corner. The three heard a somewhat muted voice speaking, then another replied, and a conversation was struck between the guards. Blaze really wished he could see what was going on, though he doubted that even if his vision wasn't blinded by a mane of the rainbow, nor a hood, he would have had the balls to sneak a peek at the guards.

After what felt like an eternity stretching out from about five minutes, they heard the guard's hoofsteps echoing back from the bend. Using his ears, Blaze had to gage that about five or six guards were marching passed, though he was only shooting in the dark. The guards continued on as if nothing was amiss, and after their steps seized echoing through the halls above the stairs, the three let out a collective sigh. The assassin backed off of Blaze, letting him have his body back as she dropped back onto all four hooves and walking out from behind the statue. Blaze followed shortly after, and if he had been slightly less mature, he was sure he would have had a massive blush on his face, rendering him completely, and possibly permanently, scarlet. As it was, he had to settle on an appropriate amount of maturity to stare at the assassin with a shit-eating grin on his face, while the mare in question looked at him as if he was nothing more than a silly colt. Her blank stare told him not to do what she knew he was about to do, not that he was going to listen, of course.

He did have the patience to wait until Vex had joined them in the hallway once more, before he let his age really show as he let out a light chuckle, then began what the assassin most likely did not want him to. "So, how about that, miss? I dare say that all it took was a few guards for you to admit that you just wanted to get some quality time with the most handsome stallion on Equestria."

"Oh please." The mare scoffed, rubbing hoof against her black vest, much like Vex had done that one time, while she waited for the grey pegasus to finish her chuckling. "Kid, if I was even remotely interested in a pony like you, you are nothing more than a little colt. Besides, I don't know if you are aware of this, but your coat is about as white as a sun-bleached snowflake, which blends in with black about as well as a Princess walking out for a stroll through the city. With a fanfare of trumpets, and a squad of pegasi flying overhead. I merely did what I had to in order to keep this dead-brained mission of your alive, so please be a stallion about this and shut the buck up."

"Well, I don't know, there missy. But I think it would have been perfectly acceptable to just throw coat over him and call it good, from what I could see, it looked like you two were doing the forbidden dance." Vex snickered, earning a sharp jab from the mare in her side for her trouble, which she then had to rub with an idle hoof to keep from getting sore.

"Let's just get going." The mare said, rolling her eyes as she led the way towards the corner, shaking her head the whole way. "Foals."

Mirroring her actions, the thieves soon followed her to the corner, where they each glanced around the corner, trying to find out what they were going up against. They weren't happy with the guard situation before them: a night guard on either side of the vault, black and blue armor shining duly in the torchlight flickering from torches planted into the wall next to the doors. The bat wings on the left guard caught Blaze by surprise, as he hadn't seen very many of Luna's guards. He did most of his burglary during the daylight hours, when guards were least expecting an intrusion. The right guard had a long, black horn piercing out of his helmet, glowing yellow eyes staring straight at the entrance. Suddenly Blaze was grateful that the torchlight stopped short of the bend, else they would most likely have been spotted immediately once they poked their heads around the corner.

Standing in between the two royal guards stood four mercs, or what looked like mercs, as their leather armor seemed cheap and worn down, probably wear and tear from the road or poor working conditions. Each of the ponies standing at attention at the door had a spear within their grips, though the two night guards also had what Blaze could only assume was an altered bow on their backs. The unicorn guard had a quiver that he could see, which meant that the others was probably on his other side.

Blaze let loose a silent sigh, backing away from the corner, trying to think of a way around the situation they found themselves in. The mares followed suit soon enough, and the three sat in silence for a moment, thinking of a way around the six guards, each of whom had a spear, and lots of room to use them. That's when Blaze got an idea, though he doubted it was going to be any good. "What about a bum rush?"

"Seriously? How fast do you think we would have to be to cover that distance before they react and lower their spears? It's like forty feet!" Vex exclaimed in his ear, just loud enough for the assassin to hear, which she nodded in agreement to the reasoning. "And as much as I like to think my wings are strong, I just don't have that kind of speed, maybe you do kid, but these old feathers ain't going to cover that kind of distance fast enough."

"As if your wings are really that old." Blaze muttered, returning his focus to solving this riddle, and he hated riddles, always having too much thinking and not enough doing.

"Charming. But really, you are the only guy, hay pony, I know that has the speed necessary to get over to them before they get their wits about them." She continued, tapping her chin with a hoof as an idea sprang into her mind. She turned to face the assassin, pointing a hoof to the various pouches and bags tied onto belts around the mare's chest and stomach. "Hey, what kinds of shit you got in there? Maybe there is something that we can use to either distract or stun the guards?"

"Hmm. I think I may have something in here. Give me a second." She said as she rummaged around in some of her pouches, producing various items that Vex would ask the function for, then decline. Nothing seemed to be helping them, and the clock was ticking, Blaze remembered Al telling him to be quick about it, so he decided to make do with what they had. "Aha!"

"Girls, just give me something to hit them with, and I'll bum rush them and give each of them a good knock on the head, maybe I'll get enough of them down before you two get over there to help me finish them off." He offered, only to have his extended hoof be grabbed by the assassin, who shoved a small ball into it. He stared down at the ceramic ball, confusion written clearly all over his face as he wondered just what the buck he was looking at. "This is what exactly?"

"That would be a ceramic smoke pellet, just throw it onto any hard surface, and a small cloud of smoke erupts from the impact, thick enough to force anypony unprepared for it to close their eyes. Hit the door with that, then the three of us can rush over, take out the guards before they even knew what hit them." She answered, nodding in the direction of the guards, and before any more questions could be asked she shoved him towards the corner, helping him along. Vex sat by, idly wondering just what these little pellets were supposed to exactly do, as a smoke cloud sounded a little farfetched for such a small ball. Still, Blaze was near on the bend, and about to be shoved passed it, so it wasn't like she had time to ask for more clarification, so she just prepared to rush over to the soon-to-be dazed guards. Popping her neck to either side and rolling her shoulder as she bounced lightly on her hooves, wings flapping to create a small breeze and get the feathers in line for a short burst of speed. "Now throw."

Blaze wasted no time, hoping that if this supposed smoke pellet didn't work, then maybe the impact and shattering ceramic would distract the guards in its place. He mentally shrugged to himself, hoping for the best as he drew his hoof back, balancing the pellet in the middle of his hoof so as to not drop it. With a sudden motion that neither mare beside him could notice, he launched himself around the corner, and as his eyes locked with those of a single guard, his hoof whipped forwards, sending the pellet straight into the very same guard. Without missing a beat, he felt a surge in his wings, and he was suddenly on top of two mercs, slamming his lighter body into their armor. The three tumbled to the ground, then the smoke enveloped them, and chaos ensued.

Vex and the assassin wasted as little time as they could, flying into the fray, where Blaze was busy knocking the two mercs unconscious while the guard that had taken the smoke pellet to the face was tumbling out of the cloud. Vex drew her dagger, diving forward and sending the pegasus into the pony afterlife with a single thrust into his skull. The assassin had similar luck with the unicorn, where her leg-blade was driven though his throat, and the blue mare watched in abstract fascination as the guard choked to death on his own blood. There was a small squirt of blood strained over her vest, though she took no notice as she whipped her left leg, the one with her blade and metal bracer on it, up to block the incoming spear swipe. With a single chop of her right hoof, and a slash with the bladed one, she sent the merc tumbling to the ground, his hooves covering his throat as blood spewed out like a fountain. Then Vex dived at the other merc, who had dropped his spear in favor of a shortsword that was aimed at Blaze's back. The pegasus in question was busy holding his legs around another merc in a choke hold, while at his hooves was the final merc, unconscious. He turned around, with the merc hopelessly swiping at his face, just in time to see both Vex and the assassin stab the threatening merc. He stared in shock as blood was spat on his face from the falling soldier, the assassin following him to the ground. She rolled him over, taking his head in her hooves as if comforting him, then leaned in close, as if to kiss him, and Blaze heard her whisper into the merc's ear: "Rest in peace."

Blaze knew the distinct sound of a blade being driven through somepony's neck would haunt him for the rest of his life. Though he was appalled by the murder right in front of him, the barely struggling merc in his grip finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen, passing out in his hooves. Careful to not commit a murder himself, Blaze laid the unconscious body on the floor, putting him next to the other merc he had spared.

"We are going to have a long talk after this is all over." He nearly growled through his clenched teeth, and then he carefully stepped around the bloodbath the two mares had made, hoping that this day wouldn't keep him up at nights more than once or twice, but he knew it would. This wasn't going to leave his mind for a very long time. "Can't bucking believe this shit."

He walked over to the door, hoping that having a chance to pick a lock would take his mind off the murders. The violent, apathetic murder, and these two mares who seemed all too happy to commit them, almost as if they reveled in death. Blaze had to suppress a shudder of discomfort, thinking that these were the kinds of ponies that he was going to have to work with, and put up with for as long as he was with the creed. Shaking his one final time as he settled down in front of the door to see what he was going to have to deal with, the first thing he did was check to see if the door was indeed locked.

The memory of his reasoning behind checking the lock did manage to take his mind off the death behind him, one of the first lessons Door Cracker had taught him.

" _How long should this take me?" Younger Blaze asked, settling in front of the door, as he had imagined how a pony ought to when picking a lock. He excitedly picked up the pick and tension wrench with his hooves, anxious to begin learning how to open doors others wanted closed. The elder earth pony chuckled at the enthusiasm._

" _Depends on how smart you are: could be seconds, could be minutes, hay it might even take you an hour." He replied with a hearty chuckle at the idea of sitting there for an hour. Blaze responded in kind, then set his lockpick and the tension wrench into the keyhole. He fiddled with the pins for a few moments, before he noticed that Door Cracker was silent._

" _Isn't there some kind of lesson you want me to learn from this?"_

" _Yeah there is. Though I think that it might have been kind of obvious to you. This door is used by ponies, and sometimes, ponies can be forgetful. Think about what you are doing, and how things could be improved." Door Cracker answered the unasked question with his own secrecy._

" _Well, I don't know that much, so maybe if you actually taught me something?" The room went silent for about five minutes, with Blaze still unsure as to what exactly he was doing, having never had to actually pick locks before. After some time, he decided to wait for Door Cracker to give him a lesson, and another ten minutes passed in awkward silence. "Door Cracker, would you care to explain to me the basics of lockpicking?"_

" _Oh, sure. The first, and arguably most important rule of lockpicking is this: Make sure that you are actually going to need to use your skills with a lock-pick." Blaze's face fell, wondering if he had really just wasted fifteen minutes fiddling with an already unlocked door, and when he tried to latch, it gave way as if it had never been locked, which it probably hadn't. Door Cracker laughed about that for a solid week before he finally let it go._

Back in the present, Blaze tugged at the handle, hoping that he could save them all several minutes, though his hopes were instantly smashed. The door wouldn't budge, which meant he had to get to work. He reached into his pouch, pulling out a lockpick and his tension wrench, sliding them into the keyhole. He fidgeted around with the pins, careful to figure out where the sweet spots were that he would be able to use to open this damned vault door. He was not at all surprised to see that the large golden steel door had several plates of steel covering the front, no doubt to prevent the idiot raider from just breaking down the door. He looked at the outer edge of the door while he worked away, noticing the patterns of runes carved into the rim.

'Magic wards. Clever.' He thought as his gaze rested on the actual doors themselves, the pair being split like so many of the doors in this damnable castle. He looked at the way the locks interacted with the two large steel struts passing between the gap between the doors, just barely visible from the outside. No doubt he was going to have to unlock both locks to open the damned thing.

"Hey, Vex. You said you're a master burglar, right?" He asked, looking back to see her nod at him. "Good, because I think we need to save some time cracking this bucker open. Mind getting the second lock, that'll put you on double guard duty okay?"

His gaze turned to the assassin, who absentmindedly nodded to his question while her gaze remained focused on the entrance to the hall. Blaze returned his attention to the lock, which was a lot more complicated than he was hoping for. It was nothing like that door from the basement of the creed, that shit was horrible. No, this was a nice challenge, but not something that would take too long to crack. Feeling a little better about the situation they were in, Blaze decided to get something out of the way while he was here and it was on his mind.

"Hey, assassin." He called over his shoulder, and when he heard the hum indicating he had her attention for the moment, he paused to gather enough brain cells to speak a longer sentence. "I don't think I ever got your name, mind sharing it while we have some free time?"

"Oh, well, I mean I guess it wouldn't hurt. Names Rainbow Crescent." She said casually, sitting on her haunches to watch the entrance a little better, allowing Blaze to return his attention to opening the door. He heard a click, though it wasn't the click he wanted to hear. This was the click of an advanced lock reengaging the previous pins if a later one was pushed too hard. "Damnit!"

He sighed in defeat, ready to take significantly longer on this that he would have liked, and settled into a more comfortable position to deal with what was going to be a rather annoying door to pick. He had gotten the first two of what felt to be about eight or nine pins done when he heard Vex curse under her breath. He spared a quick glance her way, only to see her tongue stuck out of the side of her muzzle in concentration, her eyes staring intently down at the lock her hooves were fiddling with. He chuckled to himself before returning to his work once more.

After several minutes of a definite lack of success, both Blaze and Vex were feeling pretty displeased with their progress, or lack thereof. Vex had nearly locked her end out when the pick cracked down the middle, and she had paused just enough to pull it out and replace it with another one. Blaze just sighed, knowing that one slip up and he could ruin this entire thing for them, not to mention that it would be a bit of a bitch for anypony to ever get into this thing again. He focused everything he had on getting this right, and after several more minutes of hard work, minutes filled with Rainbow Crescent constantly shifting around in anxiety over the potential of being caught before they even broke into the damn thing. Eventually, Blaze had to pause what he was doing to face the rainbow-maned shifting pegasus.

"Rainbow Crescent, we will be fine. You don't have to worry about this, because if Luna had really gone to get reinforcements, they would have arrived a very long time ago. This castle isn't that big, and we have been down here for a significant amount of time, more than long enough for them to show up. Take that as proof that we are going to be fine." He finished with a sigh, and without giving her the chance to respond to him with more negativity, he turned back to cracking the lock.

"I guess so. . ." Rainbow was still unsure, but she had stopped shifting her weight around, and the sudden stillness was very welcomed by Blaze, who now had one less thing to distract him from what he needed to do. And within a minute, he heard a very satisfying click, and the lock within the door slowly slid back from between the doors, hiding in the compartment in the right steel blockade. He turned to Vex, who's own smile was slowly replacing her look of utter concentration as she slid the last pin into place. With an _extremely_ satisfying click and slide, the final barrier began to release itself from the situation, granting access to the determined thieves. Those thieves were equally excited for finally getting somewhere with the heist, but even more so because they had already gotten this far, and things showed no sign of letting up anytime soon. Not that any of them were willing to risk thinking that for fear of ruining what luck they had going for them. It was more of the subconscious reveling in finally having this get a move on.

Blaze and Vex exchanged excited looks, watching in awe as the steel beams slowly made the door accessible to them. Once the doors were finally free and individualized, they each took their respective doors and began to gently apply pressure to open them wide enough to slip in. The steel doors they had been working on for about ten minutes had, in style of holding treasures within, been plated in thin coats of gold. Only to flaunt the wealth that was accumulating behind the thick steel that was normally under guard. While Blaze was sure to break down about the loss of solid soldiers later, right now he was under obligation of honor to stay composed until the job was done. And the door that was so flaunting of wealth was hardly even a preview for the wealth being hoarded within the castle vaults.

As soon as the doors had swung open wide enough for the three ponies standing before them to slip in side by side, they had all let out a collective gasp in surprise. Standing in front of them was a literal treasure trove of gold, silver, priceless gemstones, artifacts from before the time of the Princesses, even some items that Blaze had no idea what they would even be seen as.

They each took a single step towards what had to be the wealth of several adult dragons all crammed together underneath what had to be the poorest city in Equestria at the time. Blaze couldn't believe his eyes, all this time, the citizens of the city were struggling to make it alive, and that they had been starving, freezing in the winter or drowning in autumn. All this time, and the Princesses had stockpiled this much wealth?! "Okay. What the actual buck is all this bucking gold doing just sitting around here?"

"Yeah, I'll say, this much gold, we could have afforded to get the creed outfitted with a bucking castle of our own!" Vex said, then her thoughts turned from their briefest moment of the closest she had probably ever gotten of selfless thinking, and then her mind turned to what she could afford with this much loot. She could buy out a small town, if only she had a way to carry it all out. "Alright, ponies! Let's stuff everything we can from this shitload of gold, and then make our break out of here!"

The other two were all too happy to comply, neither of them having seen this much gold in one place at a single time. To Blaze, this was like he had stumbled across the wealth of an entire nation, but not only any nation, he could have mistaken this for the wealth of the Dragons. He lunged forward, leaping for whatever he thought would make it very valuable turn in the black markets, though he made sure to grab a large portion of actual bits too. Golden necklaces would only pay for so much. As he was diving around looking at various items that he could sell, he remembered what it was that they had originally come to grab. He cleared his throat, hoping to get the attention of the mares in the room, though he knew that right now, he had to compete with the gold, no easy task for any stallion after the attention of a mare.

"Hey girls, remember to only grab from the merchant's stock, it's why we are here, and we shouldn't get too far carried away. I'm sure Al would be pissed if we stole shit from any of the other clients that support the creed with whatever is all stored here." He said, though he had the sneaking suspicion that he wasn't being paid any attention to. "GIRLS!"

The two stopped literally swimming in a pool's worth of gold to stare at the stallion that had raised his voice to get them back to reality. Vex had a massive golden crown depicting a beautiful Sphinx on the head with rubies as the eyes and moonstones along the ring atop her head, while she had on at least a dozen necklaces draped over her neck, many lazily rolling over her black leather chest-piece. Rainbow on the other hoof had been filling a large, _solid sapphire cup_ with as many bits and golden trinkets as she could fit in it. She also bore jewelry, though she only had a few necklaces draped over the backside of her head, which was covering her face once more. Atop her head, above the hood, rested a simple silver circlet that bore a single gemstone of each type known to pony-kind.

"Good, now do either of you remember why we were here in the first place?" He asked impatiently, hoping that they could get this over with and get out as soon as possible. He was getting a nervous tick in the bottom of his stomach and he wanted to be as far away from the castle as possible. The two mares took a moment to share a look between themselves, then returned their blank gazes back to him, making him sigh in frustration. "Seriously? We've been at the castle for like, maybe an hour, and you've already forgotten the whole bucking reason we came here?!"

"Sorry, kid, but you obviously have no idea what gold can do to a mare's head when is large enough amounts." Rainbow answered, returning to her scavenger hunt for the most lucrative of items to add to her rising collection.

She and vex were moving through piles, heaps and stacks if gold, jewels, fine fabrics, and just about anything that a pony could consider of high value. Blaze shook his head in discontent, knowing that greed was not exclusive to just dragons, as these two mares here were sifting through the treasures to find only the best items to steal. Blaze wanted to get them to stop, but right as he was about to tell them to get out of the mounds of wealth, something caught his attention. He turned his head to the side, glancing at a gold-framed painting that sat on the wall off to the side. It wasn't the richly decorated gold frame that caught his attention, but it was the beautiful painting within.

Blaze figured he could spare half a second to investigate the painting, and he took two steps over to it, eyes scanning the painting for every detail they could catch. What he looked at was an old oil painting of Celestia and Luna, the sisters standing next to each other, looking at the viewer with what Blaze could only assume was a sophisticated smile reserved for the elitist of the highest social standings. The sisters had their manes done up in what he would guess was some style at the time, though what caught his eyes was that neither of them had their typical flowing aspect to their manes. Celestia's was just a bright pink, shorter than he would have ever expected it to be, while Luna's mane was curled up and a bright baby blue, contrasting to the darker shades of her coat.

Blaze looked at the sisters, wondering just when this painting had to have been done, as the edges, while still in fine condition, were showing signs of wear. The fact that the sisters appeared visibly younger begged the question of just when they would have had something like this made, especially since they lacked their 'Princess' appearance.

He had to shake his head, having spent more than enough time looking at an old painting, and while he was curious about the questions this painting raised, he had more important things to do. He turned from the oil painting and began walking back to the mares, who were throwing various items at each other's heaps like a couple of fillies. He called to get their attention, but they seemed intent of making the other receive a particular golden vase with sapphire gemstones around the lip. He watched in mild annoyance as they tossed it back and forth, giggling like mad. He would have made fun of them for it, but he was suddenly reminded that they had shit to do, and no time to do it.

He tried once more, calling out to the mares to get their attention, and he succeeded, if only for a moment as Vex took the vase and tossed it at him. He lazily dodged to the side, but when he looked back at her, she had returned to stuffing every expensive item she could into her pouches. His annoyed frown turned into an annoyed glare as he stared at the mares acting like foals, and then he decided that they had had enough fun in the gold.

"Alright, that is IT! Listen up you two! We came here for a specific job, and I'm not going to stand around waiting for you two to finish being prissy little nags and trying to steal loot we didn't come here to steal. It's not like we could even carry everything you all have already. I don't know if you also forgot this too, but we are still supposed to sneak out of her, remember? We are bucking trespassing, and the more time we waste lollygagging around, the sooner a guard patrol is going to pay this place a visit, see six bodies outside, and rush in here to investigate!" Blaze took a moment to breath, knowing that passing out at a time like this would only lead to disaster for the lot of them. Once he had his breathing under control, he opened his eyes to see both mares returning their stolen items back to the places they stole them from. "Now, I want to apologize for shouting, but I needed to get your attention. Now that I have it, can we please just go over what it is exactly that we are stealing from the merchants while we have time. Al said that he wanted me to be in here for less than three minutes, and it's already been six, so the sooner we loot this place, the sooner we can be done with this shit and out of here with the goods."

"Right, the merchants." Vex said, reaching her muzzle behind to her fish through one of the small satchels strapped to her side, just underneath her wing. She grabbed something in her jaw and walked over to Blaze offering him the scroll, while Rainbow walked over to the pair to see what they needed to grab. "And why are you still here, Rainbow? I thought your job was to watch our backs."

"It was, but with nothing interesting happening, I figured I might as well enjoy the fun, and maybe snag an item or two for my own personal collection." She added with a wink, then the pair looked at Blaze who had read the scroll and was now looking for the location described to him in the letter.

"Instructions say to grab whatever we could that belonged to the merchants, and we'd know which shit was theirs because they paid for it to be stored in a separate area of the vault, apparently some sort of back room or some shit like that. Either way, let's get to it." The three split and began combing the walls, looking for anything that may seem out of place, until Rainbow called from the back, and when they all met up, it was indeed a small back room. The door wasn't locked, which was a little surprising, but other than that, the room was about as full as it was going to be, so maybe the movers still had some shit to fill the room with, but had no room left to do so. The three agreed to just grab whatever looked valuable to them, and began loading as many pockets full of items that they could, though Rainbow mostly stuck with bits. Something she knew she could carry quite a few of without attracting too much attention.

"Good, now that all that shit is taken care of, how about we just head the buck out of here before it's too late?" He asked as they each had removed a few of the non-essential items from their own bags to make room for more loot to carry. Blaze had dropped some candy he still had no clue why it was in there, along with a knife that he had no use of, and some rope that again, he had no use for. Vex had cleared out most of her throwing knives, opting to strap them around a belt across her chest, just adding another to the multitude already there. She had insisted on grabbing as many golden trinkets as she could, knowing that the noise might be a bit cumbersome, but the payoff would be so worth it. Rainbow had two pockets full of bits, and a couple necklaces strung about her neck. She also had several golden watches thrown in a small pack at her waist.

They all nodded, and Blaze turned to lead them out of the maze of gold and wealth piled around them. And so bad was the urge Blaze had to rob this place of everything it had, and to give it to every shelter and home he could, only to make ponies' lives that much better. A hoofful of bits, maybe some nice jewelry for a dowry for a family with a daughter. He knew he could make so many ponies happy, to make so many of them less miserable, all by just giving a small portion of the gold stockpiled here.

Blaze was nearing the entrance to the vault, his head feeling lighter by the minute, his heart pounding at the prospect of getting this payload of gold to the creed, and then to take home his share and buy the whole community some nice treats. He was nearly prancing with how excited he was, though the act was not lost on the two mares following him.

"Getting a little excited, eh there kid?" Vex asked, chuckling as Blaze realized what he was doing and promptly stopped, though he still had a little pep in his step from the thoughts racing through his mind nearly as fast as anything he could ever think of. Faster than a blizzard, than a racing dragon, faster than he himself has ever flown. "No need to calm down, kid. We got all this shit, and when we get back, we are going to split it, take home what's ours, and have great times, am I right?"

"Buck yeah! Oh, I just can't wait to get what's mine, going to buy the whole lot of the guys back home something nice, and tomorrow, I think I might take some time off and come home early to spend the rest of the day with the guys, been too long since I last hung out with any of them. Especially some ponies that I kind of need to have a conversation with." Blaze said as he turned around a bend, the steel doors now in sight, though the idea of speaking with Scaled Equilibrium made him think about the conversations he still needed to have with these two. "And speaking of conversations, don't think I haven't forgotten the ones we are going to have about your merciless attitudes. I can excuse this time as situational, but if I ever have to see this again, I'm going to be one pissed stallion, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah." Vex grumbled, slightly put off that Blaze had taken the direct approach, it just wasn't the thief style to go directly.

Rainbow had a totally different attitude towards the youngest pegasus' brashness, as it was something that finally struck a nerve with her. "You know kid, you have to have some brains in order to pick locks like those, so it surprises me that you were surprised that I had to do some killing today. I just had to ask: you do realize that killing is in my job description, right? It is literally the main focus of my job, I'm a bucking assassin, which means that I have to kill ponies. Or dragons, or griffons, or any bucking species I'm paid to assassinate. It is something that I cannot avoid in this career."

"Then pick a different career." Blaze said bluntly, not really in the mood to delve into a negative topic: he was having such a great time now that shit was finally ending. He picked up his pace, hoping that they would be able to leave this all behind them, at least the nasty parts until they can start bragging about a job that they pulled off that none had ever dreamed of pulling off before. "You don't have to kill ponies, these guards were just doing their jobs, and it's not like they didn't have lives of their own that they had to go home to after work."

"Dude. If you honestly believe that I chose to be an assassin, you have no bucking clue what life was like before you were born. I realize that I'm not that much older than you, but I was born into this life style, I wasn't given the choice to be what I wanted: I was raised, trained, and made to believe I _was_ an assassin." The confession coming out had halted the trio as they passed the main mound of gold they had seen upon entry, Blaze turning around to look at Rainbow while Vex just stared with a startled look on her face.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry, I didn't know that." He mumbled, looking down as he understood what she meant, the pain of having your own life chosen for you. He didn't like the idea at all, that ponies could just decide what you were going to do for your life; it was almost like they got to decide what your cutie mark was, and that they were the ones going to apply it. "I'm sorry you had to go through that-"

"Spare me your pity, I don't need it. I've accepted this life, it's the only one I have ever known, so even if I wanted to leave right now, there are few skills I have that other employers would use. That's the price us criminals pay for joining the underworld young for the sake of survival. We pay with our futures, in return we have full, lifetime membership until the day we die, or get exiled." She muttered that last phrase under her breath, a painful memory surfacing in her mind, and the mood that was lightening so fast was suddenly crumbled before them. Blaze felt the need to lift their spirits for the sake of having clear minds on the way out, so he cleared his throat to get their attention.

"Fine, I feel bad for you, but if you don't want support, then I'll just keep it to myself. You can always talk to somepony about your problems, and- Never mind. We got shit to do, and while I will pity you, you seemed to have made the best of your life, so we can just move on, okay?" He asked, offering a hoof to the mare, who shook it briefly and pulled her hood back up over her face, concealing her features once again.

"Now, while we have all this loot, and my itching desire to spend some sweet cut money from this job, can we please get a move on?" Vex asked, slightly shifting her weight between each of her sides as she anxiously awaited the two others to have their emotional moment. She was equal parts uncomfortable with the mushy moment that she was sure would pass, as she was never a fan of softy emotions, along with a side of anxiety at the combination of the wealth stuffed into her bags, and the chore to escape that they still had to complete. Blaze and Rainbow shared a look, then nodded in agreement.

The continued their way through the door, though that was about as far as they were bound to get, as standing in front of them, staring at the bodies in mild horror, was none other than Princess Celestia herself. The three froze, stopping at the edge of the door, eyes glued on the princess whose jaw was hanging open at the sight of four dead guards and two unconscious ones. After two seconds of a lack of any heartbeats, Celestia looked up at the thieves, her eyes slightly cloudy and her jaw was still hanging open. Her eyes locked onto Blaze's and he could clearly see her confusion, disgust, fear, and even a sliver of rapidly growing rage. It was the last emotion he had seen, the fires burning her back to life that spurred him to move.

"Rainbow, Vex." He began to order the girls in a tone that left no room for argument, though his eyes never left the princess before them. "Hug the walls and get out of here. Don't forget to tell Al that I'll be just a moment, I've got to deal with this mess here."

The named mares didn't question him, though Vex did cast a glance his way as she tried to squeeze her way around the Princess of the Sun. Unfortunately for both thieves, Celestia's horn lit up bright gold, and the two mares found themselves trapped in her magic grip. They struggled for a moment before the princess dumped them back next to Blaze, her eyes never leaving his, though the fire raging beneath the surface had grown to nearly overwhelming proportions.

"Actually, I want to speak with Blaze Burn about his current position in the Thieves Guild." Celestia said in a distant voice, her pink orbs finally tearing themselves away from the gaze they had locked with the only standing male in the room. "And in order to do so, I think I need to have you two here to inform him of why he needs to leave you all."

"So it is true!" Vex exclaimed, though she was utterly terrified, she was only acting strong because her mind had shut down at the sight of Princess Celestia. She was working on autopilot at the moment. "You do want Blaze for yourself! Well, hate to break it to you, Princess, but Blaze had chosen to stay with us here at the creed, and he plans of staying."

Celestia didn't really respond to the grey pegasus, she only looked down at her with a deathly blank glare that made the smaller mare squeak in fear, huddling closer to the ground. Blaze was brought out of his own stupor when he heard this fearless mare suddenly try to hide behind her hooves like a filly scared of being yelled at by their parents. He looked down at her, then his gaze worked back up to the Princess, conflict and confusion mixing rather well in his mind right then. What he saw suddenly put the pieces together; Princess Celestia looked positively pissed, her left eye was twitching slightly and her gaze was harder than he had ever seen her before. The more he looked at her, the more he came to realize that she could snap at any moment, then violently rip them all limb from limb, and she seemed angry enough to do so. The dread was beginning to rise in his stomach, and he was beginning to think about his life choices leading up to this point.

Celestia turned her gaze to the other mare, and she had to give the assassin some points, as she had stayed her ground, standing tall in the face of a furious Princess. She levelled her eyes, boring down on the murderer, watching as her psyche slowly cracked under the pressure that only royalty like her was able to create. The mare finally submitted, lowering her gaze and taking the smallest of steps backwards, inciting a low growl to emit from the lips of the Princess of the Sun. "Thine group of thieves all come here unto our dwelling, taking the lives of our faithful subjects, try to corrupt young Blaze Burn from a more innocent life style, and dare not to look us in the eyes? Thee shalt have hath at least the guts to stand up for thine's beliefs."

"Princess, let them go, and maybe we can talk about this?" Blaze asked hopeful that he could at least get these two mares out of the situation, unfortunately, his query only brought the hardened glare Celestia had onto himself. He dropped his gaze to avoid being burned by the raging inferno behind her pink irises. When he looked back up when she didn't respond, he was caught very much off guard, as her angry glare had softened into a look of pity.

"You poor thing, to have to had witnessed such mindless brutality, if only you hadn't had to see what these monsters did to those unfortunate souls." She cooed, lowering her head to be eye level with him, stepping forward while reaching a hoof towards him. He watched her golden-shooed hoof extend closer with confusion spreading over his face, until she was nearly touching him. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, he raised his own hoof, which caused a temporary smile to appear on the Princess' face, until he swatted away her extended limb, sending her back onto her four legs. That was when her face dropped into equal confusion as he had been a moment before.

"It's not like I haven't seen death before, Celestia. You forget that most of the city had been suffering from starvation and homelessness before, and we have only just begun to really fix this shithole of a city back up. I've seen countless families loose somepony because of illness or hunger, freeze in the winter or die of heat stroke in the summer because they had no shelter." He said solemnly, reminiscing on the past, and how he had to turn to the creed to provide for Star while he was able to protect the little blue pegasus.

"Oh, my. I'm so sorry, Blaze. I realize that it may have sounded presumptuous of me, to say that you had to see death, but surely you can recognize the difference between starving ponies and needless murder?" Celestia responded rising to her full height as she spared a glance in the direction of the two mares behind Blaze now, the two using the pearl pegasus as a small meat shield in case shit hit the fan once more.

"Of course there is a difference, and I already told these two that we were going to have a nice, long conversation about it when we got out of here, which is something that you are currently preventing us from doing." Blaze turned his attention to the mares behind him for a second, then his gaze returned to Celestia before he spoke up again. "And while I have no desire to see ponies killed for no real purpose, I recognize that in the heat of the moment, sometime choices have to be made in order to follow through with plans the likes of these. Yes, I think that killing these guards was pointless, however, we cannot go back in time, so there is no point worrying over them."

"What of the families? Would you be willing to tell the widows that their husbands died so you could rob some rich family?" Celestia pried, slowly wearing down at Blaze's resistance.

"Well, I like to think that I-" He had to pause, just so he could really think about this, and whether or not he would have been able to tell a wife that her husband had been killed in action. For him, he had rescue in the form of the assassin, Rainbow, stepping up to his side, placing a wing over his side. He turned his eyes to her, finding her offering him a reassuring smile before her expression hardened and she turned to face Celestia.

"What kind of a question is that? I doubt you would be able to go to a fearful widow and drop that kind of news on her!" She pointed a hoof at the Princess, who was smiling on the inside as she was getting to where she wanted them all to be, having Blaze doubting the validity of a sin such as murder. That was the first thing she needed from him, then to drive a wedge between him and them, all by having them justify or defend their murders.

"You seem to enjoy it, seeing as how you are more than willing to kill an innocent guard just for the sake of grabbing some gold for yourself. I know why you are here, assassin, and it is not in your job description to steal from the wealthy, your job is to kill."

"At least the discomfort is back." Blaze muttered, wondering just where in Tartarus he would have to go to get away from this kind of shit. He always knew Celestia was bound to try some shit to get him to commit to her side, but this? He didn't like having his motives questioned, as he was always doing what he had to, nothing more, nothing less. Unfortunately for him, both mares that had been arguing without his attention not only heard him, but also turned to him.

"Blaze Burn, you must understand, there are more important things that you could be doing than stealing wealth from some stuck-up merchants. You could be helping us rebuild this great nation, and to help get everything we need to make the future as bright as my sun for all ponies under our banner." Celestia said, inciting a scoff of disbelief from Rainbow Crescent.

"Oh, come on! You promise the future, when ponies are struggling to get their hooves under them right now. How are you going to provide for those that need it when the wealthy hold all the power, and all you can do is beg them to assist you in your little pet projects?" She said, removing her wing from Blaze's back and walking forward, getting in the Princess' face, pointing a hoof in her chest. "Besides, as we all have already discussed, Blaze doesn't want to see unnecessary deaths whenever he works with us, which won't be a problem because we probably won't be working together much as it is."

"The sad thing is that Blaze hath need to work with vermin like thee from the beginning." Celestia snapped, knocking the blue hoof out of her golden breastplate as she towered over the pegasus before her. "Blaze Burn is the kind of pony that deserves to work with ponies with some moral compass, not rats like thee. Al Capony is nothing but a two-faced liar whose sole desire is to accumulate as much power and wealth as he can, hence why he hath worked with scum murderers like yourself. He lies and cheats all those under him merely for his own gain, and while you all live in relative comfort, he hath a large house with every luxury of those thee steals from."

"What?" Blaze asked, unsure if he heard that correctly. Yes, he knew that Al had a lot of money, it comes with being leader of the creed, however, something about that revelation seemed off to him. "What do you mean he lies and cheats those underneath of him?"

"Oh, that is the least of thine's concern, Blaze Burn. Thou art against violence to any possible extent, yet thee employer hath deceived you from where in which he hath obtained most of his information." Celestia explained, though Blaze had to turn to Vex to see if she was showing any reaction at all to the words coming from the Princess' maw. What he saw was more than he would have ever gotten from Celestia, as Vex's face had gone completely pale, and she was staring at the Princess of the Sun in utter terror. Said princess seemed to notice the reaction, as her cocky grin broke through for half a second before she resumed with a friendly smile as she approached Blaze. He was busy throwing a questioning look at Vex, but when a large white wing suddenly draped over his back, he jumped quite a bit. "It would seem that thine friend is but unable to come to terms with the now common knowledge of her activities with thine leader."

"Vex. What in the wide world is she talking about?" Blaze asked the quivering mess on the ground, and when she didn't respond, he walked out of Celestia's wing and stepped over to his fellow thief. He nudged her with a hoof, and when she still didn't respond, he turned to prying her onto he legs, which she barely managed to stay up, even with legs shaking as if standing during an earthquake. "Vex?"

"Blaze, as much as I would love for us to all get the answers to question we each have, can we please just ignore the Princess and get out of here? I don't know how much time we have before Al assumes we have been captured." Blaze looked up at her, smacking his head against the wall nearest him, remembering that Al had given him specific times that he was supposed to meet, and be out of the castle from, else they would all have to assume the worst. He smacked his head once more to try to remember the time frame they had while also trying to keep track of how much time had passed.

In his sudden epiphany, Vex had climbed to her hooves and was trying to sneak away, though she got about ten steps before Celestia's horn lit up and she found herself dragged back into the circle forming around Blaze. "You know, I have a faint recollection of Al wanting us in the vault for a bucking minute, and out before the shift had changed. So what are the odds our only distraction to flee from the guards are already long gone?"

"All the more reason to stay and finish this discussion we have started so that you may see the error of your friends' ways at that filthy hole of a building you call a guild." Celestia sounded a little smug about herself, and while Blaze wasn't wanting to do her bidding, the very idea made him want to vomit, he had to admit he was curious. "So, what is it to be, young Blaze Burn. Shalt thee stay and finish thine discussion and learn the secrets thine's creed wished be kept from you?"

Blaze let out a sigh, looking to Rainbow for assistance, though she seemed more curious over the interpersonal drama happening to offer any more aid. He guessed she had realized that until they had a good way out of the castle, humoring the Princess was their best shot at staying out of the castle dungeons. Vex was looking at the ground in what he could only guess to be some form of shame, and Celestia still had the smug grin on her face that he didn't like. Still if humoring the Princess got them out, then humor the Princess he shall.

"I guess you could say that you have sparked my curiosity." He said in obviously forced enthusiasm, though Celestia seemed to miss it and beamed in perceived victory as she floated Vex over to him, though the more in magical grip still refused to look up. "Vex? Mind if I ask a question?"

"No, no. You don't have to ask anything." She mumbled, looking up at him, and he saw what he believed to be fear and defeat? He never really saw a whole lot of Vex's facial range, and this side of her was something he was sure nopony had ever seen before, so maybe this was a stress-induced state. She let out a sigh, her face turning into a more familiar form of discontented acceptance, and she began to elaborate on what the Princess of the Sun had accused her and the creed of. "You see, in this line of work, secrets and information that others want hidden are sort of like a special currency. Gold is your key to information, but some information can be spent as a check, getting something far more valuable out of it."

"Okay." Blaze spoke without confidence, unsure as to what she was going with, because it wasn't exactly a state secret that state secrets were in high demand among thieves and the other undesirables that mad up their community.

"Well, because information like that has high value, those that wish to keep secrets make sure to do so, and that usually involves threats of violence or worse to those who leak information. And those types of threats are common amongst the personal guards-for-hire and mercs around. They know that spilling information could end up with a bounty on their heads. That means that there is a high competition amongst the bidders between who is willing to pay to most to own somepony's lips long enough to contain a secret or to earn the right to hear it. That is where we come in, Blaze. Some information we have, such as the basement and the tunnels under the city, are privy to few, because we have to maintain a level of secrecy else we get more and more ponies trying to go to the city guard to find our base and raid it to permanently seal the tunnels. We would have a mass panic on out hooves if word spread about that sort of thing."

"Oh, please remain silent on thine subject." Celestia _whined_. "Thou art not the only ones who hath to hide information from the public to prevent mass panic in regards to the tunnels beneath the city. Mine dearest sister and I hath withheld any discussions of them to keep the citizens happy, and thee hath not any idea how difficult it hath been with current renovations to the city. But we stray from our original discourse."

"Please." Blaze had to close his eyes to keep himself from getting a headache, though he felt one coming on. "Can we please keep hostility out of this for as long as it takes for us to clear this shit out?"

"Very well. As I was saying before being rudely interrupted," Vex shot a quick, fearfully defiant glare at Celestia, then she looked back at Blaze with even more resignation in her tone. "We had to hold information, and we aren't the only ones to ever do so, and that is the other major problem we usually run into. Whenever we get a job, we want to know as much as possible, hence sending you to scout the castle today an extra time. We had enough information to pull the job off, but we wanted to have everything we could before barging in. Well, wow I really didn't think I'd be the one to have to explain our extra activities with you. Okay, here it goes. Kid, in order to get everything we could for this job, we had to interrogate a couple of ponies about the locations of various posts and the location of the vault itself. We have contacts, yes. But sometimes we can't get to them, or they usually have little information to offer, those useless pricks don't usually expect to stay within the business for very long."

"Where are you going with this, Vex? Interrogations aren't that big of a deal." Blaze asked, his hoof rubbing the side of his head as he felt that there was going to be more to this story than he even cared to know.

"If thou would let her finish, thee would understand that their 'interrogations' don't just consist of asking polite questions." Celestia muttered under her breath, intentionally loud enough for the three others to hear. Blaze stared her down for a moment, then her turned to let his fellow thief finish her explanation, his headache not going to go away until he was out of this situation.

"When we interrogate somepony, Blaze, we don't just ask questions, as Celestia is so happy to say. We make sure they know we mean business, and that we are going to get answers from them one way or another." As she finished the final sentence, she bit her lip, hoping that there wouldn't be too terrible of a whiplash from this revelation for the kid. She didn't look down at the ground, though, she just sat there on her haunches, looking at Blaze with a pleasing look in her eyes. She deeply hoped he wouldn't give into the Princess' desire to have him on her side, as he was so close to the creed. Having him leave them, it wasn't going to be terrible, but the kid had some skill that was very useful to the group of thieves, and losing him would make a noticeable difference in their success. She used that as motivation to stop herself from revealing anything else about her activities with the Blackguard in the prison block underneath the warehouse, because she knew that that was all she would have to say to push him to the Princess' side.

Blaze looked at her, though his eyes rested upon her, his gaze was drifting beyond, staring into space as he thought about the methods of interrogation, if he could still call it that. After a brief moment he decided that he needed to understand exactly what she was saying about the subject. "How much torture did you use to get information from ponies?"

"What?" Vex blinked for a moment, having expected some kind of outburst from the young Blackguard, while hoping he would show compassion and understanding. What she was not expecting, was him to be curious, or at least she thought he was being curious, it may have just been him trying to process what the buck was changing around him.

"How many ponies have you tortured to get information about jobs like this?" He repeated, his tone neither welcoming nor repulsed, but there was an icy chill in the lack of emotion, as if he was merely speaking words from a distance.

"Oh, well, uh. I don't know how many the creed has, but I've seen a few. Maybe a dozen or so that resisted enough to get Al's attention and have him force the information out of them." As she revealed the numbers, Blaze's face fell, his mind racing at the thought of all those ponies being beaten and abused, all for some sick kind of greed. Vex was starting to panic, because she was getting the picture that if Blaze turned on them right then, Celestia was going to be more than happy to imprison her. Vex didn't want to go to jail, she was so young, she still had so much to live for, so many places to rob, and so much wealth waiting for her back at her home. "But most of them lived!"

"Most?" Blaze's voice dipped from emotionally lacking cold, to the edgy ice cold that Vex had only heard from Al once, and that was when he was furious. She stepped away from Blaze, Rainbow doing the same, while even Celestia seemed a little worried about what was going on. Vex tried to explain her way out of this, but her jaw wouldn't stop trembling, so she only did what she could do, which was nod furiously as she backed herself into a corner.

Blaze glared down at Vex, feeling bile rising in his throat, but he swallowed it down, forcing his burning neck to lower to the ground as he approached the trembling mare. He hated that they had killed guards, here, but he was willing to move past it as long as he established some ground rules with his partners. He was a little disturbed by the fact that they had tortured ponies, and he knew that was something he wasn't able to forgive the creed for, but he was willing to work them into stopping it. He knew there were other ways of getting information from ponies, and beating them into submission wasn't the only option. But this: them killing prisoners in their search for knowledge? Blaze would not align himself with thieves who stole from the needy, who were willing to kill an innocent, or kill prisoners once they had outlived their usefulness. He was not going to just sit around and let them behave like they lived under Discord's rule, chaos and violence the name of the game.

He paused in front of the pegasus, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath to center his thoughts. He hadn't known anypony to leave the creed behind, but with what he had, he desired no part of them. He just needed to get this one last job done and over with, then he would collect his pay from them and move on. He opened his eyes to see that Vex he collected some of her lost ego, standing tall again in front of him, looking down at him with eyes that still betrayed her fear of him. He reached forwards and grabbed her hoof, pulling her back towards the stairs. "Rainbow, let's go. We've been in here for too long as it is."

The three mares all sputtered at the same time, having seen looking like he was just an inch away from killing somepony. Rainbow Crescent and Celestia all shook their head, trying to make sure they weren't delusional, turning to each other in equally bewildered shock.

"Woah, hold on there, kid! After everything that just bucking happened, all you are going to do is say one word, think it over for a second and decide to keep trooping on? We had a long ass conversation because you didn't like us killing a few guards in combat, but you are more than happy to move past a dozen tortured to death ponies being kept secret from you?" Rainbow dived in front of Blaze, halting him from advancing any further away from the vault, sticking their faces right next to each other so she could stare into his eyes and make sure he wasn't insane all of a sudden. Blaze blinked back at the sudden intrusion, but recovered enough to back away and look at her with raised eyebrows in the universal _'Really?'_ look.

"We shalt concur with the assassin on this topic, it shalt seem rather strange that thee would act this way towards a revelation of this magnitude." Celestia said, though she opted with not moving from her spot.

"No, I am not just moving passed this, because I don't know how any of you could live with this kind of knowledge. I saw you two kill a total of one, two, three. . ." Blaze had to pause mid-sentence so he could remember exactly how many lives had been taken by these two mares just this night. "six guards tonight you two. How the buck you sleep at night is beyond me, so no; I'm not just going to shrug this off as part of the job. You can do that, Rainbow, as it is literally your job to kill ponies, but us thieves prefer to keep our blades clean unless we have no other choice, and don't you give me that shit that there was no other choice. You could have easily knocked them out, I did."

"So, where the hay are you going then?" Rainbow retorted, hoping to drive him away from the repeated topic of murder, as she was done with hearing him complain.

"I'm going to take you and Vex back to the creed, we are going to complete this bucking mission, and you get sent on your way. Vex and I get our checks, I say my goodbyes to the creed, and then I'm done." He answered with an air of finality that made it difficult to argue with, not that that was going to stop Vex from trying. She may have only really cared about the money, but this was something that she felt she needed to intervene with. If Blaze left the creed, there were going to be quite a few issues that the group would have to resolve about his knowledge of what they were doing.

"Blaze, you can't just give up on us like that! Think of all the shit we've been through, and what you've contributed to us." She said, finally getting her hoof back and rubbing it to get the blood flowing through the limb once more. "Kid, you've done some crazy shit for us, and I know that we have always done what we could to make you feel like part of the family. How are you going to just leave a family like this?"

"Family? Are you really trying to tell me we are a family? Listen to me, and listen good, because I'm only going to say this once: Family doesn't lie to each other, family trust each other, and family is cares enough to let the other know when they've gone too far. I don't even have to tell you when you've gone too far, because you never followed limits as it was." Blaze began angrily, though by the end he just sounded more exhausted than anything, and he had to turn to look completely at Vex as she stared at him with panicked eyes. "We are not a family, because you never cared, nor trusted me enough to tell me your sins, and the final thing: We are not family because I would never dare relate to anypony who would take a life so mercilessly, over something like information about money. Greed is your sin, selfishness and desire your means of obtaining that sin. Now let's go, I'm done sitting around here with murderers and ponies who pretend to care about my opinions, only to use me for their own goals."

"Blaze, wait!" Vex called as he gave her hoof another pull, trying to make her move so they could make their escape. "Even if we wanted to get out, we have no way of knowing what the buck is outside, we'll be captured for sure. Blaze! You're not listening, are you? Blaze!"

Blaze had heard her, but he was just so tired of dealing with them, and at that point, all he cared about was getting his cut and leaving. He wanted to go home, rest on his bed, and sleep for a week, though he wasn't thrilled about dealing with the fallout of his actions the night before this one. He pulled her once more, and she finally relented, starting to head towards the stairs, though Rainbow halted her with a hoof on her side, the pair still looking at back at him. Though when he focused his attention on them, he saw that they were gazing behind him, at the Princess in the hall he had already forgotten about. He sighed and turned to her, wondering just what he was going to have to do to get her off his case.

"Are you sure you are okay?" She asked, her tone tender and caring, though Blaze felt that it was more forced because of his sudden outburst. He looked at her, her pink eyes showing what he could only guess was genuine concern, though he had only seen such from Star, the old guy at home, and Scaled Equilibrium, so he wasn't too sure.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm done with this shit, and I'm going to collect my pay, head home, and rest for as long as I can." He answered, feeling strangely numb after his energetic night. This was going on for far longer than he had expected, and calling it a night sounded better by the minute.

"If you truly desire to leave the creed, does that mean you have considered my offer of joining mine or my sisters' soldiers?" Blaze blinked, as he thought he heard a hint of distaste in her voice, but it was gone before he could confirm. He looked at her for a moment, trying to think about why she would think to ask that, at such a time, she wanted him to join her even when he- He had to take a moment to breathe before he could come up with an answer, and as the silence blanketed over them, Rainbow and Vex leaned in closer to see his reaction.

After carefully choosing his words, he inhaled so that he could grace them with his decision, something he was unsure how they would take it, especially Vex as she was still grasping his plan to leave.

"Princess Celestia, you come to me to ask me to join the royal guard, more so protectors of the throne than the city guard, correct?" He began, his gaze landing even on the named princess, who had a smile creeping onto her maw from his choice of words. She nodded once, answering that she would _love_ to have him being her guard. "Very well, if I were to take up such a position, I'm sure it would have been an honor to guard such an important pony in Equestria. Be that as it may, I'm afraid I must refuse your offer once more."

That got a surprised yelp from the Princess, who had been so sure he was finally giving into her side after she had revealed his creed's activities to him. But what came next only added to the shock was reeling in. "I wouldn't have accepted before tonight, but I'm sure as Tartarus not going to accept the position now. Not only have you been waiting for a moment like this to tell the big secret to me, which is something that you really shouldn't be keeping a secret, but then there is the fact that you thought to use a crime organization's crimes to coerce me to your side. You desired to use this information only to convince me that you are in the right, and that somehow you would be able to fix these wrongs, yet here you stand, the dead before you because you allowed them to die.

"Princess Celestia, you allowed ponies to die, just so you could try to convince me that you are a holy crusader desiring to bring ponies like those in the creed to justice. You are killing ponies by not doing anything to stop murderers from killing them, so to think that you can blame the creed for all this wrong." Blaze had to shake his head, trying to stop the fire that was reignited within his heart. "No, Celestia, I want nothing to do with ponies who know that ponies die, yet does nothing about it."

Without sparing any more words, Blaze turned and marched Vex and Rainbow out of the hallway, up the stairs, and through an empty hallway towards the servant door. Both mares couldn't help but stare into space, mostly surprised the Blaze would think of something like that on the spot. Just before he could open the door to escape, they heard hoofsteps behind them, and they turned to see who was approaching. It was Celestia, her face blank as she got closer.

"Damnit." He muttered under his breath as he looked back at the door that was barely cracked open, revealing a dark cobblestone path between the castle and the nearest buildings. The torchlight from inside was shining through several of the windows and illuminating the near sides of the buildings. "You two head on out, take the loot back to the creed, tell them that I'll be on my way, I'll be just a moment, but I don't want you two to get caught. Okay?"

He didn't let them answer, as he shoved them out of the door, closing it before they could resist, and turned to see Celestia getting even closer. He inhaled, holding his breath for a second before letting it out and moving to meet the Princess in the middle.

"Blaze Burn, I fear that you may not have received the message that I was attempting to give you, so please allow me to clarify my position." She said as soon as the two had come within polite speaking distance, though Blaze had halted the moment her words left her mouth. She was so inclined, and had kept walking until the two were side by side, then she turned around, and wrapped her wing over his back, pulling him into her side. Blaze weakly tried to resist, though he was hesitant to admit that he did enjoy the warmth spreading between them. Blaze shuffled his wings, feeling the cloak between his back and her wing begin to clump up as her wing gently applied more and more pressure. He had to shuffle his back once more before he had it settled into a comfortable position. Celestia waited patiently for him to get comfortable before she pulled him with her wing and the two began to walk slowly down the hall.

As soon as they started to walk, Blaze felt his cloak really begin to scrunch up, so he did the first thing that he thought of. He waited until Celestia was mid-step, then he ducked out of her wing, sidestepping so to avoid getting stuck under her wing again. As soon as he had straightened himself out, he looked at her, while she stared at him with confusion making itself the dominant emotion on her face. He rolled his shoulders, letting the cloak fall back to its full length as an answer for himself.

"You were explaining." He said, trying to get her to continue with her explanation, because while he didn't really want to be here, he was trying to be nice enough that she didn't throw him in the dungeons. Not that he really believed she would do that.

"Right, well. I wish to clarify because you seemed to believe that I intentionally ignore the crimes that your employer, Al Capony commits. Well, the truth is far more complicated than that, because you see, there are a great many issues that my sister and I must attend to during our working time. We get very little sleep, and we are constantly worrying about what to do to repair this broken nation. Because of the multitude of large issues we work with, we have very little time to investigate crimes on smaller scales in the nation." She said as they continued down the hall, passed the corner and heading towards what Blaze assumed to be the kitchens. "Due to smaller issues becoming more and more common, we have had to put more guards into city policing. The problem with that is we can't send all our guards to patrol the streets, and we have so few guards as it is. Al can get away with his crimes because I need him to help regulate any other criminals on the streets, which is why he does as he pleases. He had immunity from anything I can do, because it is him and whatever he does that helps to keep other crime at a minimum whenever the guards are unable to assist."

"So, you had to make a deal with a criminal to stop other criminals from becoming more of a threat?" Blaze asked to clarify, wondering just why the adult life seemed to get more and more complicated the more he grew up.

"Precisely, though I had thought that by employing a pony like you, we would have been able to either have special guards capable of more abuse than others, or that I could have you training more guards as well, increasing the number of guards we have to use. It seems that in my attempt to protect the city in the short run, I had ruined its chances of protection over longer periods of time." She sighed, the pair finally reaching their destination: the kitchens. Celestia led her way in, heading directly to where a couple of chefs stood at a counter, rolling dough on the flour-encrusted counters. "Chefs, have thee any meals prepared for a mare hungry late at night?"

The ponies leapt into the air at the sudden sound of her voice, not at all expecting to see or hear from the day princess at this hour. They spun around to see her looking at them with an amused look on her face, and they quickly bowed, the larger of the two nodding at her request. Underneath his chef's hat and cooking apron was a bright pink coat of fur, and rolling from underneath his hat was an equally bright pink mane. He stood and quickly trotted over to a nearby pantry, pulling out a questionably fresh apple pie, the steam still rolling from the slice in the top. He bounded over to the Princess, offering it just underneath her muzzle, to which she blinked in surprise until the aroma from the pie drifted into her nostrils. Once the sweet scent of apple pie invaded her nose, her muzzle began to drool slightly, and her stomach made it common knowledge that it demanded an immediate sacrifice.

"We must apologize, Blaze Burn, but we hath not eaten since sometime around noon. We trust thee hath capabilities to find thine's way out of the castle?" He nodded. "Excellent, we shalt see thee soon for a more formal conversation, and we bid thee a restful night, of which we must get to ourselves. We hath a busy day on the morrow."

Blaze nodded and left, hearing the gasps from behind him, most likely the chefs surprised by his lack of bowing in respect to the Princess. He shrugged, not really caring about what they thought, and made his way to the servant door.

Outside, he could see the patrols of guards around the castle, all unaware to his presence, though he wanted to make sure that that was not the case for much longer. He crouched low, flaring his wings wide open as he adjusted the saddlebags on his back, his cloak sliding into a thin strip between his white feathered wings. He shook his back, settling the cloak into a position it would hold as he sped away, while he made sure the bags of loot were indeed secured to his back. The last thing he really wanted was during the flight, having the saddlebags open and his loot falling to the ground.

Happy that he was not going to lose anything during his sudden departure or games with the guards, he leaped into the air. With a very loud pump of his wings, he was rocketing skywards, his thief clothing doing a decent job at hiding his pearl chest and back, though his wings and legs were still doing an excellent job at making him visible in the night sky. His speed proved useful for him, however, as by the time the air patrols had noticed him, he was already completing a barrel roll above them and flying towards the city. He heard them shout at him as he shot passed, but their words were lost to him as he took a dive to avoid colliding with an incoming pegasus guard, one who hadn't noticed him yet. Flaring his wings again to level out, Blaze heard the distinct sound of wings separating air caught in his ears, and he spared a glance back at the patrol following him. He grinned as he saw a group of five pegasi zoning in on him, and he pulled his wings tight against his body. Almost immediately, he dropped like a fat foal on a seesaw.

The guards did their best to follow him into the streets below, but Blaze's knowledge of the street layout, combined with his ability to quickly turn in air, and he lost them within five minutes.

* * *

 _Author's Later Note: Hey guys, I don't plan on doing this much, but I really need your guys' opinion. I'd appreciate it if you could give me your opinion on the interaction with Celestia. I wanted to replicate the idea that she has a natural ability to turn situations to her favor, but I don't know how I did. If you have any suggestions on how it turned out, feel free to give them to me. I want it to be as perfect as possible, but I just don't have the proper abilities to put into words what I wanted to. Thanks._


	12. 12 Of Scorched Minds

Of Scorched Minds

In the silence of the nearly empty streets, Blaze made his way merrily towards the creed warehouse, enjoying the briefest of moments of happiness before life drug him through the mud once more. He wasn't going to weigh down his heart with anything that had occurred recently, as he wanted to enjoy this moment of bliss before it had to leave. At this point, he was gently gliding through down the main road, heading north towards the market district, the guards having long ago lost his trail. He knew this because from his hiding spot underneath the eaves of an olive garden in a wealthy occupant's back yard, he had saw the group of pegasus take flight back towards the castle, most likely to report to Princess Luna about his intrusion and escape.

Now that he had the city to himself, he was merry about the peace, the gentle quiet that had blanketed over the city. Despite being in the middle of the most chaotic forest in Equestria, possibly the world, even these hard-working ponies had to rest at night before a new dawn.

Blaze landed the moment he crossed into the larger clearing that marked the inside boundary of the market, stalls locked tight and shops closed for the night. He entered the area, naked moonlight shining upon the ground as a full moon rose in the east, giving everything what Blaze thought to be a lovely, ghostly shade of silver. His hoofsteps echoed across the street, the sounds amplified by the lack of any competition, and he couldn't resist the cringe bestowed upon his brow. He knew that there wasn't any need to be quiet, but he felt uneasy with the sound.

He didn't want to fly, however, so he simply shrugged it off and continued on his way back to the creed with his loot. He hoped that Vex and Rainbow Crescent had gotten word that he would be back, because he really didn't want to lose his cut of the loot just because he had to stall so that the other two could get out. Not that he was going to freak out if they didn't save him some bits, he'd be perfectly capable of taking what he had in his saddlebags and call it his cut.

He was mulling over how much he was going to keep, musing over the figures as he trotted down the barren streets, trying to come up with plans for how to save as much as possible. He knew that the community no longer relied on him for total support, though his robberies in the castle kitchens had helped their budget on the food, and he still paid for items if somepony asked. Still, now that he really only needed to grab things from the kitchens every now and then, and with everything falling into place, he was starting to accumulate a large stash of bits that he wasn't sure what to do with just yet. With little sense of urgency, Blaze trotted away, his mind so engrossed in his thoughts that he barely noticed the multiple shadows darting overhead from the taller market shops. He did stop when the hair on the back of his neck began to rise, and he stole a quick glance around the market, noting nothing out of place. He looked up at the rooftops, again without seeing anything strange.

Above him, several pillars of smoke rose idly from chimneys, being carried away by a gentle nighttime breeze, but everything else seemed still. He shrugged thinking it had to just have been his imagination, and carried on his way. He was nearly out of the market region when a faint whistling caught his attention, carried his way by the wind. Even though the city was sleeping, his ears were straining to catch the sound, and before he could register exactly what it was, it was gone. This time he had to stop, looking around the market and wondering just what the buck was happening in there. His senses were firing faster than he would have liked, and his spine was starting to tremble.

He glared at the rooftops, knowing that whatever was hiding in the darkness wished to remain undisturbed. He wasn't going to argue the point, as he felt no need to dirty the already ruined night he was having, and with one final sweeping gaze around the now-silent market, he turned to head to the creed. He had shit to do before calling it in and going home.

Well, he would have made his way to the creed, except standing right in front of him, though much more physical than the last one he had seen, was what appeared to be a tall, living ghost. The creature stood on its hind legs, its front ones dangling at its side while the thing's hooded head bent down to look at him. He stared at the thing blocking his path, standing at a height at least two times taller than himself, maybe even three. The thing was cloaked in all black, or it may have been fur, as the ghost he had seen had worn what looked like tattered clothing. Blaze knew very little about other species, as they had avoided the collapsed Equestria in favor of rebuilding themselves. This, though, this creature was something that Blaze had never even heard of, and his singular experience in the tunnels below had left him with a lack of desire to know more. But now that he was standing in front of one, a creature that was obviously very alive, he was struck by sudden curiosity.

He cocked his head to get a better look at the creature in the pale moonlight, as the black coloring of this thing made it rather difficult to see. It definitely stood on two legs.

'Bipedal.' He thought to himself, taking in as many details as fast as he could, not knowing if he would run into another one of these things again. This one appeared to have a torso seemingly as large as Al, maybe a little wider, though from his angle, he couldn't tell how much mass was behind it. The front legs caught his attention, as they weren't shaped how he would expect legs to be shaped, it was really more like the arms he had seen in some of the apes that stuck to the edge of the Everfree. The appendages at the ends were also simian, something he wasn't sure how comfortable with he was looking at them. His eyes lingered on those things a little long, but he was struck by their strangeness; like little claws at the end of a flat hoof, he had never really taken a look at the grabbers used by apes, as he never had the time, but now that he could see them, or what little he could see, they fascinated him.

He knew for a fact that the creature wore a hood, as the ghost he had seen very much lacked one, those pale blue eyes, glowing in unnatural light, were not visible on this creature. Or maybe it was a trait that was not common, like rainbow manes in ponies, and this creature had different colored eyes, if it had eyes at all. No, Blaze took a moment to peer into the creatures face, it definitely had eyes, he could see the glisten of humor sparkling from within the darkness.

As it was, he had time to observe those eyes for another moment before the creature looked behind him, then suddenly leaped into the air, arm glowing as it used some form of magic to teleport away. He stared at the direction the creature had gone, noticing two others standing on the rooftop of a nearby market, most likely watching the interaction take place. Then they turned and ran down the roofline, completely silent as they made their escape. Blaze was tempted to follow them, but he knew that he had to get back to the creed as soon as he could, so he decided on a quick mental compromise: he took to the air, hovering above the city, and watched the creatures as they disappeared into the shadows of the empty streets as they made their way towards the outer wall. He watched for five minutes after they had taken to the streets below before nodding to himself and gliding the remaining distance to the creed warehouse.

He found himself inside the building, the lack of a body of thieves at the hour meant late-night looting. He settled his wings against his side and began to make his way to Al's desk, though he arrived to see a lack of the head figure of the creed, and decided to try the door. Opening it, he saw the passage that led down into the Blackguard quarters, and he descended into the welcoming grasp of brief darkness going below. The darkness was immediately interrupted by torchlight as he entered the large chamber that served as the housing room for the live-map of the city, nightly patrols doing their rounds highlighted in red, while thieves were blue. Blaze approached the table, though the three he was looking for were not surrounding it. Not that surprising, as the bar at the far end of the chamber was seeing a lot more activity. He turned to head there, seeing the three had was expecting to see: Al, Vex, and Rainbow, though the lack of Door Cracker seemed a little odd.

"Kid, Vex told us you were going to be late, and if I'm going to be completely honest here, I kind of thought Celestia would have had you thrown in the dungeons for what happened tonight. Glad to see you made it back to deliver the goods." Al said as the youngest, and fastest to leave, Blackguard approached the trio of ponies gathered around the little bar with drinks in hoof. "So, what did you manage to grab? Anything good?"

Blaze dumped the contents from his saddlebag, revealing a large portion of bits, some gem-encrusted jewelry, and a few pieces of silverwork that would fetch a good price at the right fence. Al's happiness grew as he ran a quick calculation of the value of the goods while Blaze walked over to the bar, grabbing himself an empty mug and filling it with cider from a barrel. Al walked over to the others with his horn lit and carrying the loot.

"Kid?" He asked to get Blaze's attention as he settled back into his seat with a glass of whiskey being magicked over to himself. "Vex also mentioned that you had something else you wanted to speak to me about, though she's been pretty tight-lipped about it, insisting you should be the one to tell. So, don't keep us all waiting, I'm sure you are all tired and want to go home. Speaking of which, you don't have to stay anymore, Rainbow. Go home and get some rest, I'm sure that creed of yours will want you back in service or whatever soon."

While Blaze took a seat in an empty chair, the rainbow-maned mare made no motion to move, choosing instead to remain glued to her seat so she could watch the drama unfold. Blaze took a gulp of his cider, also waiting to see what the assassin was doing, though as he realized she was here to stay, he turned to Al to answer the request. He took in a deep breath, expecting this to take a turn for the worst, and mentally braced himself for whatever reaction Al may have. "I'm not going to waste any time, so here it is: I want my cut for the job, but this is the last one I'm going to do. I'm done with the creed, Al."

There was a noticeable silence between the ponies in the room as the two males stared each other down; one in confusion, the other in apprehension. Al was at a loss for words, and chose to wait to reply until he had gotten some whiskey down his throat, though the drink offered no clear solutions as to what he had just heard. He set the drink back on the bar, looking at it for a moment to see if he was really drinking it, then turned back to Blaze. "Come again?"

"I'm done with the creed, Al. This job is the last I'll ever do for you guys." Blaze replied curtly, leaning back in his chair as he watched emotions run across Al's face before he could get them under control. Once the unicorn had mastery over his feelings, he looked at the youngest Blackguard, at the pegasus he had tried very hard to keep on his side, to make him money. Now he had lost this competition with the Princesses over his ownership, and Al was going to lose a lot of money, and a valuable asset to the creed. "I didn't want things to turn out this way, and I had to put some thought into whether this was the right choice, but I never really had much of a choice. Now, I don't want to waste anymore of your time, so just give me my cut of the job, and I can be on my way."

"Hold up, there kid." Al had more than one thing going through his skull right then, and he needed a moment to really get a grip on the situation. "What do you mean you're done with the creed?"

"I mean I'm leaving. I'm going to take my cut, then I'm going to walk out those doors and never come back. I will not allow myself to have anything to do with your kind, those that not only steal, lie and cheat, but also the murderers and torturers." Blaze said with an air of finality, standing to signify he was done with the conversation. He nodded to the pile of loot that had been set to one side to be relocated at a later point in time, his desire for a cut set on the bits stacked neatly into piles of twenty. "So how about I just get my pay, and then you all can go back to the black business of yours?"

"Kid, you've been with us for over a year; how is it possible that you would believe that we follow that kind of business? Our creed steals, it's not in our line of work to stain blades." Al replied, trying his best to save whatever he could, at the very least make sure the loot remained under his control.

"Because Vex admitted that you have been more than happy to stain your blade, Al! One of your best thieves has admitted to these crimes, and she also pointed out that you've done it too." Blaze was fed up with this game of cat and mouse, and he was starting to feel the effects of a long day full of stressful situations. He made his way over to the goods he had returned, grabbing two piles of bits with his hooves and shoving them into his saddlebags, taking what he felt was a rightful share of the high-risk job. He had no use for the jewelry, as it was something that he would need a fence to get value out of, so he avoided it, nor did he take all the bits, as he already had money stored, and wasn't going to take more than necessary. Sixty bits was a lot of money for a single stallion to have, especially when prices were relatively low, though he was anticipating a sharp spike in prices in the future. Current times made ponies less demanding of many products, as they still had to get themselves established, but now that they were getting settled in, he knew prices for things would rise.

With saddlebags weighed slightly with his cut, he turned back to the three ponies, looking each in the eye as he made his silent farewells. He nodded to Vex, then turned to the stairs, and left without another word spoken, face stern in resolved strength as he turned away from the thing that had really saved him during his grief at Star's disappearance. He was now leaving the only relatively structured part of his life in favor of being guilt-free from siding with the likes of them. What hurt him the most was that he had done some bonding with Door Cracker over that year, and he wasn't sure if wanted to know whether the earth pony was a part of that.

Still, now that he was on this path, there was no way that he was going to be able to turn back, nor would he want to. He had no incentive to stay, as not even Door Cracker would have been able to placate his need for as much purity as he could hold onto. He left the creed without any further interruptions, for which he was extremely thankful, and he wasted no time in making a beeline home. Rushing as fast as his wings would carry him through the streets, and burdened with enough bits to hold him off for quite a while, he still managed to make it back to the community without losing his breath.

Inside, the smoldering fireplace that had become a staple of the building was still alive enough to reveal three figures sitting, waiting for him to come home. And as if turning a switch, the sound of the door closing made the three ponies around the fire collectively turn their heads to see if it was him. The first between the four ponies to react was Asta, who had leapt out of her seat and dive-tackled Blaze to the ground with a happy squeal. Blaze happily returned the hug, wrapping his forelegs around the filly and giving her a gentle squeeze, while the remaining ponies more sedately stood and walked over to him. Asta gave the pearl pegasus a final squeeze before rising from him to grant him space to stand. He rose to his hooves chuckling the way up, though he had little time to get his balance back, as he found a set of purple legs belonging to a certain Scaled Equilibrium wrapped around him and pulling him into a hug.

He was not used to this sort of treatment, and while he guessed he would have been able to get used to it from the foals, he knew he'd never adjust to a mare like her doing it. He was never really one for physical contact with adults, something his mother's lack of attention had forced him to grow into. Still, he did his best to return the hug, though he couldn't really do it as his legs were struggling to support both himself and the Sage holding him.

After several awkward seconds of Blaze fighting gravity to stay standing, Scaled Equilibrium let him go, and he was able to steady himself for whatever the nameless pegasus had in store. However, he was pleasantly surprised when all he received was a firm hoof shake, something he was grateful for. Greetings aside, he was feeling more than ready to call it a night, though he knew that at least Asta wouldn't relent until he answered some of her questions. He led them to the firepit, them taking seats around him, Asta next to him on the left, with Scaled Equilibrium behind her, and the nameless pegasus on his right.

"So, where were you all day and night?" Asta broke the silence that blaze had been using to think of a way to explain it without freaking them out. As it was, the silence was broken, and he had nothing better than the truth, so he began to detail them with what had occurred. He explained to the three that he had a job to do all day, and then he showed them the pile of bits, which got excited 'ooh's' and 'ah's' from the mare and filly. The eldest pegasus just stared at Blaze with a look that said: ' _big job, huh?_ ' and Blaze could only answer with a nod before he had to go on.

He left out the violence, skipping the majority of the infiltration in favor of telling them about the traps in the castle and how he and Vex had picked the vault locks.

"You shouldn't put yourself in danger like that, Blaze!" Asta had scolded him when he had gone over the traps, especially now that he was able to look back and really examine what had happened during that. He had decided to leave out the dream he had had, as he imagined it would only cause more questions than anything else, but he did go over the scuffle with Luna. Obviously, the adults were concerned that he may have angered a Princess, but Asta was about as excited as she could be. Blaze was sure that in a few minutes, once he had gone over the story, she would remember that it was sometime about midnight, and probably pass out. He figured it was something that foals did; have lots of energy, then somehow lose it all and pass out.

What caught the adult's attention the most was how he described the vault, and the supreme wealth that lay within it. He told them about the piles of gold, describing as much of it as he could though he had to preface it with the fact that he just simply could not do it justice to tell them everything. He tried his best to give them the right idea of it though. "Just imagine four or five dragons' hoards worth of gold and luxury items: that would be about the amount of stuff hidden away."

"Wow." Asta seemed a little broken by this point, and Blaze was a little concerned that his tales of grandeur would rub off on her and she would go out and try to start stealing. He decided to finish his tale and remove any ideas she started to get about it before they got out of control. He told them that he had taken as much as he could, though he didn't let them know about Celestia's visit, nor did he tell them about his leaving the creed, as Asta would have asked questions she didn't need to know about yet. Before he could call it a night, however, he pushed Asta along to head off to bed, and that he needed to speak with the adults for a moment. "But I don't wanna go to bed, I'm not tired!"

"Tell you what, you got to your room, and get ready, and I'll head over there when I'm done here and I'll tell you a bedtime story to make you tired, okay?" He asked, hoping to get her to leave him so he could drop the big news to the two others without little ears hearing him. When Asta's face dropped a little, he was afraid that she would refuse, but before he could follow up with anything, she perked right back up and bounced in place.

"Okay! But it better be a good story!" She said as she bounded away, leaving a little dust trail in her way as she ran down the hallway, leaving the adults to talk as she got ready for bed.

Once the three were sure that she wasn't going to hear anything she shouldn't they turned to face each other, waiting for Blaze to explain what was on his mind. He paused to take a breath, then began with what he was sure would be met with mixed reviews. "So, the reason I have a particularly large cut this time is both because that was a difficult job, and because I'm done. I won't be a part of the creed anymore: I've left them for good. This will be the last cut I get from stealing, and I won't be bringing in any more money until I find a real job."

"That ain't that big of a deal, Blaze Burn. You've done so much for the whole community, though I am very happy that you finally decided to leave those thieves behind." Scaled Equilibrium cooed, placing a gentle hoof on Blaze's shoulder to let him know she supported his decision. The eldest pegasus was in agreement, grunting his approval and leaning back in his chair with a grateful smile.

'So far so good." He thought to himself, trying to figure out how he was going to follow up on his experience.

"Though, if you don't mind me asking, what made you want to leave them? I'm glad you wanted to leave, but you did seem to be thankful for something to take your mind off Star disappearing," She continued, rubbing his shoulder to try to coax the response out of him faster.

Blaze wasn't going to resist, he knew that this was what he needed to get off his chest, and he had the two best options for telling something to right next to him. He took a deep breath, getting ready to tell them the truth about the creed. "Well, that's just the thing. I found out something tonight, during the whole ordeal, when Celestia had forced Vex to talk about the horrible shit the creed has done."

"Wait, Princess Celestia was there, and she confronted you?" The nameless pegasus jumped at Scaled Equilibrium's outburst, equally surprised as her, though he had managed to hold himself together. Blaze flinched, rubbing his ear as the sage apologized for the volume and settled back into her seat for him to explain.

"Yes, Princess Celestia was also there, so I had to deal with both of the Sisters, and yes she did confront us about what happened. Because what really happened was that the other pony sent with us, Rainbow Crescent, is an assassin, and she used her skills to help us get to the vault. I do not approve, and though I did my best to stop her, both of them killed six guards, and that was why Celestia confronted us. Well that and the fact that because of my heritage, she really wants me to be one of her soldiers." Blaze sighed wondering just whether his dreams were going to prove to be reality, or if they were just his imagination of what he could become. He wasn't sure where he wanted to go, but he knew that as long as Celestia allowed criminals like Al to walk freely, he wasn't going to join her.

"Well, then. That isn't very good, now is it?" The nameless pegasus finally spoke up, sounding a little more weary than shocked, though Blaze attributed that to the hour at which they were having this conversation. He expected a full-blown question session tomorrow, now that he had no obligations to attend to immediately. "The part about the killing, I actually think the guard would be a good place for you."

"Yeah, well. I thought the guard might have been a legitimate option, too. But that got ruined once it was explained to me that Celestia was using Al and the creed to stop crime." Blaze sighed, resting his back against the chair, feeling his muscles relax after the very long day he had had.

"What do you mean? So what if Princess Celestia was using some thieves to stop others from tearing this city down in chaos? I'm sure she had perfectly valid reasons for doing so." Scaled Equilibrium countered, her hoof never ceasing to rub his shoulder as he relaxed deeper into his chair. "If Princess Celestia has control over the thieves, then there shouldn't be any issues with other crime organizations trying to start up."

"Yeah, that would make sense, except if you would let me finish, I'd tell you the problem with Al and the creed." Blaze retorted, although the moment the words came out of his mouth he realized that they sounded harder than he intended. He let himself another brief pause to collect his thoughts before he continued, his tone softer this time. "Sorry about that, it has just been a long bucking day, and I'm about ready for bed, but this has to come out. Look, I agree that if the Princesses had control over a crime group, then they would be able to use that group to monitor and eliminate other groups getting up. Yes, they have a lot on their hooves with country rebuilding, and I think they had the right idea. However, what I haven't gotten to yet, is the methods in which Al and the creed have been taking down criminals, as well as how they work their own crimes."

"Don't keep us waiting." The eldest pegasus said, leaning in a little in his excitement over something to finally end the guessing games.

"The problem with the creed, though it may be Al in specific, is that they have resorted to violent means of obtaining information of conformation. Vex had admitted to them performing tortures on prisoners that they held, and not all the prisoners survived. Celestia has been using a group of torturers and murderers to keep her city clean of criminals, and the worst part of it is that all this time, she has been fully aware of what they have been doing." He finally let it out, watching as the pair of ponies let out gasps of surprise, shock, and horror. He nodded to them as they calmed down, feeling his energy rapidly depleting, so he wanted to get this over with. "Celestia has been knowingly using violent criminals in the aid of her own agendas, whatever those may be. So, I'm done with the creed, and I am not considering joining the princesses either. I want to find a normal job, something that I will enjoy, and I will avoid contact with either group for as long as I can."

"But, how are you going to avoid Princess Celestia?" Scaled Equilibrium asked, standing from her seat to stand in front of Blaze, looking him in the eyes for an honest answer. "You said it yourself: She wants you to join her, and from the sounds of it, she doesn't like to take 'no' for an answer. What's your plan to deal with that? And I know that those thieves must have wanted you working for them pretty badly, so I don't imagine they are going to take this departure of your lightly."

"No, the creed is not going to like what I've done, but I am more than willing to deal with thieves as they come, and I will let them see the reasoning behind my actions. As for Celestia; I have no bucking clue what I am going to do about her. Truthfully, I don't think there is much that I actually can do; everything that comes to mind is so easily beaten by her that there aren't any options that I can see." Blaze was ready to go visit Asta, then head back into his bedroom and sleep the rest of the night away. He was also ready to embrace the weird realm of his dreams; in which he was nearly certain he was going to have a surprise visit from a certain Princess of the Night.

Standing, he stretched out his wings, they were feeling slightly restless, despite the busy day, and they asked for constant exercise. Something he guessed had to do with his blood, though he didn't care at the moment, all that was on his mind was getting to Asta, then heading to bed.

He stifled a yawn as he made his way out of the main area, heading towards where Asta slept, until he stopped at the hall entrance, wondering just where to go to see the filly. He had never been to her room, and had only really seen her around whenever he wasn't busy with the creed or helping build the extensions to the warehouse. He turned to Scaled Equilibrium, who was smirking at his dilemma, while the eldest pegasus had already passed out in his chair. "Head to your room, and it'll be the one two doors down to the right of your coming out. On the left."

"Thanks." Blaze muttered as he began to trot to his room, wondering why it was that he had put off trying to find out where everypony's rooms were. He knew that he hadn't always been around, but that was no excuse for his lack of compassion, though he found a little consolation in the fact that these rooms were newly installed. So he was able to push the guilt away, and as he stood in front of the door leading to what he presumed was Asta's room, he mentally checked that he was in a mindset to actually follow through with this. Making sure he was prepared to be as gentle and caring as he could ever be, he nodded once and knocked on the door.

"It's open." Asta's muffled voice called from the other side, erasing a lot of his apprehension and fear of having the wrong door. He turned the nob and pushed the door open, mind blank of any expectations due to the room being newly built, but at the same time was full of expectation of the little filly already having it personalized. He wasn't sure why, but he figured she would have some kinds of decorations from her past all over the room, or at least something she had acquired over the time she had been here.

As he walked in, he was greeted by the best of both expectations, as the room was indeed showing its youth, however Asta had already began to put up a few drawings and other items she cherished. He stole a quick glance around the room, Asta's bed taking up the majority of the space, while a single nightstand stood next to it. Her blankets were simple, just green cotton and a touch of brown spotted in here and there, complimenting her own colors. The frame was modest, enough to hold the mattress and a growing filly on it, while the rest of the room had bare oak plank walls. She had framed a couple of her drawings, each of which were of high quality for her age. He looked closer at the nearest one to him, and was pleasantly surprised. The framed picture was of her, Scaled Equilibrium, Muffin, Sweat Flower, and a few of the other members of the community all sitting in a modest house frame, while himself and the nameless pegasus flew over the house. He stepped closer to appreciate the detail she had put into it, and admired that the drawing resembled life more than just circles and squares: she had actually made somewhat realistic pony figures.

He smiled at the drawing, then turned to see Asta staring at the floor, a blush on her face as he admired her work. He smirked a little, then proceeded to walk over to her, sitting on his flank next the bed.

"So, those were some nice drawings you made there. Do you draw a lot?" He asked kindly, letting his support show as much as possible in his tone, hoping to draw her out of her embarrassment. She looked up at him, a grateful smile on her face, and she shrugged, though the blush remained over her cheeks. "Well, they are very nice, and I think that you should spend more time drawing, it seems to me that you are a natural artist. Who knows, maybe with a little work, you could be the next big artist to have their work showed for generations to come."

She laughed a little, imagining herself being an artist adored in the future. "I like to draw, but I don't want to do it all the time. I like how it lets me put my brain to work, thinking of which colors and shapes should go where, and just drawing ponies is really relaxing."

"You know, Asta: sometimes I forget that you are only a little filly, because you just are so smart and impressive for your age." He wanted to add that despite them bonding quite a bit over the last year, he had yet to learn her age, and he had always been told by other stallions that asking a mare her age was a big 'no, no' around the city. "You are going to grow up and do great things wherever it is you choose to go, be it an artist, a detective, or even a timberwolf tamer!"

"Ha!" Asta barked, before a laughing fit ensued, the filly holding her stomach with her hooves in an attempt to keep the pain away, her wings fluttering against her pillow as she let it out. Blaze chuckled a little, though he personally felt it was a mediocre joke at best, still: if it got her to lighten up he wasn't going to complain. Suddenly, it occurred to him why he had come up here in the first place, so he patiently waited for her to calm down and get her ready for bed. "Funny; a timberwolf tamer. As if."

"Yeah, well, it would definitely be more book-worthy than art, not that there is anything wrong with painting or drawing, just not nearly as cool as taming wild beasts as chaotic as timberwolves." Blaze said, his voice lowering a bit to emphasize he wanted this to be a more relaxing time for her to get to sleep. "So, anyways. Are there any kinds of stories you want to hear for your bedtime story, or should I just find something to put you to sleep to?"

"Well, if I am going to be honest; I never really knew that many stories, my parents didn't really have time to tell me any, though my mom did hum when she rocked me to sleep as a foal." Asta said, her voice growing just a little distant, as if she was trying to recall a distant memory; which wasn't too far off. Eventually, she just gave up, looking back at Blaze and giving him the silent go ahead to give it his best shot.

"Sorry to hear that. I didn't have my mom tell me many bedtime stories either, but I was able to make up a few just to entertain Star when he went to sleep. Wasn't easy, let me tell you." Blaze hummed to himself, trying to think of something that would get a slightly drowsy, partially hyper filly to sleep. He tapped a hoof to his chin, a habit he noticed he was starting to form, and his mind momentarily wandered to think about whether it was going to be a problem in the future. He wrangled in thoughts back to the present, as he tried to scrounge up something that would be suitable for the situation. He put a half minute into the process, before he gave up on the stories he had told Star, as none of them really seemed to be the kind a growing filly would enjoy. Maybe if she was a year or two younger, but that was a year or two too late. "How about I tell you a story about Star and I growing up, I'm sure it would be something to help you get to sleep?"

"Nothing better to tell." She shrugged, though he saw her ears perk up when he mentioned his little brother, so he decided to roll with the spontaneous thought. He was glad that she had accepted it, as he felt that sharing what he and his little brother did growing up would help to ease the constant pain he tried to hide from.

"Well, I guess we can start with the day he got his little blankie, that night-sky and constellations blanket that he has had for most of his life." Blaze smiled as he remembered the day that his mother had actually decided to take off to spend time being what she was supposed to be; a mother.

 _Blaze was standing next to his mother, the buttery mare had a bundle of joy wrapped in a simple cloth wrap. She clutched the tiny Star Burn as they walked through the market, Blaze had been watching the crowd, making sure that none of the ponies around them came anywhere near his little brother, or his mother, who was the only other thing protecting the helpless colt from the cruel world. He had his eyes off of the two for half a second, using his slightly stretched wing to stay in contact with his mother, having no desire to get separated from her protection._

 _Blaze may have always been brave to those that looked at him, he was utterly terrified of the world around him, as were most of the foals at the time. The Everfree Forest was a wild place, and the times were difficult after the Chaos Wars, so he had no desire to leave whatever protection he had until he was sure that he could not only support himself and his little brother, but he could protect them from anything that would try to ruin what little they had._

 _In that brief moment he had his eyes away, he had suddenly felt his mother tear away from him, and with reflexes he never really knew he had at the time, he had whipped his head around to search for her. His panic was short-lived as he saw his mother just a few steps away, reaching with her wings for the small blue pegasus, who had somehow broken free of his constraints and was terrorizing the locals; flying to and fro, just making havoc wherever he went. He smiled as he saw the bundle of adorableness and fluff, mixed with terror and wickedness, hover over a stall of carpets and blankets. In his mad flight around the market, he had garnered numerous glared from various shop-owners, who relented when they realized who was attacking. His mother apologized to the various merchants, dashing after Star as he did his finest to evade capture from an evil tyrant know to him only as 'mother.'_

 _Blaze gave himself a moment of relaxation, glad to see that his brother was enjoying himself, before his instincts kicked in, and he leapt into the air, flying straight for his brother. The blue demon saw the approaching Tiny Knight of Mother, and promptly dived into the nearest cover he could, which just so happened to be a small blanket the depicted the night sky._

 _The quilter merely laughed at the situation, having quite the time seeing a mother and a son trying to get a foal out of one of his wares. While Blaze was also enjoying the game of hide and seek that he and Star had often played at home, he wanted to get home as soon as possible, as he had a project to do._

 _As it was, Star was obstinate in his hiding tactics, and would not leave the blanket, and when the merchant had come to get the foal out of the blanket, Star had clung onto the thing like a little trooper holding his ground for dear life. The crown that had formed around for amusement had a good laugh at the sight of a difficult foal being resistant to movement from his mother. Blaze couldn't really hold back his laughter, because while he did want to go home, it was moments like these that made him love his baby brother all the more so. He watched as Star clutched to the blanket, and he was starting to figure the only way that he was going to get the guy home was if they took the entire blanket with them._

 _Mentioning that to his mother, she sighed in defeat, accepting that the little pegasus had won this round, and walked over to the merchant, who had been kind enough to offer a struggling mother a slight discount for the blanket, stating that it came prebuilt with a foal already inside for safekeeping._

' _You won't ever have to worry about losing the blanket, as if you just wait a few minutes, the foal will wake up and begin to cry. Follow the sounds to the source, and you will have found the blanket.' The merchant had joked as their mother handed over the reduced number of bits to the guy. She had managed to barter an even lower price, something that Blaze was too young to understand the concept of at the time._

 _His mother grabbed the blanket, the pegasus colt still hiding within, and as she walked away, said colt stuck his head out of one end to see why he was moving. His goofy head popped out of the end, tongue rolling to a side as he peered out at Blaze, who stuck his own tongue out at the colt. Star giggled then looked at his mother, who had a smile on her face as they made their way further into the market for a nice day of shopping._

"Yeah, Star never left that thing the entire day, and our mother practically had to pry him out of it at night to be able to change his diaper. We were lucky he hadn't eaten a whole lot that day, and before we went to bed, he was back in the blanket." Blaze chuckled, happy to be able to relive one of his favorite memories with Star. "I still have the blanket, and yes it may be a little worn, but Star loved that thing."

"That's wonderful." Asta had to hold back a yawn, as Blaze's story had been great for her to hear, but she was definitely feeling the effects that he wanted her to feel. The exhaustion was washing over her faster than she would have liked, and she was already drifting in and out of sleep. Maybe it was just that she had been sitting in a single spot for long enough, or that she had finally run out of excitement for the day, but she was ready to sleep. "Well, goodnight, Blaze. I'm feeling. . . a little sleepy."

Blaze smiled as her yawns interrupted her sentence, feeling like collapsing himself, he had taken a nap during the day, but stress does wonders for somepony's sleep schedule if they hold back long enough. He nodded once, rising to his hooves as he prepared to leave, and he was about to turn around, Asta called for him.

"Would you mind tucking me in? Normally Scaled would do it, but since you are already here, and I am sure that she has already gone to bed, would it be too much?" She sounded more timid and shy than he was expecting to hear from her, though the request caught his completely off guard. Something like this, that came right out of nowhere, was not at all what he was ever really prepared to get into. He was at a loss for how to respond, so he took a moment, though Asta seemed to take the hesitation as a bad sign. She sighed sadly and just leaned deeper into her bed, trying to get comfortable.

Blaze saw the look on her face and his trepidation washed away, and he felt the desire to remedy this before it got too far out of hoof. He smiled and walked over to the side of her bed, nodding and reaching a hoof to tuck her in, though it became painfully obvious that he had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Still, Asta didn't bring it up and just happily accepted his attempts at consolation without argument, wiggling into the mattress to get as comfortable as possible. Once he felt she was sufficiently tucked in, he smiled and petted her head with a gentle hoof, then walked out of the door. Pausing with the handle in hoof, he turned to look at the filly, now on the verge of sleep, and sighed. He blew out the candle near the door, casting the room into complete darkness, and whispered to Asta before she could fall to the clutches of the dream realm. "Good night, Asta."

He heard her mumble a response, but it was so incoherent he doubted she was even awake as she muttered it. He closed the door behind him, and as he turned around to head into his own room, he nearly jumped out of his own skin at the sight of Scaled Equilibrium standing inches from him. She had a massive grin on her face, and to him she looked as if she had just won a rather large bet with somepony.

"You are just the sweetest around foals, aren't you?" She cooed as Blaze worked his way around her, trying to head to his room to collect sleep that he was desperately missing right then.

"Eh. I do my best, though it certainly helped that I grew up basically raising Star whenever our mother wasn't available." He responded, stopping to allow the mare to walk side by side with him on the long, arduous journey down the two doors to his room. They had taken a collective quantity of two steps before the purple pony replied to his comment.

"I just know that you are going to make a wonderful father one day." She teased.

Blaze stopped dead in his tracks, though she had seemed to expect this, as she had mirrored him without missing a beat. He stared at her with a mix of confusion and horror, the latter of the two starting to claim more and more of his features as his brain registered exactly what it was that she had said. Once he looked like nothing but a terrified statue of a pony, he had finally begun to accept that those words had indeed exited her mouth He had to shake his head repeatedly, trying his best to deny the words, to turn back time and make them never exist in the first place.

"I am WAY too young to even begin considering foals, Scaled. Way too young, nor do I think I would be that good with foals, because; yes, I may be able to play with them, but I do not have the patience to raise one properly. I can have a good time, maybe be a fun uncle, but a father: never." The words came out as a fast jumble of sounds that he doubted she would have understood, so he took a deep breath, his mind still whirring as fast as his wings would soon carry him. "What exactly brought this up?"

"I just sat there watching how you would handle Asta, and I think that the story you chose was absolutely amazing. I think that that is the reason that you would be a great father one day; you have the protective instincts, the care and compassion, and the sociality to engage a foal properly. If you just give yourself some time to mature, maybe you'd even come to enjoy dealing with the younger ones." She smiled, flicking him on the flank with her tail, making him jump slightly and start to walk once more. "I've always considered trying to have foals, but the responsibilities of ponies in my position don't allow those luxuries."

"Again, I have to ask: what brought it up, though? Yeah sure, I may handle them well enough in short bursts, but to be around one full time? No thanks. I could barely handle Star, and that was only because I also had help from my own mother, who was also _his_ mother. There is just no way that I would be able to deal with a foal of my own, so no: I would not make a good father. End of discussion." Blaze said with his 'end of discussion' tone that he was noticing he was getting progressively better at over the last year. By now they had reached his room, and had stood outside of the closed door. "If there isn't anything else you need from me, I'd really like to get some rest, as it has been one long ass bucking day and I'm about ready to collapse. We can talk about whatever you want to tomorrow, but right now I'm running on the last of my reserves. Good night."

He didn't even wait for her to respond, he just leaned against the door, lazily opening it with a heavy hoof and sliding into the darkened room as he stumbled his way to the bed. He left the door open, casting a faint light into the room, not that he really cared, he was out before his head had hit the pillow, and half his body was resting precariously on the edge, waiting a stray breeze to pull him to the floor.

Scaled Equilibrium sighed, knowing any attempts she made tonight would have been fruitless, but she still had to try. The Spirits had warned her that he was going to be an important part of everypony's lives in the future, and she simply wished to keep him on the right path. She looked in on him, wondering just what the Spirits had in store for the young pegasus, but the fact that he was so exhausted that he couldn't make it to the bed meant that he was going to be _very_ important. She smiled weakly and entered the room, walking right up to the bed. She lifted him from his half-perch and slid him daintily into the center of the bed, keeping him from engaging in an early meeting with the floor. She gave him a gentle nuzzled him, offering him as much positive energy as she could wish his way.

Then, without a word spoke, she walked out of the room, shutting the door in the process to give him time to recover from his nightly escapades. His was a future she hadn't even the courage to imagine, as such that the Spirits themselves were watching over him. It seemed as if she was most definitely living in an interesting time, though she wished that it wasn't terrible on the poor pegasus. His life was difficult enough without supernatural influence.

The mare made her way to her room, planning on having some kind of conversation with at least one Spirit about the Gold Blood's fate. She began whizzing around her room in search of ingredients to brew a small potion to give her supernatural vision to see the Spirits and properly communicate with them.

Once she had everything in her pot mixing together to grant her access to the Spirits, she set everything else to be stored for the night, as this was probably going to end with some things being moved about as they spoke with her, that was assuming they even wished to speak. She had everything in place and safely stored away as the cauldron brew simmered and fizzed. She used a large wooden ladle to scoop out a cup of dark green liquid, she poured it into the inside of a cured gourd. The makeshift drinking vessel having been enchanted to hold any potion.

She brought the magic vegetable to her lips, and the potion went down her gullet in a swift, awful tasting drought. As the last drops of her drink flowed out of the gourd, the remaining potion sitting in the cauldron turned a sickly brown, then began to boil and evaporate away. As the potion took its effect on the mare, her eyes grew wide, the pupils dilating to unnatural proportions, and her body began to tremble. Her head whipped around as she waited for the Spirit or Spirits to appear, knowing that at least one had taken her up on her call.

In her vision, the room had begun to shift colors, various flows of magic, deeper than spells even Celestia or Luna could cast, spilled over the room. The colors would appear disorienting to an untrained eye, but she had been raised by the Zebras, and their culture had trained her to be a Sage. It was her birthright to claim this responsibility, and she had welcomed the right with everything she had. Now, this was where her life had led her, to the Spirits in search of enlightenment, and while it was impossible for a mere pony to truly find such, she was willing to help the rest of the race get closer.

A sudden shift in the aura of the plane of existence alerted her to the appearance of three Spirits, each of whom she was familiar with, yet never knew the names of. No pony she had ever heard of knew the names of any Spirits.

She turned her glazed eyes to see three massive balls of light, two were pale blue, pulsating and irregular intervals, while the third was a deep pink, though the color remained constant. Before her very eyes, the three orbs of raw magical energy shifted into shapes she had come to recognize very well. The far-left blue orb turned into the basic form of a pony, one that lacked any definition beyond the outline of a generic earth pony. The blue hue of the pony Spirit remained the same, pulsating from the center similar to that of a beating heart.

Next her eyes fell on the other blue, who had taken it's living form, which happened to be some race that she was unfamiliar with the name of, though the creature resembled a bird. It happened to have wing-like arms, though the lack of any definition to the form meant that it only looked like a tall bird that walked more like a human. She turned her gaze to the pink, who happened to be a human form. She had learned a lot about this species, and how the few that had been pulled here through the dimensional portals had brought a lot of power to Discord. She always wanted to know more about their species, as she wanted to learn as much as she could about all the other species, but the Spirit had refused to give her more information. She wasn't one to complain, as she already knew more about the past species more than that of any living pony that wasn't a Sage themselves.

She smiled warmly at the three Spirits, as they had always been fond of her, and the human was the first Spirit she had ever had proper contact with. It had been there for her final test back in the country of the Zebras, and it had proven to be very useful in helping her learn about herself.

"Why would you call us, Sage?" The bird-Spirit asked, crossing its wings and leaning against a post of ghostly magic behind it.

"I seek information, o' Wise Spirit." She answered, knowing that they had already knew the answer to the question; another part of her training as a Sage. The Spirits were connected to this plane in a different way than mortals, and their knowledge was near infinite, or so she was told. She had no reason to disbelieve, as they had always proven to know far more than anypony else she had ever met. "I wish to know what it is that lies in the future for the young Blaze Burn, of Gold Blood. I wish to use this knowledge to assist him along his journey of self-identification and enlightenment."

"We already know this, Shan-Roc Sage. And while we see your desire to help the Gold Blood find his place, it is not for you to assist. His path lies elsewhere, and elsewhen. Your assistance, while noble and of pure intentions, cannot further his progress with our intervention, as his choices are for him to make alone. What he chooses is for him to decide what is best, not you." The human Spirit replied, shaking its pink head as it also crossed its arms. Scaled Equilibrium sighed, wondering what she was going to say, because she knew that they knew what she was thinking. "Do not take this as judgement, nor should you try to think that this is an excuse to ignore the Gold Blood. Your involvement in his life can be what makes him a character of true composition and pure intentions, while abandoning him could bring him down the path of darkness and hate."

"It is your choice to involve yourself with the Gold Blood, we cannot force you either way, nor would we, and all we will do is tell you this-" The Bird-Spirit continued, pulling the mare's attention towards it.

"Your engagement in his life is optional, but his path will diverge from yours before you would like it to. Either by your choice, or fate, you two will part ways, never to see each other again, far from either of your times are near. It falls to you to decide whether you want to leave him with good or ill will." The Pony-Spirit finished, and before she could ask any other questions, to clarify on what they weren't going to elaborate on, the three reformed their spheres on flashing lights, and faded into the ethereal winds. As her potion began to where off, the room slowly returned to its normal shades of color, the winds of raw magic fading behind the veil of reality and limited planes of existence that her body required to survive.

She sighed as the potion finally cleared out of her sight, allowing her to function like a normal pony once more. Shaking her head to get back into the feeling of walking among the worlds of mortals, she stood over the cauldron, wondering just what she was going to do about the lack of information regarding her friend's future separation. She wasn't terribly worried about it, as most of those she ever got close to had to separate from her, she was used to the solitude brought on by being a Sage. What did have her worried was that the Spirits were set on believing that Blaze Burn was going to be particularly special.

She was more than willing to admit she had never really had much interest in the Gold Bloods, as their appearance was relatively uncommon, from her knowledge of history, only two previous ones had ever been recorded. But that wasn't anything remarkable, as the blood they had was passed down from somepony, so what was so special about Blaze? She shrugged, figuring that there was probably going to be some kind of war or something in the future, and that Blaze would be centered in it. That got a small chuckle from her as she unlocked most of her things; thinking of Blaze being in the middle of a battle. That humored her for reasons unknown even to her, though she surmised that it was because he was still so young, too young to participate in any wars that caught the attention of the Spirits. The Chaos War, that caught their attention, though they had been inactive during the whole event.

"Ahem. Pardon the interruption." The voice caught her by surprise, and she couldn't prevent the startled yelp from escaping her lips. She whipped around to stand face to face with Princess Luna, who looked positively amused to see the Sage flinching so badly. "We art here to speak with thee about thine discussion with the Spirits, whilst Princess Celestia shalt be here in all but form."

"Ah, Princess Luna. I'll be honest and say that I wasn't expecting a visit from yourself, else I would have cleaned up a bit. Just give me a moment to have this place at least presentable." Scaled Equilibrium jumped over to the other side of the room to clean that side of the room.

"There shalt not be any need, o' Sage." Luna said, using her magic to place a potion on a shelf that had been in the Sage's hoof. "We art only here for a short duration until we hath to leave for our nightly duties. So, hath thee any news as to what it is thine Spirits want with the young Blaze Burn?"

"If only the answer to that were a simple one, I'd have loved to give it to you. Unfortunately, I don't really have an answer except that they are interested in seeing where his path is going to take him in the future. Apparently, he has some major life choices coming up for him that he is going to trudge through, and we are all part of it." Scaled Equilibrium answered, though she sounded dejected at not having any more clear answers, to which Luna felt sympathetic, as this kind of information was always helpful. As it was, there wasn't anything the pair of them could do, so the earth pony sought to change the subject. "While you are here, is there anything else you would require my services for? I know that you and Princess Celestia don't always need my remedies, but I am available should you ever require anything."

"Actually, while we art on the subject of thine's brewery, does thou have any remedies for The Deathly Cold on hoof by chance? Mine dearest sister wishes to conduct a visit to the Crystal Empire and discuss trade dealings as well as investigate rumors of possible bandits in the area. She hath made plans in advance, and shalt be departing within the month, unless other plans of ours art to become successful, of course." Luna said, perking up a bit at having a chance to get the subject off the failings of new information regarding Blaze Burn and his mysterious future. Scaled nodded and walked over to her cabinet of potions, and began to carefully rifle through everything in search of what the Princess of the Night had requested. After several seconds of silence, the Sage reappeared in front of the Princess with a large bottle of a green liquid.

"One tonic of Healing Heat for any who shall suffer from the Death Cold, remember only a spoonful is enough to cure the most severe of cases, but anymore could result in the bodily systems overheating." Scaled Equilibrium warned, though the warning was more habitual than anything, as the Princesses were her largest demand for the brew. Not many other ponies even knew about the Death Cold, much less how to cure it, and those that did were usually masters of the Potion craft themselves.

"We thank thee for thine's generosity." Luna politely said as she zapped the bottle away in a burst of blue light, and with the bottle gone the pair returned to the silence of old friends who had little news to offer for conversation fodder.

"I hope the castle-life has treated you well?" The Sage asked, leaning against her cabinet as she watched the Princess shift uncomfortably from side to side. "Sorry to appear brash, but it is just that you don't normally stay here this long, is there something on your mind that you wish to speak about?"

"Thou truly art a perceptive pony, Sage." Luna offered a weak smile, but the smile faded and was replaced by a troubled scowl as she marched over to the Sage and sat down next to her. Feeling that this was something that has been seriously bothering the Princess, Scaled Equilibrium sat down next to her and rubbed a comforting hoof along Luna's back. "And yes, there is something that hath been bothering us for some time now."

"Princess, I realize it is a habit for you, but you don't have to be so formal around me, we are good friends, are we not?" The pony asked, applying a little more pressure on the Princess' back to reinforce her point when said Princess simply nodded.

"Very well, it is just that, well. . . My sister and I are worried about the progress that is happening within the city. We feel that there should have been a lot more development, and that this place of hope would have been able to recover from Discord's chaotic magic far faster than it has been. And with this worry comes the hope that the Gold Blood, Blaze Burn, would have been happy to join us in our attempt to repair the damage. However, it seems that the solutions we had in place are the very deterrent to allowing him to come to us." Luna sighed, feeling better now that she was finally able to talk to somepony else about her worries, as Celestia may have been her sister, but the two had entirely different perspectives on things.

"So why not reevaluate you positions on those solutions, and decide whether or not you need them anymore, because whether you want to admit it or not, this city has rebuilt itself a lot. Maybe things aren't as good as you'd want them to be, but they are still far better than they used to be. If you can remove those temporary solutions, shouldn't it be enough for you to win Blaze over?"

"We would like to think so, but the issue lies not with our solutions towards early problems anymore: it seems that Blaze Burn hath decided to declare his resistance to joining our side. I don't mind him being trouble, as he will turn around eventually, but I think Celestia took the blow a lot harder than me." Luna paused for a moment, looking at the mare comforting her, and wondering just what had happened to make the sisters trust this one mare so much. She had come into their lives, seemingly out of nowhere, and had just become a close part of the family. "As you are aware, this time it is Celestia's right to try to claim the mate, and while I have no quarries with it, I feel that his resistance will hurt her far more than if it were me trying to claim him."

"Yes, rejection by those that you are fond of is more difficult to accept than by those you are not, but surely Princess Celestia is more than strong enough to know that Blaze may not be the best choice for her?"

"I would hope so, but she does seem so lonely as of late. I don't know if you are aware, but the war has cost us dearly, and I'm afraid of my sister becoming more distant than normally. She lost a lot of close friends, we all did, but she was a lot closer to our parents than I, and when Discord. . ." Luna had to pause to catch her breath before she broke down, though Scaled Equilibrium patting her back in comfort was not helping her retain her tough image.

"It's okay Luna, you don't have to finish, I understand." The mare was doing her best to comfort her, but if she had to be honest with herself, she had no idea what it was like to lose her parents. The Sage had grown up in the Sage order, she never knew her parents, so she never knew what it was like to lose them. "You can just let it out, you don't have to say anything: I'm here for you."

"Thank you, thank you so much." Luna broke down then, tears that she had been fighting back were let lose, and she made no effort to hide them as she latched onto the mare before her and cried herself dry. After a minute and a half of Luna's tears leaking onto Scaled Equilibrium's shoulders, she had finally had enough softness for a good while. She sniveled a little as she wiped her eyes free of any lasting tears, and straightened herself up to capture whatever royal appearance she could muster. "It's just been so difficult for us to really connect with ponies, after so many gave their lives to free us all, and now Celestia has a chance to finally bring back the Equine part of her. So she could actually love again, but if Blaze keeps putting her off, I fear for her health."

"I'll make sure to do what I can to motivate him to reconsider his opinion, but the Spirits have said that certain things are nearly guaranteed, and I really do hope that that means he'll join the guard, at least."

"We concur. Wow, we have allowed ourselves to get carried away by emotions." Luna remarked, chuckling at bit at the tear-soaked boot on her left foreleg, then she looked at the Sage, who did not wear a humored face.

"Sometimes we have to live with the hard stuff so that we can get through it and move on, else we risk bottling it all up and having it either consume us or leave us dried and hollow. I think that you needed this, and I think that Celestia needs to find a way to release her pent-up feelings somehow, too. It may be just what she needs, but don't you ever forget that I am here if you need me." Scaled Equilibrium said with a final hug goodbye, she stood and rolled her shoulders, her exhaustion kicking in with a vengeance. "I hate to cut our precious session short, but I feel rather tired, as I have had quite the interesting night, and I would like to get to bed as soon as possible: I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"Yes, we must also return to the castle to deal with the nightly issues that are always bothering the local ponies." Luna said as she, too, rose to her hooves, and with a final goodbye, she disappeared in a flash of light.

The mare stood alone in her room, wondering just what was going to happen in the not-so-distant future for not only her close group of friends, but also the whole of Equestria. Now that the economy was finding a secure spot to grow, ponies are starting to get into the rhythm of a normal life, and the winds of change were now racing towards them. There were still so many unanswered questions she had, but she knew she would just have to be patient. Patience was indeed a virtue. She trotted through the back door, leading to a proper bedroom, then crawled into bed and was out faster than she had ever fallen asleep before.

 _Luna was having a difficult time reigning in the wild dreams that night, as many ponies within the warehouse she had visited that same night were having the most insane combinations of nightmares and pleasurable dreams she had ever seen mixed before. She wanted a peaceful night, especially after the incident in which she almost recalled the horror that was the Chaos War, though she was glad she had a friend in the Sage._

The next morning came way too quickly for Blaze, as he woke with stiff muscles and a sore back, his wings actually ached for once, something he was unaccustomed to. He stretched as much as he could, though the fear of cramps made his take it easy on the activity, until he felt sufficiently limbered up to take the first journey of the day: out of bed. He lazily threw the blankets off him, and made like a log and rolled out of bed, he was lucky enough to have rolled out so that he could land on his hooves. However, he was not lucky enough to actually land on his hooves, as that particular tactic proved far too advanced for his simple, sore muscles to complete, and he landed hard on his face on the floor. He got a whiff of the lacquer that was used on the freshly installed wooden floors, but other than that he didn't really notice much. His aching muscles still ached, and the floor was doing nothing to fix that, so he decided upon a careful three step plan to get his ass off the ground.

"Step one: find functionality in limbs." He grumbled as he worked his legs under him. "Check. Step two: use whatever primary thrusting power to press legs into floor, moving body up in an opposite direction of thrusting."

He put as much power into his legs, which got his stomach off the ground for an impressive duration of exactly two and a half seconds. Then he lost all energy diversion to the primary thrusters located beneath his shoulders and hips, and his stomach made contact with the ground once more.

"Step three: repeat step two until successful lift-off has been accomplished." He had to perform a loop of steps two and three about three times before he had successfully launched his torso away from the ground, and was now orbiting at a safe distance to begin cruise control and have the legs take over. His mind flipped the switch, turning auto-pilot on, and allowed his preprogrammed legs to do their thing, moving him out of the door while he tried to get power moving into the core processing unit in his skull. Unfortunately for him, his central processing unit had overloaded during the launching maneuver, and was temporarily offline until power redistribution had been accomplished.

And just like that, his think-box was back in running, and all those super-fancy words that had been floating in the air taunting him saw the power of a true smarty-pants and fled in utter terror.

He had to wait a good five minutes, just standing inside his doorway, staring out into space, waiting for his brain to kick back into gear. And during that time, since his brain wouldn't work, he had no choice but to stare at absolutely nothing, while thinking about absolutely nothing. There could have been a massive attack right then, the whole warehouse was under siege, and he would not have noticed a damn thing. That was the case, but after those five minutes, his brain finally had blood flow once again, and he was able to perform rudimentary tasks like opening the door and going to get food. He walked down the halls in silence, though a few other ponies were already up and awake, namely: Asta (which greatly surprised him), the nameless pegasus (which did not surprise him), and a few others he was too tired to recognize right then.

He wandered into the kitchen with Asta and the eldest pegasus flanking him, like his own little guard patrol, and he sat himself in one of the tables, wondering whether he was going to start making something for them all, or if he was just going to put out a sign that send 'everypony fends for themselves.'

He was very tempted to follow through with the sign idea, but unfortunately, a few of the cooks had beaten him to the punch. They started by darting into the pantry, pulling out what looked suspiciously like waffle mix, and some bowls, a couple whisks, a carton of eggs. He assumed they'd have eggs and waffles for breakfast, not that he was the type to complain: waffles sounded really good. Well, that was what his stomach was telling him, and this early, whatever the stomach said became law until it had been fed.

Breakfast came and went, though Blaze very much enjoyed the blueberry waffles, and had eaten a few more than he normally would have, but they had already saved some for the ponies that were late to breakfast, and still had some left over. Blaze had surprised them all by being one of the first ponies in line for round two, but the growling of his stomach pardoned him in the others' eyes.

As soon as breakfast had ended, a few of the working ponies left the building to do whatever it was that they did. Blaze did not feel the need to foal-sit them all, keeping track of where they were at all times. He and a few of the others that had nothing better to do, including Asta, Muffin, and Sweat Flower, decided to remain at the kitchen table they were sat at and have some friendly banter for the morning.

Needless to say, the foals were very excited to have Blaze around for the morning, and they constantly invited him to join them in their crusading activities, which happened to be whatever ideas popped into their heads first. Blaze wanted to say yes, but he had a few things that he wanted to discuss with the eldest pegasus and Scaled Equilibrium and the rest of the community before he could commit to games.

"Sorry guys, but I actually got a few things planned soon, and it'll probably take some time to get done. Maybe later today, though?" He had explained to the three after they had repeatedly asked him to come with them as they went out back to play a ball game.

And as soon as the kids had run off, Scaled Equilibrium finally made an appearance that morning, though her normally pristine golden mane was uncharacteristically disorganized and frizzy. She walked into the kitchen like a zombie, and Blaze was about to remark that very phrase when his brain decided to remind him of his manners, and he held his tongue. He watched in shock, as did the other occupants, as she trudged across the kitchen, grabbed her plate of waffles, trudged over to their table, and plopped down on the first empty seat she found.

The purple mare had been seated for less than a second before she began to devour the waffles as if her life depended on it. Blaze was torn between asking her if she was alright, or wanting to hold his tongue again and wait this out. In the end, as she was finishing her meal, he decided to wait for her to finish eating so she could have all her attention on him. That soon turned out to take a lot longer than he expected, as when she had finished her first helping she asked for a second, and then she finished those waffles. After her second helping of food, she went to the cooler, grabbed the massive jug of orange juice, poured herself a glass, and downed three of those without seeming to pause for a breath of air. Blaze was afraid to blink, else he might miss something happening to her.

She had finished two helpings of waffles, three glasses of orange juice, and had devoured four apples, and once she had finally had her fill, she sat down on her seat, and promptly laid her head down on the table. The mare let out a sigh of relief, covering her muzzle just in time for a large belch to erupt from her mouth. The ponies in the kitchen heard sniggling from the main room, where the foals had resorted to prepare to head out back.

"Now that you ate our entire stock of food," Blaze began in a light-hearted tone. "How are you feeling this morning, Scaled Equilibrium?"

The mare in question just stared at Blaze for a second, a blank look on her face, before she let out a sigh, her face blooming an embarrassed smile as she realized how her actions may have appeared to others.

She grinned sheepishly, then shrugged. "Honestly, I had a dream that the whole world had turned into a desert, and there was little food left, and then I had gone a week without anything to eat. And then, just when it seemed that I was about to give up and accept my death, I saw a bucking food cart. The stallion running it glared at me as I went trashing forwards to get some food, and then, just as I got close, he would take off, reappearing somewhere off in the distance. I would run after him, and then the process just kept on repeating itself! I was really hungry when I woke up, so I came down here, and you all saw the rest. Sorry about that."

The rest of the group just chuckled, happy to see that there wasn't anything wrong with one of the more popular ponies in the warehouse. Blaze let out his own short amusement, though he quickly sobered up as he scooted over as close as he could to her so he could speak to her somewhat privately.

"So, I got something that I want to talk to the whole community about, and I was wondering if you were going to be able to back me up on this." He whispered into her ear, and when the eldest pegasus showed a curious look, Blaze waved him over. Once the three were in a small little circle, he waited for the mare to answer.

"Well, I mean, as long as you aren't declaring war on the entire country, I don't think are that many things that I would resist you on." She answered, a little confused at this point.

Blaze let out a satisfied sigh, though internally, he was wondering about the wisdom if the actions he was about to participate in. He gave himself a mental reminder that this was something that he knew he would have to get over as soon as possible, so there was no point in trying to delay it any longer. He nodded to himself to make sure he had the balls to do this kind of thing, though he personally viewed it as something that he would have to do, he also saw the benefits in trying to prove to everypony that he was indeed mature enough to handle conversation like this one. "Alright, so before I tell the others, I need to know how much you both know about the other night. Not last night, but the one before it."

"Oh dear." The nameless pegasus groaned, suddenly realizing exactly where this was heading. The old guy had already formed personal plans to talk to the kid about this in private, but now that Blaze wanted to have a discussion with the entire community. . . "Kid, you got some serious balls about to do something like this with everypony at once, and I want you to know that this is not going to be easy, no matter what you are trying to do."

"Yes, I am well aware that this will probably end in total disaster. Be that as it may, I still really feel like we all need to have this conversation, because there is not a single chance in Tartarus that nopony else knew what happened." Blaze responded grimly, already feeling the backlash of his decision, and though he would stand behind his reasoning, he knew that the others would not be so lenient of his choice.

"Can we please pause for a moment as get me up to speed, because I have no bucking clue what you two are talking about." Scaled Equilibrium said, putting up a hoof to try and stop the two stallions from going too far without her.

"What do you mean you have no clue what we are talking about. We could hear Twilight's screams from across the building: there is no way that you could not have heard her." The eldest said, sighing slightly and rubbing his head from a headache that hadn't even begun yet. This was the kind of shit that he hated about dealing with a mass of ponies for; all it took was one disaster, and shit hits the fan faster than a monkey shit fight indoors. "Not to mention the fact that she was basically limping around all day yesterday."

"Was she really?" Blaze was a little surprised by this, though he had to admit that he hadn't seen a whole lot of the mare after the incident.

"Yeah, she was. It wasn't terribly noticeable, but it was there all the same, so whatever you did to her, it will probably be the only thing on her mind next year."

"Oh! Oh dear." The mare exclaimed, things suddenly clicking for her as she realized just what exactly the other two were talking about, and the realization came crashing down on her like an avalanche. "You, you didn't! Surely, I mean, come on Blaze! After what happened last year, and you still, still did _that_ with her?!"

"Scaled Equilibrium, you are a mare, and I am not, so you instantly have more of an idea of what heat does for mares than I ever could. And you have said it yourself that Twilight gets it worse than most other mares. So with what limited knowledge I have of heat, how can I possibly just let a mare suffer through that kind of stuff, especially when she had established that she wants _me_ to help her with it?" Blaze replied calmly, which took her by surprise a little, as she hadn't expected him to react so nonchalantly about it. "I didn't do it because she pressured me into it, and I didn't do it because I wanted something out of it. I did what I had to do in order to help a mare in need of assistance, though she got the bonus of finally being able to put to rest her desire of having me help her. What's done is done, and it is time we moved on. However, I need to establish that same thing with everypony else, and it would go a lot easier is I had you backing me on this."

The mare had to take a moment to think this over, because while she was not a fan of how Twilight had tried to take advantage of him already, she really didn't want to argue with him over something that he had obviously put some thought into. She didn't want to admit it, but she had realized that a mare in heat was going to have a lot going on in her mind, and she wasn't sure that she could argue with the logic of him helping her, especially if it took care of her urges. That would have solved a lot of issues, though she doubted that Twilight would just give up on Blaze because he wanted to 'help' her with her heat.

"Fine. I'll support you, but only if you can confirm that you did this of your own free will?" She retorted.

"I did, and now that I have you two to support me, can we please just get this over with, I can smell their eyes looking at us, waiting for us to get done. And the sooner this is over, the soon I can begin to defuse the hostility that is sure to pop up because of this."

"Uh, Blaze? I'm not second guessing this, but if you are so sure that there is going to be hostility because of this, shouldn't we try to find a better way of breaking the ice?" The Sage asked, a worried expression on her face as Blaze simply shook his head and stood up, climbing his way to the top of the table to get the crowd's attention. He waited for the quite murmuring to cease, then he cleared his throat, ensuring that he had all of their attentions.

"Alright guys, you know that I don't like beating around the bush, so let's just cut the crap and get to the issue I know all of you are already aware of. Two nights ago, I had gotten home late and to a welcome party I was not expecting. You all know what happened, and I am bringing this up so that there is no hostility, nor any confusion as to what happened. Here is it: I did what I did of my own accord. I chose to follow through with that night's events, because I felt that it was the right thing to do."

"You didn't do anything! She forced herself onto you, we should have gone to the guards when we could have." One of the ponies in the crowd called out, getting several murmurs of agreement and a couple stamping of hooves onto the ground. Blaze just sighed, knowing he was going to have to get into this fully now.

"Do you honestly believe that I would just let somepony force themselves onto me?"

"It happened last year!"

"Yes, three mares in an intense heat came into my room and used pheromones to seduce me, however, there are two things about that. First there were three bucking mares in an enclosed room, who happened to be the mares with the worst heats in here. Second, that was last year, I was considerably more naïve and innocent back then."

"But it was just one year." The voice countered.

"Do you realize how much a pony can change in a single year? And besides, that was a year that I was getting used to being more of an adult, having earned my cutie mark."

"Exactly, you had just earned your cutie mark, you were too young!" More stamps of approval.

"I hate to admit this, guys, but I was a late bloomer. I got my cutie mark a lot later than most ponies do, you realize this right?" There was a silence for a brief moment.

"But you were still too young."

"Of really? Was I a little colt? Because I'm pretty sure that a little colt isn't able to lift an entire community back onto its hooves. I'm pretty sure that a little colt isn't able to go out and provide for not only himself, but his little brother, and an entire building full of hopeless ponies who had given up on themselves. Would a little colt be able or willing to give up everything they had, when he had _NOTHING_ to give, just so that a group of strangers would be able to reintegrate to society?" There was a profound silence as he rambled on the various questions, but he wasn't done with those. "I realize that I may be a little young, but I have more experience in dealing with the real world than most of you probably do. Yes I am young, but I also am more than willing to do the hard shit so that you all can at least survive long enough to get back on your hooves and get out there and do something.

"Look, one last thing: I am a stallion, so you girls out there know a whole Tartarus of a lot more about what it's like for a mare to go into heat than I ever could know. Be that as it may, what I do know about it is that it is horrible for a mare to have those urges left unsatisfied. I also happen to know that these mares in particular happen to have extraordinarily powerful heats, which means they feel what you girls feel on an even higher scale. Is it bad that I, a perfectly capable stallion who is more than able to help, would be willing to help a mare that is suffering through something like that? How would each of you feel, knowing that what you go through could be worse, and that because of ponies like you, you will have to suffer through it, year after year? I know for a fact that many of you get help for your own heats, so why should you deny these mares the same right? Why are you going to be so selfish that you will now help those that are most similar to you?

"I hope that you will at least put aside any hostility towards Twilight or her friends, as they have had to suffer through their heats because of ponies like you. Don't hate them for what I chose to assist them with. I'm done here." With that closing remark, he hopped off the table and marched out of the now-silent kitchen. He walked his way into the main lounging area, fully intending to spend some time with Asta, Muffin, and Sweet Flower, however, as he got into the room, he noticed the definite lack of the three foals. He was mildly concerned until he saw the trail of carnage leading to the back door, which hung wide open, allowing the early morning breeze to infiltrate the building. Normally, he wouldn't mind the breeze, but he had spent the morning in bed, and then in the toasty kitchen, so he was used to the heat and this attack of cool air was slightly less than pleasant.

He stood at the edge of the door, watching as the three foals were engaging in a playful wrestling match, though it seemed that Asta was definitely winning. He felt a strange sense of pride at seeing her grapple with Muffin for control of the pile, and then yet another surge of pride as he watched her twist his hoof, making him lose his balance and fall onto poor Sweet Flower, who had succumbed to the power of the two above her. As Asta stood above the two defeated opponents, grinning happily at them, she looked up and saw Blaze watching, his own grin plastered to his face.

She waved merrily and hopped off the pile, helping the two beneath her to their hooves, and then the three ran over to the pearl pegasus, asking if he saw the match the entire trip over. He couldn't help but chuckle a little, the way their little tiny legs carried them, moving at such a rapid pace to keep up with bodies far too large for them. He found it to be the most adorable thing ever, and that was the point that he had a thought barge into his head. 'If I could skip the whole foal raising, this wouldn't be so bad.'

The grin stayed stuck on his face the entire day as he spent his time with the three foals that had basically been adopted into his own little family.


	13. 13 Molten Fields

_Author's Note: Just wanted to say that I realize that I used to call Sweet Flower 'Sweet Feather', and while she was a pegasus at the time: I had wanted to make her a unicorn, with the intention of having a representative of each species. As it is, I'm a little pressed for time with finals right around the corner, and I'll try to fix the issue before the next chapter. This is meant to clear up any confusion, because I only realized the mistake now, and I have had to go back and sift through the rest of the story to hunt down every mistake. Sorry, guys._

Chapter 13: Molten Fields

After several days of peace and quiet, Blaze was finally glad that things hadn't exploded in his face after that fiasco in the kitchen over what he and Twilight had done. He was really thankful for the support that the eldest pegasus and Scaled Equilibrium had shown him, and through their support, several others had come to him apologizing for past judgements. Whenever that was the case, he redirected them to Twilight, telling them that they should be apologizing to her, and not him. Either way, now that things had started to settle, he wasn't sure about what he wanted to do. After that long day of playing with the foals, they seemed to want him to do everything with them, and he wasn't exactly able to object, not since he left the creed.

That made up the bulk of that day, as well as the following two. He had finally caught a break when Scaled Equilibrium had come to the rescue and asked to speak with him in private. He had accepted, but not because he wanted to get away from the three, more so because she had seemed to really need to talk to him about something. She led him towards a less occupied corner of the warehouse, somewhere that he didn't frequent, though if he was going to be honest with himself, he never really frequented much of the building, mostly just the kitchen, his room, Asta's or the other foals' room, though he didn't really frequent that one per se. He more of visited it from time to time, whenever Muffin or Sweet Flower wanted to show him something.

As it was, he now found himself in a corner of the main lounging area, though this secreted area seemed to be intended for far more personal conversation use than anything else. He sat down in one of the three chairs, making himself comfortable while Scaled Equilibrium did the same in one of the remaining seats opposite him.

"So, what is it exactly that you wanted to see me for, Scale?" He asked once they had settled into their seats and had she had seemed ready to engage him in a battle of some kind. Though his question caught her off-guard, her never having been called by a nickname before, and she could only stare at him in confusion, her head cocked to one side. "Let me guess, 'Scale' confuses you?"

The mare could only nod as she tried to figure out where the buck this was coming from, it came from so far out of left field that she was stuck staring at him.

"Well, I think it isn't exactly the best nickname, but your name is just so damn long, and it is really hard to say, so I was thinking of a nickname that I could call you. Unfortunately, that was the first that popped up." Blaze explained, leaning his head on a hoof that he had propped up on the arm of the chair while his other hoof was occupied with waving around in a general motion, trying to visually communicate his thoughts. "I admit that I would much prefer something better, but on the spur of the moment, I got nothing. Mind helping me out here?"

"What is wrong with just using my real name?" She asked, leaning back into her own chair so she was more comfortable.

"Like I said, it's a really long name, and I don't think calling you 'mare' would be very nice, nor would something like 'Sage.'" Blaze responded, resting his empty hood into his lap while he thought about it. There was an uncomfortable silence as he stared into space, mind completely occupied with trying to come up with a nickname that would be suitable. The Sage, on the other side, was looking down at the ground as she grumbled to herself about how to go about explaining her predicament to him. After some time, Blaze snapped back to reality, remembering that he was here for something that wasn't finding the perfect nickname for this mare. "Anyways, you wanted to tell me something?"

"Right, that." She seemed to be slowly coming back from a trip through her thoughts, and looked up at him with something akin to guilt on her face, as she was feeling very guilty with the information she needed to give him. "Blaze Burn, I want you to understand that the path I have chosen was at the suggestion of the Spirits, and that they have a purpose for everything that they do."

"Okay, sure. I'm sure that they have our best interests at heart or whatever, but what does that have to do with you?"

"Well, that's the part that I need to explain, isn't it? Okay: The Spirits wanted me to come to this city to offer my services to the Princesses, even using me to help them with various planar issues that occur on the Ley lines near here." She said in a strained voice, looking at Blaze, who only offered a confused face, his mind not entirely following what her confession meant. She sighed, knowing that she was on a road that was not enjoyable to travel. "I met with the Princesses when I first arrived in the city, offering to be the voice of the Spirits should they listen. They were willing to let me do my work, and have been in regular contact with me ever since, purchasing potions every now and then."

Blaze had to cock his head to the side, now staring at her with a calculating look, his mind whirring as he thought about how to process this. His answer came out over the course of several breaths, and the length worried the Sage a little. "So, what you are saying is that the Sisters not only have known about your existence, but you intentionally let us worry about trying to keep word about you from getting out into the city?"

"Pretty much." She sighed. "I apologize that I had to lead you all on like that, but it was the will of the Spirits that I not intervene with the choices you make! They desired me to let you interact with Princess Celestia more, and they wanted me to appear as natural, and normal as possible. They feared that if my revelation would have made you believe that I was a spy for the Princesses, and that any further interactions between us would have done more damage."

"Sounds like the Spirits are trying to manipulate me into doing something I clearly don't want to do." He said dryly as he stood as began to walk away from the Sage, until she leapt out of her chair, landing in front of him and stopping him in his tracks.

"Blaze, if I could have your attention for just a moment longer, would you please let me explain myself?" She said hurriedly as she tried to gently push him back into his chair, and despite the distance between them, Blaze could practically feel her heart beating out of her chest. He figured that if she was this worried about the conversation, then he might as well humor her. He sighed and nodded, not unkindly, then turned around and sat back in his seat, motioning her to do the same. "Thank you, Blaze Burn. I understand that you are not a fan of information just being dropped on you, and I do apologize, it is just that I felt it prudent to inform you of this."

"Whatever, now what is it that you want to elaborate on? You have made it pretty clear that you have been more than willing to sacrifice our trust in exchange for your own personal comfort, so there better be a damn good explanation for this." He grumbled, leaning back into his chair as he stared at her with a deadpan expression.

"Of course." She hummed in thought, centering herself to reveal the information that she was going to have to lay on him as gently as she could. Her heart was indeed nearly busting out of her chest, as this was something that she had only told the Princesses, and even then; she was nervous about it. "As you are aware, my status as a Sage allows me to not only communicate with the Spirits, and act as their ambassador when they require such, but it also comes with several major requirements. One such requirement is that I have magically bound to several Spirits, the binding being strong enough that any action they task me with committing, I have no choice but to follow. If they wish me to keep a secret, then I must keep the secret, yet if they order me to go about revealing information, I have to follow those orders.

"You see, Blaze: I am an exception within the Sage communities, as most others are only bound to a single Spirit. I am bound to three. The reason that I have had to keep this stuff from you is because they decreed that my intervention would be detrimental to whatever it was that they were trying to do. I was ordered into silence."

"If you were told not to tell me, and you are incapable of revealing the truth, then how exactly are you telling me this now?" Blaze was, understandably, a wee bit unconvinced by the tale.

"I am able to do so because the Spirits I am bound to wished for me to pass on something else in return. Don't ask me why they wanted this information to be offered to you, because I have no idea as to what their motives are, but here it is: They tasked me with informing you that in your future, circumstances will lead you to a choice, whether or not to follow light or darkness. They wanted me to deliver the message that, that. . ." A frown suddenly appeared on her face as she stared into the distance, looking at something, yet her eyes were so unfocused, Blaze doubted she would see anything. He was a little worried for her, and had begun to stand up to walk over to her to see if she was alright when her expression returned to normal. She had to blink and shake her head several times to clear her vision, and when she finally met Blaze's own worried one, her expression turned to that of concern. "I must apologize again, dear Blaze Burn. It seems that the Spirits are unhappy with my progress, and wish to convey this message more directly."

"Um?" Blaze didn't really have a response that he could come up, the transition between her attempting to reveal something that some supernatural forces wanted him to know, then all of a sudden, she had a change of tone. He was at a total loss.

"They told me to tell you that you have to choose between Light and Dark, between Hope and Despair. And while they will not judge you for which path you choose to follow, they are worried for what will happen to you if you choose the darkness. They have never seen what happens to those of the unique bloods that chose to fall into the clutches of evil." She sighed, finally having had enough of the antics of the Spirits, her energy levels rapidly decreasing. She sagged into her chair, beginning a very slow slide towards the edge of the seat, though she seemed to take no notice of the slight motion. Blaze watched in equal confusion and worry as she rested against the seat, looking like she had run from the Lunar Sea to the Celestial Sea in a single go.

"Are you okay, there, Scaled?" He asked gently, rising from his seat so that he could walk over to her, checking her forehead as she weakly nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Having Spirits force communications like that is just a little tiring, is all. They usually just have a single one talk into the back of my mind, but this time they forced my consciousness into their realm. Not a pleasant experience, mind you." She responded, smiling as he took his hoof off her forehead, she had no fever, and she seemed to just be a little tired. "However, at some point tomorrow, would you mind meeting with me? I want to have a talk, to set the record straight and put us back on the same level."

"Yeah, sure. Mind giving me a hint as to what it is you want to talk about?"

"Nothing of terrible importance; I just want to give you some insight as to what my foalhood was like growing up in the Sage order. The Spirits gave me the green light to offer you some information about what it was like for me, though I was probably going to try to tell you anyways. I think it would be nice for you to better get to know me, as the Spirits are taking more and more interest in your development as a Gold Blood." The purple mare smiled as she attempted to stand, though her legs wobbled a bit and she had to rely on Blaze's offered hoof to stay on her hooves.

"Need any help getting to bed?" He asked, with just a touch of sarcasm in his voice as he began to lead her to her room, a place that he was more than a little apprehensive about entering, especially after what had happened the last time he had been in there.

Walking through the gathering crowd, he led the way down the hallway, a stumbling pony latched onto his shoulder. After arriving at her door, he turned to see the few ponies that had followed them, and gave them a glare that told them to back off. He felt more than happy that they dispersed like dry leaves in an autumn breeze, then he turned around and opened the first door for the exhausted Sage. Marching through the room, he also held the secondary door for her, this one leading into the less-terrifying room that housed her bed.

As he settled her under her covers, she smiled at him, though her eyes were finding more and more difficulty in staying open, yet as he stood to leave, she snatched his hoof in her own. "And for the nickname, I really don't give a damn: Call me whatever you want, I never really got used to being called 'Scaled Equilibrium as it is.'"

He never got the chance to ask her what she meant, as right after she finished that sentence, she was out like a light. He looked curiously at her, knowing that he would most likely get his answers the day after, so he only shrugged and left the room as silently as he could. He felt himself significantly less burdened now that he had dealt with the biggest issues of the day: dealing with the community and his activity with Twilight, and then that sudden issue. Yes, he was feeling like this could turn out to be a nice day, given that he was going to start looking for an honest job in a couple of days. He had no real need to begin searching for work, as his cut from the last job was going to hold him off for quite a while.

He whistled softly to himself, though he had to keep it really quiet, as embarrassed as he was about not being able to whistle all that well. All he was able to do was the basic whistles the creed had taught him, which didn't last long, as short, obscure sounds were the preferred methods of heist-communication. He was still trying to learn some of the more complicated songs that one could whistle to, though he was having a hard time trying to maintain the pitched sound.

As he emerged from the depths of the hall, he was suddenly met with an ambush, three miniature enemies had him surrounded, one taking each flank while the last had charged him head on. He had no time to react, as the blurs of color were soon only recognizable as sensations of feeling as three little foals slammed into him. He was knocked onto his ass, three pairs of hooves each finding their way around his torso, and he couldn't help but yelp in surprise from the intrusion. His surprise quickly faded into content as he returned the hug to each of them, and it was only after several seconds of the four hugging that the captives released their hostage, allowing him to stand once more.

"Whatcha doing today, Blaze?" Sweet Flower's voice squeaked as they all made their way from the edge of the hallway and into the main area of the warehouse. Blaze sat down in a chair away from the fire, not quite feeling ready to deal with the rest of the community, he had a lot on his mind, and he wasn't sure talking to them would help him. He waited for the other three to settle themselves in front of him before he looked at the unicorn, his smile only slightly depleting as he looked upon her curious, innocent face.

"I'm not really sure. I never had much of a plan for today, and since I no longer have to work to keep everypony alive, I find myself with more free time than I'm used to." He shrugged, looking down at the three, the two fillies and Muffin, the poor colt was still terribly afraid of heading outside. "What are all of you doing today?" 

"Oh, nothing much." Asta replied, a small smirk growing on her face as she nudged the other two, though it appeared that she was going for subtlety, it was terrible. If Blaze was going to give out scores, he would give her stealth a 1 out of 10, maybe. He had to give her a point for effort, as right after she made contact with the unicorn and earth pony, she put on her best poker face and did her best to look nonchalant.

"We were just a little curious if you were interested in getting some terribly bored, starving little foals some ice cream as a treat for being the coolest, most awesome foals in the world?" Muffin said, and though his voice was soft, it sounded so horribly scripted to Blaze, and he was sure that Asta had not only put them up to this, but had probably gotten them to all rehearse.

"And while those poor, hungry foals aren't against the idea of staying within the safety of their home while awaiting their next meal, we are all sure that those foals would be more than happy to follow you in pursuit of their desired treats." Blaze had to stifle a chuckle, though a smile creeped onto his muzzle, as Sweet Flower was obviously forcing the lines through her teeth. What made the situation so amazing for Blaze was that it sounded like they had put a lot of effort into trying to convince him to take them out for a treat, and the lines: he loved that they took time to practice.

"Kids, I'm sure those foals would love to have me take a quick trip down to the market to get them something to eat." The three foals beamed with joy, nearly jumping around, but Blaze holding his hoof into the air stopped them from expressing their happiness. "Be that as it may: I think that it would not be a wise decision to feed three growing foals sugary treats this early in the day. While I agree that they may be the best, coolest, most awesome foals around, I know that they would rather spend time not trying to drive the rest of their friends and family crazy on a sugar rush. So, would you kindly ask those foals if they would rather spend the day hanging out with me instead, since they obviously like me enough to ask me to get them treats?"

"I think we can work something out with them." Asta finished, making Blaze proud that she was able to improvise the situation and keep the skit going, despite her allies in this deception having broken character and looked at her with incredulous eyes.

"Glad to hear it, and while you are talking with those most amazing foals, would you kindly remind them that I'm sure they have chores that need to be done around their home, so they shouldn't just jump to be ready to leave right away?" Blaze joked, standing up as he prepared to leave to his room to go get some bits and his saddlebags for the day. He was sure that at some point, he was going to buy them all a snack, no ice cream of course, and that they would probably be out for the day. That said, he knew that they all had chores to do, and he was going to make sure that they actually did them.

The three only groaned in response, though Asta was still wearing her smirk, and Muffin and Sweet Flower were upset that they had not only been caught in what they might have though, though he doubted they seriously did so, was a perfect plan, but now also had to finish their chores. Suddenly, the little misty white unicorn responded. "But we do chores every day. Would it really be so bad that we skip them just this once?"

"Why would you have to skip your chores, Sweet Flower?" Blaze teased, maintaining the trap they had set trying to fool him, though he couldn't help the smirk. These damned foals were just so undeniably adorable, and the fact that they were equal parts flustered and confused; he loved it. "It's not like you are going anywhere, right? I'm sure that when you get done with your chores, you are going to be more than welcome to try to join me and those sweet, utterly starving foals as we head out for a day of adventure. But you have to finish your chores before they do, and before we leave for the day, so I think you shouldn't shirk your duties."

"But we _are_ those foals!" Muffin suddenly exclaimed, and had Blaze not been having the time of his life playing around with the three, he would have celebrated the colt being so willing to talk above a whisper more. The script hardly counted in Blaze's mind, as it sounded too fabricated, too artificial for him to consider it improvement on the shy guy's attitude.

"Really? Wow, you guys sure had me fooled, good work." He praised them, which only added to his enjoyment of the situation as both Muffin and Sweet Flower shared looks of total and utter confusion. He turned his gaze to Asta, who had another look of humor on her face, and the two shared a brief nod, before Blaze finally managed to shush the two confused foals before sending them on their way to complete their chores. Asta stayed for just a moment longer, making the pearl pegasus turn to her again, though now he was more curious as to what she wanted. "Need anything Asta?"

Well, maybe." She shuffled on her hooves for a couple of seconds, her gaze locked onto some interesting aspect of the wooden floor, while her ears drooped flat against her skull. "I was just wanting to ask you a question."

"Asta, you don't have to feel nervous, if there is anything you want to ask me, you know you are more than welcome to ask. I don't bite, I promise." He said, walking over to her and lifting her chin with his hoof so that they could look eye-to-eye. "What's on your mind, Asta?"

She let out a sigh, but with Blaze's reassuring look, she caved into his request. "I had overheard from some of the other ponies about some rumors floating around that you were considering joining the Princesses' Guard, and I just wanted to know if the rumors were true. Also, I may or may not have overheard a few things from the talk in the kitchen a couple of days ago, and I wanted to know what you meant by what you said."

"Okay, Asta. First off; at the moment, I do not want anything to do with the Princesses, so becoming a guard for them is pretty much off the table. Secondly; I don't like that you eavesdropped on what we were talking about Asta. I had waited for you to be out of the kitchen for a reason, and that reason was that it was adult talk, and you had no place during it. I'm sorry if you don't like that, but what we talked about was for adults only, dear, and I'm afraid you're just a tad young to be considered an adult."

"Oh. Okay." Asta seemed to deflate a little, though the deflation became more and more noticeable as he explained. By the time he had finished; she seemed to have lost most of the material holding her up, and she sagged a little into his hoof. "That's a little sad."

"What's sad?"

"I just thought that if you got to join the guard, you wouldn't be so mopey all the time, and that you wouldn't have to rely on being a stealer." She said as she pulled herself away from his grip, standing on her legs with more substance filling her being again. Blaze looked at her, trying to decide how he wanted to interpret that, though he had to shut off brain function just long enough to step forward and wrap the filly in a hug. "I had gotten my hopes up that if you were a guard, that you wouldn't have to always being stealing things to help us around here. Maybe we could have had the Princesses come by more, help us out; so you didn't have to do so much."

"Asta. . ." Blaze faltered for a moment, wondering if he was ever going to have been prepared for something like that. He looked around the room for something to help him, but he quickly realized he was on his own. "Wow. Asta, I never knew you would have had that strong of feelings about this. Well, if it helps ease you any; I'm not going to be a part of the thieves anymore, though I am a little curious as to how you knew that. I'm not going to ask."

"It does make me a little happier." She nodded, a small smile replacing her previous frown as she leaned away from the wings embracing her.

"Good. And for the other problem; if Princess Celestia can find good enough proof that joining her guards would be beneficial to us all, then I would be willing to give it a shot. Now that we have just about everything here settled, I'm not going to be as busy as before trying to provide for us all." Blaze said as he let the filly go, her wings fluffing themselves as she straightened the feathers with an idle flick of her wings.

"I know. I was just really hoping you would have been interested in being one of the good guys for a change."

"Asta, I am a good guy. I only ever took from those that could spare it, and then gave what I took to those that needed it. I don't know what you think a good guy should do, but I believe that helping those that need it by making those that don't share their possessions sounds pretty good to me." Blaze said, sitting down so he could look at her at eye-level again. "Look, if you really want me to join the guards so I can try to help ponies, then I am willing to try to work passed the differences between the Princesses and I, but if I do, then I want you to know that not all things can be solved with the royalty's intervention."

"Yeah, I know. If it weren't for you. . . well, I don't know what would have happened to me."

"Hey, the past is called that for a reason, so don't worry about it, because you are here now, and whatever may have happened hasn't. We live in the present, and now our only worries should be about the future."

"The future. So, does that mean that you are going to finally work with the Princesses?" She suddenly beamed, her joy radiating outward and catching Blaze unaware. He leaned back, blinking while he rubbed his ears, slowly catching the transition from heartfelt to happy, while he tried to manage the surprise from her new attitude. He nodded weakly, though he wondered whether or not he was going to be able to work something out with Celestia. He didn't like the idea of joining up with her, but Asta did say that she wanted him to be able to be some kind of 'good' guy, as if he hadn't done enough good helping the community. "Oh, this is going to be great!"

"Don't know why you're getting so excited, it's not like you just got accepted into the Royal Air Force or anything."

"I know, but it is just so great to finally have you accept that this is where you were meant to be!"

"Now what is that supposed to mean, exactly? I was meant to be here, helping those that I care about, my cutie mark made that clear for me." He explained, though a souring thought entered his mind as he remembered his failure to protect the one pony he had dedicated his life to doing just that for.

'Star. Where are you?'

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I always thought you would be a good guard, with how you are always looking after us and all; I thought that you would be able to look after everypony else, and protect the whole city." She said, giggling slightly as she turned to head off to do her chores. She stopped just before she left, turning her head so she could look at Blaze, who had taken to staring at her like she was slowly losing her mind. "Don't look at me like that! You know you would be a great guard!"

"Eh, whatever. I said I'd look into it, and I will. So, now that we got this little thing out of the way, how about you head off and do your chores so we can spend some time with the other two, huh?" He nudged her along, to which she only nodded and proceeded to trot away. He let her go, then he walked over to the hallway, heading down its length and towards his room. In a short trip, he had gathered his black saddlebags, courtesy of the creed when he had joined, and stuffed a dozen bits in the left bag, unsure of how much he was going to spend. Feeling a tad paranoid at finally having cut ties from the creed, especially so suddenly, he also grabbed his small pouch, designed to carry another dozen bits, and tied it around his neck. The pouch made a satisfying jingling noise as he stepped, but he tried to ignore it as much as possible, choosing to remind himself of what he wanted to do that day with the foals.

While he was never a huge fan of dealing with foals other than Star, he had grown into acceptance that he was going to have to earn the trust of the ones in the community. He had done a piss poor job at that, though he knew the names of a few other than Muffin and Sweet Flower. He also had the reasoning of having Star gone, which still stung him to think about, so he snuffed the thought as soon as it appeared, before the pain reemerged.

He stepped out of his room, shutting the door behind him, intending on watching the three foals as they finished their chores, and maybe doing some last-minute work if it was needed. He doubted there would be much to do, as most of the current renovations had been completed, and there wasn't a whole lot they could do then.

His thoughts were interrupted once again by the presence of a certain purple mare that he was more happy to see than anxious now. "Hello Twilight, how has your day been going?"

"Pleasurable, to say the least. I just wanted to stop you before you went out with the girls and Muffin, so I could thank you for what you did the other day. Now that the talk has been done, the tension in the building has really dropped, and I have you to thank for that. Especially since-"

"Please stop right there, Twilight. I know that you are grateful, so you can save you words for more important things, like continuing to build these new relationships. Everypony here knows that heat sucks for you, and we both know that there are no thanks needed, as I was happy to help. Right now, you have nothing you need to thank me for, and I don't mind it staying that way." He tried his best to politely stop her in her tracks, knowing that these were the kinds of things he tried to avoid; debts never really helped to build bond between ponies.

"Be that as it may, I won't feel right until I properly thank you for not only helping me in heat, but also being willing to deal with the tension in the warehouse from our activities during said heat. I don't think I ever would have had the courage to talk to the whole community about that, and now that you were able to convince them to not make a big deal out of it, I can rest a lot easier." She finished her thoughts by planting a gentle peck on his cheek, making him blink for a moment before he smiled and shook his head.

"Well, I guess I can't refuse that. If you ever need anypony to talk to, or, you know, anything else, feel free to find me. I'm finding myself with a lot of free time on my hooves that I'm not quite sure how to fill yet." He winked at her before the two left the solitude of the halls so that Blaze could check on the two foals that had left initially, seeing how their chores were coming along. To his surprise, Twilight stayed with them the entire time, watching as Blaze helped Muffin finish scrubbing the tables in the kitchen, while Sweet Flower used her magic to mop the floor clean. The mare had even helped the filly at some point, though the moment was gone before anypony else could notice.

"Finally, we can head out!" Sweet Flower squeaked, jumping into the air in what would only be describable as an attempt at a freeze frame before cameras were even a remote possibility, let alone film. Once she had all four legs on the ground, she made a dash for the door, only to be held back by the mare's magic when said mare was asked for assistance by Blaze. "What's going on?"

"Sweet Flower, you aren't the only one going out today, so how about we wait for Muffin and Asta, hmm?" He asked, walking away from the cleaned table as the earth pony colt took their rags to the washbasin for cleaning. "I know you're excited for some time outside, but patience is a virtue not many allow themselves to have. Asta should be along any moment, and you just saw Muffin take the rags to the basin, so it won't be long. Stretching our legs will be good for all of us."

"Yeah, and ice cream, too!"

"I'm more than happy to buy you three treats, but ice cream is off the table right now. I said it earlier, so please don't make me say it again, besides, there are so many other amazing options, why are you so stuck on ice cream?"

"Because ice cream sounds really good right now, with the summer getting hotter and hotter, something cold always sounds good." She answered with a smile, to which Blaze happily returned, hoping that the day turned out as merry as she was. "And a whole day with the best stallion in the house: this is going to be a good day, I can feel it!"

"Glad to hear that you are ready for the day. So, once Muffin gets back, how about we go see if Asta needs any help, then we can head out for a tour of the improving city?" He asked as the mentioned colt walked back into the room, nodding his agreement to the idea of finally being allowed to leave the warehouse from the overprotective pegasus. Though Blaze knew that he was being a little paranoid by trying to keep them indoors all the time, he was working on it, and this was the first step in showing them all that he trusted them enough to venture out, so long as he or an adult was there to watch them. Never can be too careful.

'Funny.' He thought to himself as the four ponies marched, or in the foals' case trotted, out of the kitchen area and searched the main area for their target. The filly flyer was in the air, washing the paper-covered concrete walls with a rag in one hoof, while the other held another for drying. Blaze took to the air, while Twilight and Sweet Flower approached on hoof.

What had Blaze's attention more than the filly, however, was the previous thought he had about himself and the adults, how he acted like a stallion, yet he still thought of himself as nothing but an aged colt. He had gone through things that no colt should go through, done things that no colt would do, so he really had no reason to deny his ascendance into the world of adults, yet he was hesitant to take the step. He figured it was something he would just have to grow into, and wasn't worth the effort in worrying over, so he brought his mind back to the present to get this joyous day moving.

"Need any help, there Asta?" He asked nicely, casually floating just above her, tipping himself upside down so that when she looked at him to respond, she would see his eyes underneath his muzzle, wings basically holding him up, and hooves firmly attached to the ceiling. He was sure that she would appreciate the effort, and her light giggle gave him the answer he was hoping for.

"Not really, I just have this last stretch to finish, then sweep the stairs, though if you wouldn't mind taking care of the stairs, I'm sure we will be able to get out of here faster."

"My thoughts exactly, is the broom up top?" He asked as he pumped his wings a little harder to maintain his hoofhold on the ceiling, keeping up his spider-like appearance. She shook her head, taking the briefest of moments to point with her wing, as it was the only unoccupied appendage she felt like using, towards the bottom of the stairs, where a broom and dust pan waited attention. "Ah, I see it now. Well, I'll just take care of the sweeping, you can finish the wall washing, and then we can all begin a fun day of walking around the city!"

"Yeah." She muttered, sticking her tongue out the side of her muzzle as a particularly nasty stain had left itself embedded on the wall, even clinging to the concrete itself. She had to apply a little more elbow grease than she would have liked to get it out. Blaze didn't bother with helping her, he knew she'd get it at some point, and if not, then he was sure he could take care of it. Though if he wanted to be honest with himself, he would have probably just taken the lazy route and asked Twilight to cast some kind of spell to hide the stain. If she knew one, of course.

One short dusting run down the flight of stairs, and a quick cleanup of the pile of dust, and Blaze finished the last segment of the chores. He put the broom and dustpan away, heading back to where the foals had been left, the chores nearly complete. Right as he approached the three, Asta had finally finished scrubbing away at the wall, the stain now gone, though Blaze wasn't happy that the newly instated wallpaper had been removed. Still, he wasn't going to complain too much, as he knew that this kind of shit happened every now and then.

"Ready to go?" He asked as he got within non-shouting distance of the foals, who turned to him and nodded happily. He smiled, shifting his wings and rolling the muscles in his back to settle the saddlebags into a more comfortable position. "Then let's get going before anypony tries to stall us with something else to do!"

The four all hurried to the back door, hoping to escape any interruptions before they would happen, and begin the day of bonding and fun. The sun was already beginning to beat down on the ground around them, signaling that it was indeed the start of summer. Blaze wished that the pegasi hadn't been so insistent on removing all the clouds, as the little covering they could have offered would have been nice. He didn't care too much, because there was a nice breeze blowing through the city that ruffled his fur just enough to remove the discomfort of the heat. He shook his head lightly, tossing his mane in the wind to get some air flow under the mat of hair on his head.

When he had gotten adjusted to the temperature change, he looked at the foals, the fillies having already begun to get accustomed to the heat. Poor young Muffin seemed to already be shining in sweat, and Blaze almost felt bad for the guy, but the thought was interrupted by Asta asking her question. "So, where are we going first, Blaze?"

"Good question. And my honest answer to that would have to be that I have not thought that far ahead, and so I have no clue where we should go." He shrugged, leading the three around the back of the building, heading towards the street in front. "Also, since I am going to be honest for this: I haven't really noticed that many places around here that would interest you guys. The city is still being cleaned up, so there aren't that many shops catering to foals, though I imagine that there would be a park or two for you guys to play in for a little while. It is getting to be the point of the year where you can go outside for exercise."

"A park sounds nice and all, but I was kind of hoping for something that we all can do, you know; something like just walking around the city. Maybe if we spend some time walking around, we can find something that looks interesting, and we can explore the place when we find one." Asta suggested, and Sweet Flower merely nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Muffin looked a little horrified at exploring the city, but the horror was expertly masked behind his look of utter discomfort at the temperature. Blaze had to stifle his laughter, as the brown colt looked like he was splashed with water, while also appearing to have run a mile or two in this heat alone. The older colt decided that this look was only temporary, so he moved passed it and nodded towards the north-eastern direction of the city.

"We can head that way, until we can see the wall, then we can turn and head north. With any luck, we can find something that sparks your interest, and if not; then we are going to head south, following the wall. If we still don't find anything that interests you, we can reevaluate once we reach the wall between the castle and the city." Blaze suggested, picking up Muffin as he walked passed the others, scooping the colt with a wing and dropping him onto his back. He fanned the brown earth pony lightly with the very same wing, helping cool the guy off. "And Muffin?"

"Yeah." The named colt already sounded out of breath, which greatly surprised Blaze. He figured that a winter spent in the warehouse couldn't have been that bad, especially since they had gone through at least one other summer before. Maybe he would have to spend more with these three, which is exactly what he was doing, but he still felt guilty. This was the kind of thing he should know.

"You doing alright? You look like you are on the verge of passing out."

"I-I'm fine. Just a little hot is all, if you could keep up the fanning, that would be great." He weakly replied, and Blaze was more than happy to comply. The pearl pegasus still couldn't help but wonder why the heat was so bad for the colt, because they all had fur, so it wasn't like he was alone in the furnace. "I never was a fan of the summer, too hot and all."

"Ah, I get it now; you prefer the colder temperatures, no?" Blaze asked, suddenly realizing the truth to it. He wouldn't blame the guy, he would have to admit that the fur coat made winter a lot easier, especially since the ones in the forest, while they had snowfall, weren't that wild. Well, the snow in the city was contained, he had seen what fell in the forest. Muffin only nodded, and Blaze had an idea for a joke pop into his head. "Have you ever thought about shaving the fur off? You know; just for the summer, and to keep cool?"

If he looked back, he was certain that Muffin would have a look of horror on his face, finally overpowering the discomfort, but he had to focus on leading the three towards the nearest park north of them. He had no idea where to find one, as the only close one he knew about was about a quarter-mile back, and more east than he would have liked. The shaking on his back caught his attention, reminding him that he had to do better to watch his mouth, especially now that he was going to be surrounded by foals nearly all day. "Sorry about that, Muffin. That was a bad joke, and I apologize."

He tried to make it up to the foal by flapping his wings a little more to generate a better breeze for the guy.

"Don't worry about it." Blaze felt the hoof leave his back, presumably to wave off the concern, before the appendage was once again firmly tucked between him and Muffin. Blaze slowed his pace just enough so that he could check on Muffin, using the muscles in his back to try to figure out if the brown colt was sitting comfortably.

Satisfied that his ride was indeed comfy, Blaze put on his happy face and trotted forwards, catching up to the fillies who had taken to examining the streets for anything of interest. They travelled in silence like that for several blocks, just watching their surroundings, looking for something, anything, that caught their eyes. Yet, after five blocks of silent trotting and careful gazing of what the city had to offer, Blaze was wondering if they would even find anything worth the effort. He hoped that the others were of a different opinion, because he was supposed to spend the day out with them, but it would be rather difficult to do so if they had to spend the day indoors because of a lack of activities. He was certain that they could just find a park to relax at if it came down to it, but he was really hoping for something more than that.

Just as he was turning the corner, the wall suddenly sprang in front of them, the street they turned onto giving them a clear view of the barrier. The massive stone walls had to be at least thirty feet tall, twice as tall as some of the houses lining the edge, and while Blaze had taken a few trips past it, he never really figured out the total width. The section he had been on were close to twenty feet thick, though that was near the towers, so it had to be reinforced. He looked at the looming grey slabs of stone, cut from a quarry that he had never even heard of, the stone sucking the light from the sun, while radiating out with its heat. He sighed.

"Looks like we are going to have to turn here, start heading towards the northern parts of town, and I'll be the first to admit, I don't spend a lot of time up there. Usually just passing through, never really had the heart to stay in the place I used to live, bad memories, you know?" He said as he led the fillies and carried the colt around another bend, heading to a street that would keep him as far from his old house as possible.

"You said that you used to live up here?" Asta asked, sounding more curious than Blaze was wondering would be healthy, but because this was going to be a good day, and he had to strengthen his relationships with these three, he played along.

"Yeah. But that was a very long time ago, back when I still had to take care of Star." He sighed, a conflicted smile spreading across his lips as he tried to force down the emotions he now associated with Star's disappearance. "Just me and Star. Our mother would show up every now and then, usually whenever she had time off or was going to take us shopping for food and other necessities. She wasn't around too much, but it didn't really matter, because I wasn't around a whole lot either. Star and I would go out quite a lot, and I'd look after him of course, but we would roam around, trying to find something to ease the boredom."

"Sounds like you have some experience looking around then." Sweet Flower spoke up, interrupting Blaze's reminiscing on the past, bringing him once again into the present. He shook his head to clear the blissful memories so he could focus on what she said to him. He really needed to pay more attention to what was going on around him.

"Not a whole lot, though mostly because the way I was when I got here, my opinions about this city being a dangerous place, were started then. I knew that our mother had spent time outside, risking herself to provide for us, but she wasn't always home safely. On more than one occasion, she would return home hurt, and those nights always scared me the most. I may have never been terribly close to my mother, but she was after all: my mother. Seeing her coming home late at night, sometimes hurt, instilled in me a deeply set fear of what lay outside." Blaze explained as he led them northwards, following the streets as he kept the wall to their right, just out of range of their eyes. "So, even though I let Star out with me whenever we played, it was always on the same street, and never did we let the house leave our vision. Never."

"That's too bad, now that things are getting better, the city doesn't seem too bad." Muffin muttered, shifting slightly so he could speak without his muzzle being buried in Blaze's mane. "Maybe you can take us out more often, then? You know, just so we can get out more, and we can prove to you that this place isn't as bad as you want us to believe."

"Good points, Muffin, they really are. However, I don't know if you guys are going to want to keep coming out here, judging by the serious lack of anything to do." Blaze retorted, smiling as they marched down another street, finally turning left to begin the loop around.

"I don't know, Blaze." Asta said cheerfully, looking back at him with a warming smile that immediately made Blaze wary of what she was going to say next, though he returned the smile. "I can't speak for the other two, but I know that I enjoy just being able to go out and spend some time with you. I think that it is nice that you wanted to come along with us, and I wanted to thank you for showing us around. I couldn't care less that we don't have anywhere to actually go, because this is nice enough."

"Thank you Asta." Blaze was actually impressed. So impressed, that he trotted up a little faster, making Muffin yelp in surprised and yank on the pearl pegasus' mane to stay on his free ride. He hurried forwards, and when he was close enough, he pulled the filly in for a hug, one which she immediately returned to him. She nuzzled his foreleg then let him go, and the group returned to trotting through the city in search of something to do. As he led them along, he found that Asta had taken to matching his pace right next to him, and he was sure that if she was taller, she would have been leaning against his side. It made his heart a little fuzzy, with a gentle tingling feeling running over his chest, the fact that she was so cute didn't help: She had an adorable smile of pure bliss on her face, her head cocked to a smile that spoke her content more than words ever could have.

The moment was stopped only after Blaze had taken as much as he could, because that was when he decided that he really ought to pay attention to what was going on around him. He looked behind them to see that Sweet Flower had fallen a bit behind, panting like her life depended on it. He stuck a wing out and wrapped it around Asta, catching the filly's attention as he slowed his pace to let the unicorn catch up. Once she had, he used his other wing to produce a breeze to cool her off, which she sighed gratefully for and sat on her flank as she sucked in as much air as she could. He paused and let the filly catch her breath, though Asta used the time to fly circles around them impatiently. Muffin seemed a bit jealous of the two, and decided to take matters into his own hooves, climbing off of Blaze's back and sitting down next to Sweet Flower. Blaze wouldn't dare mention it, but he was really thankful that the colt had gotten off his back, because between the saddlebags and the personal heater, he was beginning to feel like how Sweet Flower looked. Again, not that he was going to complain; this was going to be a good day, and no amount of sweat was going to change that.

When the filly and colt being fanned had cooled to Blaze's satisfaction, he snapped his wings up, though not before taking a split second to coo his back off. He nodded to the pair of foals now complaining at the reclaimed heat, and began moving, though he remembered to keep a much slower pace for the two that had no wings to help themselves.

As the four made their way through the streets, Blaze noticed that there were an uncomfortable number of ponies staring at them. He unconsciously began scooting himself closer to Muffin and Sweet Flower, while Asta lazily flew circles above them. He kept one eye watching Asta, in case any of the strangers sneaking glances his way tried anything stupid. He used the other vision appendage to carefully observe his surroundings, noting the side alleys that he was sure would help him get these three away if shit hit the fan. His eyes scanned the streets, how the only other foal around was being ushered closely by her mother, who was scurrying the two along at a worrisome pace. Blaze immediately decided that this was not the best place to have three foals, and made the best choice to correct this problem.

"Come on guys, let's hurry it up so we can go get some ice cream. I know that you two are nearly collapsing." He nodded to the colt and filly on the ground, while he whistled to get Asta's attention. "You too, we're going to find something cold to eat, you're coming with us."

"I could use with something to fill up on after all this exercise." She muttered as she swooped down to the ground in front of the three walking. She hovered in place, showing an amazing amount of self-control for a pegasus of her age, not only flying backwards, but hovering at an even level while doing so. Blaze smirked and shook his head, wondering why she was showing off, though his mood soured again when he saw three stallions slowly making their way towards him from the side.

His mind momentarily flashed back to the first encounter he had had with the creed, back when he was searching for something for him and Star. Before he had even joined the creed.

Before he could dwell on the memory, his mind snapped back to the emergency he was now facing, and decided that a swift course of action was desperately needed. He scooped up Muffin, planting the guy on his back as he took Sweet Flower in his hoof, leading Asta up against the side of the street, nearly hugging store fronts. He scurried along at a pace that he knew that the filly he was leading couldn't maintain, but all he cared about was that she kept up with him enough to get away from their pursuers. She complained a little at his leading momentum, but didn't make a sound that she was hurting because of it so he kept going. Muffin, in his usual self, didn't make much more noise than his surprised yelping, though Blaze caught the tone in this one meant he was more scared than anything else. Blaze had to take a guess and say that the colt had figured out that they were being chased, and that was the pegasus' cause for sudden departure.

Asta, on the other side, was deeply concerned with Blaze's sudden idea to flee, though once she spared a glance back to see what could possibly have him worried, she understood. The three stallions that they had attracted the attention of seemed determined to catch up with them, and judging by their size, she knew that Blaze wouldn't be able to brute force them away. She took to attempting diving at their heads, but Blaze called her back before she could get more than two off. He turned a corner, making a bolt towards the large open street, when one of the three pursuers, who just so happened to be a unicorn, telepoof'd right in front of them.

Muffin made his signature yelp, Sweet Flower jumped behind Blaze, while the pearl pegasus tucked Sweet Flower behind him, out of sight of the stallion before them. Blaze didn't want to admit his fear, but this stallion positively towered over him, being easily twice as tall as him, and Blaze had even started to hit his pubertal growth spurt.

"You wouldn't happen to be one 'Sweet Talker' would you?" The wall of a pony asked, the cloak he wore covered little of his frame, flashing a bulk of muscle that Blaze could only assume was from near-constant working in some kind of training facility. Under his hood, Blaze could see the glint of greedy eyes looking for something to bruise up, and the pearl pegasus suddenly felt very exposed and vulnerable.

"Depends on who is looking." He replied, because while he was utterly terrified at the wall of meat before him, he knew that he had three foals under his care that he was not going to let down.

"Ah, I see." Another pony replied, this one walking from behind them, making both Blaze and Sweet Flower shutter in disgust. His voice was nasally, as if he had broken it too many times. Blaze turned to see the newcomer, noting that this one was also built for merc work more than anything else. Though the white robes with red accents on them made him wonder just what it was that this guy did; they were in the same style that he had seen the assassin, Rainbow Crescent wear. "Well, just in case you ever run into him, could you please let him know that his abandoning of the creed has caused quite a few ripples in the community. Also, would you mind offering him our sincerest wishes that he finds his new life amongst the guards more pleasant, now that he has no guild watching his back."

"First off; I'll let him know about the consequences of his actions, because I'm sure the creed will do a lot better now that they don't have to waste time on somepony like him. He couldn't possibly fit in with those kinds of ponies." Blaze responded, glaring at the second robes pony, wondering just where in the Tartarus he was going to go to get these three foals out of here. Asta had finally decided to land, and she had taken to hugging his left foreleg, watching the other stallions with curiosity and rightfully placed concern. "Secondly, I never even said I was joining the guards, so where the hay are these rumors coming from?"

"Well, Sweet Talker, I like to think that you had done quite well fitting in with that crowd of passive thieves and burglars. The right kind of weakness for the right weak pony." The second stallion goaded him, making the first snicker and Asta to whimper, but it was the lattermost that made Blaze pause from knocking this guy's teeth in. He wrapped his leg around her tighter, pulling her in while he stared the stallion down until he shut his trap.

"Wrong crowd for multiple reasons: the first being that I don't partake in the activities Al is prone to, the kind I'm sure aggressive brutes like you and your friend here would enjoy. I never wanted to be a part of this in the first place, all I wanted was to protect those close to me. Second: even if I had wanted to be a thief, the creed holds too many secrets for my liking, and I wouldn't work with those that I knew that I couldn't trust."

"Shame." The first scoffed, making Blaze sigh in annoyance, and he could feel his temper rising at these two. He knew that he was going to either get away with the foals before shit escalated quickly, or find some way for these guys to leave them alone.

"Well, guys. While I would love to stay and chat, I'm afraid that I have to get a move on and escort these three to their destination."

"Who? The foals? Oh, well I'm sure we are more than qualified to take care of three little kids while you and I have a little chat about where you are going in life." The first offered, a toothy grin planting itself on his face as he thought that he was doing something smart. Blaze didn't even have the energy to scoff at him, he just shook his head and pulled Asta in as tight as he could, his right wing wrapping around Muffin, while he managed to get his tail to pull Sweet Flower next to Asta.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think that I'm going to have to pass you up on this one, they were charged to me for watching, after all." Blaze offered a horribly strained smile, trying to sound as pleasant as possible, though he doubted it came off as such. He tried to walk between the two, but the first stallion held out a hoof, stopping Blaze in his tracks. The two shared a brief glare before a shadow passing overhead caught both of their attentions, and they looked up in synchronization.

Blaze took a step back just in time, as now landing in front of him, where he had stood just a moment before, was none other than Rainbow Crescent. She still wore her entire black and blue getup, but the hood was drawn back, revealing her colorful mane to the world. She cast a single glance back at Blaze to make sure he was okay, her eyes briefly falling over the fillies at his hooves, until she turned back to the pair of stallions before them. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the first one who had intruded upon Blaze's day.

"What the buck are you doing here?" Her tone was a little too icy for Blaze's liking, but he chose to take the smart path and remained silent. He shifted for a second under her gaze before he found his balls, as well as his voice.

"Just offering some help to a colt who looked to have his hooves, full."

"Stop with the-" She was about to finish her sentence when she had to take a moment to think about her words, looking back at the fillies again, then turned back to the guy. "Stop with the mouthful of lies and just tell me why you are bothering Sweet T. Because I know for a fact that you know who he is, considering just yesterday you were talking about 'how nice it was to have the dirty little thieves put in their places for once.' Yeah, I know what you and the guys like to talk dirt about, so let's just get this over with, and maybe I won't skin you alive."

"Fine, have it your way, Miss Crescent." The tone in his voice was far from submission, however, and he puffed his chest out as he took a step forwards, getting in the mare's face. "That is, of course, if you think you can handle somepony with as much muscle as me. Though I think there may be a way that you could convince us to forget that this whole ordeal even happened at all."

Blaze gagged, soon followed by Rainbow herself, though he noticed she held her composure much better than him: she even had the courtesy to laugh in his face. After two chuckles, though, she sobered up and gave him a dead stare, her face frowning tightly and she flashed the slightest hint of a snarl from her muzzle before she concealed it and returned to a neutral face. "First tenant of the creed: Thou shalt not stain thine blade with the flesh of an innocent. So, there isn't anything you are going to do to Sweet T. Also, I want to mention that there are foals present, so if you want to have an adult conversation, you better use that half brain cell you have and do it elsewhere. Though I don't know why you are even trying to hit on me right now, because I know that you are supposed to be dealing with that changeling defector that returned to the hive. Honestly, while I don't care that I get hit on by stupid stallions like you, I could do so much better than you."

"What? Better than me? Rainbow Crescent, do you even realize that you are talking to the strongest assassin in the creed and the unrecognized leader of our dysfunctional little family?" The guy actually sounded like he was genuinely offended by her comment, almost as if he actually believed the bullshit sprouting out of his mouth. Blaze knew that it was bullshit because the moment that the words left his mouth, Rainbow had shoved her hoof into his jaw, promptly ceasing any further banter, while her other foreleg wrapped around his shoulders. She twisted, and in an incredible display of strength, heaved him over her and threw him over Blaze, and into the stallion that was behind them. She whipped around, grabbing the second stallion by his shoulders, standing on her hind legs and lifted him clear off the ground, before gently dropping him back onto the ground.

"We can finish this conversation later, so how about you take those two idiots and get back to the job you were supposed to be doing?" She asked sweetly as she patted his chest and batted her eyes at him. He blinked in confusion before nodding and rushing around them, picking the first guy off his stomach. The three burst away in a flurry of cloaks billowing in the wind, leaving Blaze, the foals, and a satisfied looking rainbow-maned mare. "Sorry about that, Blaze. I honestly have no idea how any of those managed to find their way into the family, but they are here, and the muscle in appreciated. Maybe they can actually grow a brain, become more useful than as just muscle, but until then, all we have are work-hooves who can push harder than most other ponies can."

"No problem, though I really ought to thank you for saving our flanks back there. I doubt it would have resorted to blows, but I have no doubt that the situation would have taken a turn for the worst. I'm going to owe you for this."

"Yeah you are, but I can tell you already got your hooves full, so maybe we can find some time to talk later about a favor that you could help me with. I'd stay and chat with you, but I actually have some important business to attend to, and the only thing that made me stop then was the chance to put those three in their places. Remember that you owe me, and I'll be thinking of something you can do to return the favor. Until next time." She said in quick intervals, until she made her farewells, then she spread her wings out and took off, leaving the four to their own devices.

"Well. She seemed. . . nice." Sweet Flower said, her voice tainted with uncertainty as she watched the mare fly away, until the rainbow mane was no longer visible from behind the buildings. Blaze turned his gaze to the other two foals, who were either looking at where Rainbow had gone, in Muffin's case, or looking expectantly at him for them to continue on their way. He smiled at Asta, ruffling her mane with a hoof as he began to walk again, pulling the misty-white unicorn filly along with them. Asta took to the air once more, flying above them as they entered the main street that ran north to south from the castle to the edge of the city.

"Sorry that you guys had to see that, it was my fault for not getting us out of there sooner rather than later." Blaze apologized, looking around at where they could go to find something to eat, with lunch approaching fast. "How about we finally get something to eat, then we can head back home and spend some time just hanging out and relaxing?"

As if answering for them, all of their stomachs began to growl hopefully at the prospect of food, making all of them laugh as they marched south down the street, looking for something nice to eat. As they made their way down the streets, they attempted to make small talk, just trying to pass the time as they searched for something kid-friendly. Eventually, though, the conversation died down, and they marched in semi-content silence while the search continued. Blaze would have guessed that they were about half-way from the northern gates to their home when they saw a small little café tucked into a small side street. The street itself was too wide to be an alley, but it wasn't quite wide enough to pass for a thoroughfare street, so the population using it was smaller than somewhere like the main roads. The café itself was hiding just behind the corner shop, which happened to be a pleasant-looking bookstore, and as the four got to the door, the scent of warm baked goods and tea wafted out the crack.

Blaze's stomach growled louder than ever before, and he opened the door, holding it so Sweet Flower and Asta could enter. Muffin also took this opportunity to hop back off Blaze's back and followed after the fillies in their entrance of the store. The eldest followed them in, enjoying the lovely smell of rolls and biscuits that floated in the air, though he had little time to enjoy it as Asta floated in front of him, grabbing his leg and pulling him to a table where the other two had taken seats. He plopped down on the cushioned seat where Asta had planted him, and waited for somepony to come to them. While they waited, Blaze took the time to get a good look at what kind of café they were in.

It was a normal, cozy little cottage-themed building, with warm summer colors that made him feel a little calmer than usual. The other occupants consisted of an elderly couple enjoying their mid-day tea, and a single mare sitting in the corner, a newspaper in hoof with a tea cup on a saucer in front of her. His gaze swept over the front counter, where a small number of baked pastries were on display, while a single waitress was wrapping her way around the case to get to the new customers. He had enough time to look around the place one final time before the mare reached them, though he stopped looking around once she was situated in front of them.

"We are having a special today that consists of seasoned scrambled eggs, made with our own family recipe, with a side of hash browns, toast and complete with milk and honey. What can I get for you four?" She smiled politely as she reached down into her white and green waitress outfit, pulling out a notepad and pencil to take their orders.

Blaze took a moment to look at the three foals sitting around the table, who had been looking at him with pleadingly hungry eyes. "Order what you want, this is my treat to you guys. I'll just take the special, though no milk please."

The mare scribbled his order, then turned to the first foal next to her, who happened to be poor little Muffin. When he saw that she was focused on him, he shut his mouth shut with an audible snap, then looked at the table, rubbing his forehooves together. He muttered something under his breath, though nopony else heard him, so he tried to mumble a little louder, producing the same effect. The mare was patient though, and she offered him a gentle, reassuring smile as she waited for him to order. "I can come back to you if you aren't ready yet."

Just as she turned to walk around him to go to Sweet Flower, Muffin spoke up. "C-Can I just get some toast and oatmeal please?"

The mare nodded and smiled happily, scribbling down his order, then moved on to the filly. They each ordered whatever they wanted, each getting something different, and the mare trotted off to give the orders to the cook. Blaze leaned back in his chair, looking at the foals before him, watching how they were reacting to the day so far. He was surprised to see that Asta was also leaning back in her chair, though with her forelegs crossed over her chest, and a smug little victory smile across her face, he was also slightly worried. Sweet Flower was just staring around the place, trying to take in everything at once.

Muffin, as was per the usual with the flighty colt, was simply leaning as far down into his seat as possible. He had hunched so far down that his eyes were barely over the edge of the table, and it was only after Sweet Flower had turned to see him like it that he was able to relax. And the only reason that he had reacted at all was because the filly had to gently rub his back and get him to calm down.

Once the meals had been served, and the four had eaten their fill, they resolved to sitting around the table, just chatting. Blaze had to admit that he was quite enjoying listening to the fillies sharing personal stories about the things that happened around the community. Muffin was naturally quiet, though Sweet Flower did manage to get a few sentences out of him, and the four of them had a wonderful time. After an hour or so of enjoying each other's company, Blaze had figured that they would be better off heading back home, and as he mentioned it, the waitress came back with the bill. Blaze took it, pulling out the ten bits he needed to pay, along with a few extra as a tip, then he led them away.

He wasted no time in getting the foals back to the warehouse, because while he wasn't fond of spending the day around the building, he knew it was safer than being outside. The city may have been improving, but today had reinforced his opinion that the place still wasn't safe enough to wander the streets. He led them inside, though he did his best to not look like he was hurrying them in the building, that would have raised too many questions, and the sooner they all moved passed this, the better.

"So, now that we ate lunch, and staying around the neighborhood seems to be our only option, what do you think we should do?" He asked, trying to sound less irritated than he was, because while lunch was pleasant, and he did enjoy himself, running into the assassins had pretty much ruined his day. He looked over at Asta and Sweet Flower, who each shrugged, while Muffin hopped off his back. Blaze continued, walking to the seats around the firepit, which was currently lying unused due to the summer temperatures. "I suppose we could head over to the nearby park if you want to, but I don't really feel like going out anymore. Guess I'm just not in the mood anymore."

"Same." Muffin and Sweet Flower each agreed in unison, making Blaze sigh in defeat. He leaned back as far as he could into his chair feeling his muscles sink into the padding, and as he leaned further into it, he began to slowly slide out. He didn't even bother to try to stop the slipping, and just let gravity pull his closer to the ground, his tail and hind legs completely falling off the chair. He had to admit that while he wasn't really comfortable, the heat had sucked any energy he had left, so he didn't resist the descent.

Blaze eventually reached the tipping point, where his weight would no longer be supported by the chair, and he let himself slump to the ground, an oddly satisfying thumping sound resounded nearby from his dead-weight hitting the hardwood floors.

He laid there for a while, his eyes resting closed as he listened to the sounds of the ponies around him doing whatever it was that they did during the day. He heard a pair of hoofsteps approaching him, and while he was inclined to open his eyes to check on who it was, he seriously lacked the energy right then. He did strain his ears to listen to the conversation, though it was hardly a strenuous activity, the ponies were literally standing right next to him, where the fillies he had returned were.

"Why is Blaze Burn lying on the floor?" He heard Scaled Equilibrium ask, the amusement in her tone was not lost on the mentioned pegasus, though he chose to ignore the question.

"I honestly don't know, though if I had to guess, it would have to be that he was just hot from a fay of walking out in the sun, and then needing to deal with three growing foals?" Asta offered, her cheerful voice was helping to bring some life back into Blaze's body, though he still refused to open his eyes.

"Yes, trying to handle three foals at once is not an easy task, but I'm sure that Blaze would have been more than capable of handling it by himself. So, what has gotten Blaze all tired out this time?" The mare continued, now she had taken to walking over to the pegasus, who had slid further into the ground, trying to become one with the oak boards, to become one with the floor. It wasn't working too well, as he was not only still a white pegasus who looked like he had been rolling around on the floor, but he was also still clearly visible. "Blaze Burn. You okay there kid?"

"Mmhmm." He grunted, nodded his head while sliding the last little stretch and dropping his head from its resting place on the edge of the seat to the floor with an uncomfortably loud cracking sound. "Ow."

"You know, Blaze Burn, that I speak with the Spirits on a pretty regular basis, right? They are pretty powerful, and they are more than capable of detecting when the truth is being hidden, though that ability is not exclusive to them. What I am trying to say is: you are a terrible liar." She smirked, and even Blaze had to crack a small smile at the circumstance.

"Can't blame a guy for trying, right? And if you really want an answer: I am fine, just a little worried about where things are going to go from here and all. I'm sure that I'll be back to normal in a day or two, and if not then I have no doubt that you will all find something to cheer me up." Blaze sighed, he looked up at her, and from his point of view, she seemed suspiciously upside down, and when he commented such to her, he was rewarded with an exasperated shaking of her head. He grinned, though he remained steadfast in his position on the floor, his wings flared out to enjoy the cool drafts the ran along the floorboards. "Right now, it is way too hot outside, and I had to haul not one, not two, but three growing foals along for the ride, while wearing my saddlebags, in the heat. I'm just going to cool off for a moment, something that I know Muffin will agree with me on. Oh, by the way dude, there is this amazing cool air draft down here on the floor of you're interested."

"I'll pass."

"No fun." Blaze muttered, rolling off of his back and getting his hooves under him, his saddlebags jingling with the motion, reminding him that he still had spare bits on him. He stood up slowly, already missing the draft, and sighed as he rose to his full height, looking at the foals and Sage who had lined up before him, watching him as he rose. "Happy now? That was a nice breeze down there, just to let you know. I'm going to go to my room and put this thing away, then I'll be right back, so think of something that we can do together, okay?"

He didn't wait to hear or see their responses, he just turned around and trotted down the halls to his room, slowly unstrapping his saddlebags the entire way there. Once he had relieved himself of the burden of carrying heavy, heat-absorbing luggage on his ass, he turned and returned to the main area, where Asta and Sweet Flower had taken two of the seats at the dead firepit. The brown pegasus filly patted the seat next to her when she saw that Blaze had returned from his adventure down the hall. He smiled and walked over, taking a seat next to the filly while the misty unicorn turned to look at him, her own smile shining through the fact that they had returned to the warehouse sooner than expected.

Hoofsteps behind him alerted him to a certain purple-furred mare encroaching upon his seat, and he turned just in time to be nearly muzzle-to-muzzle with her. The pair both blinked rapidly in surprise, a blush appearing on both their faces and he leaned away from her as she took two steps backwards. Blaze shot a glare at the fillies next to him when he heard them snickering, though he returned his attention to Scaled Equilibrium shortly after.

"Sorry there, Blaze Burn. I guess I got a little close, I was trying to spook you. Seems like you caught on there, though." She chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. Blaze relaxed a little recognizing the accident as it was, and he was eager to put it behind them, though he worried for what the girls right next to him would think. While he never had too much interest invested in rumors and gossip, he was not a fan of the idea of him being the center of attention for something like this. He understood that letting the rest of the community focus on something like this would expand and grow out of control far too quickly for his liking.

"It's fine. Let's just move on and pretend it didn't happen, okay? It'll be so much less awkward for everypony involved if we just move on and forget about it, which means you two don't be bringing this up, got it? This was just an accident, and I don't need others harping at me for something that was taken way out of context." He turned to the fillies, who stopped giggling long enough to nod at him with agreeable features, though the moment he turned back to the mare, their smiles crept back onto their faces. The young minds whirring with ideas that most fillies would love to think about: anything even remotely romantic.

"Anyways, I wanted to ask you something, hope you don't mind." Scaled Equilibrium continued, completely undeterred by the fillies' actions, her gaze even and empathetic, which immediately made Blaze curious as to why she needed this approach. He nodded anyways, mostly because he knew that he could trust her with most things, especially since the Spirits seemed intent on him following some specific timeline or something like that. "It something more personal, so if you don't feel comfortable answering it, you don't have to."

Blaze just waved off her concerns, letting her get to whatever it was that she wanted to ask him, which she didn't like too much, but didn't resist. "Very well, if you just want to get to it. Blaze, I know that when you first got here, as the Spirits informed me, that Star was the only thing that was on your mind. You had no other worries other than for your brother, for his wellbeing and his safety. You never put anything above his needs, you never ignored him, and tried to make him as comfortable and happy as possible. What I want to know is: where did you learn all those things?"

Blaze cocked his head to one side, staring at her in confusion, wondering just what aspect of the question he needed to digest in order to understand what it was that she was asking about.

"I can see you are confused, so allow me to explain. What I am asking is: where did you learn the skills to look after Star? I know that your mother was never really close to you guys, and while I'm sure she did her best, we saw that she never even tried to look for you two, it was as if she had just forgotten that you two even existed!"

"Like never even existed to her in the first place?" Blaze offered, feeling comfortable with his understanding of what it was that she wanted to know.

"Exactly, so where did you go to figure out how to treat Star right? I know that you hadn't been around here long enough to see how some of the mothers here treat their foals, so I can stratch that off the list of possibilities."

"Well, whether you want to believe it or not, I actually have actually just kind of played this by hoof the entire time, as in I never really had a plan going in. for me, all that mattered was that Star was safe and happy, and I'd do anything to make that happen. I only picked up the essentials from seeing how mothers were like whenever I saw any in public growing up. That was part of the reason that I had to wait until Star was a little older before I could pull him away from our home: I didn't have all the skills or tool needed to do the right thing to help him grow." Blaze sighed as he tried to remember exactly what his observations had been with the neighborhood mothers that really helped him to understand how to properly raise Star, and it brought forth not only the necessary memories, but also an wave of guilt and regret. His mood plummeted, and his friendly smile soured into a frown as he remembered his failure. "And even though I learned how to take care of a colt, and that I was extremely careful about protecting him from the dangers of this cruel city: he was still taken from me."

"Blaze, you can't keep beating yourself up over that: it wasn't your fault. We still don't know what really happened to make Star just leave like that, and we barely even know anything about the message he left behind. However, what we _do_ know is that none of us are to blame, because whatever happened to Star was something that was beyond even our protective capabilities." She huffed, though her words didn't appear to be having any effect on the young pegasus, who only looked down as he reminisced on the past he felt he had failed to protect. She walked over to him, planting herself in front of him, and gently lifted his face to look her in the eyes with a purple hoof. "Blaze Burn. I know you want to blame yourself for the past, but dwelling won't bring him back, and while I don't want to accept the facts either, at some point we have to move on. There are ponies here that need you to focus on the present, to guide them forwards and to show them what they can do to help us all grow up from the ashes of the past. This is your chance to help foals like Asta and Muffin to find their place and to show them that there is more to this world than just pain. I know that you are suffering from a pain that few can bear, and it is one that will never go away. Trust me, Blaze Burn, I know what it is like to lose everypony close to you, to feel like the world is stacked against you, but take my word for it: things will get better. All it takes is good ponies to do something about the world, to try to make it a better place."

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Sage." A voice that Blaze was more reluctant to hear at this time than anything else, though he couldn't deny that the heavenly smoothness of Celestia's voice did ease some of his discomfort. Unfortunately for Blaze, the rest of the community was much more formal towards the Princess of the Day than he, and those present to see her standing there dropped to the ground kneeling. Blaze didn't want to be the odd pony out, so he followed suit, though the moment his foremost knee hit the ground, Celestia told them to all rise and relax. "I am here on informal business, merely here to speak with a friend of mine. Blaze Burn, would you mind showing me to a room where we may converse in private?"

Blaze had risen hastily, never being a big fan of bowing before anypony, though the request for a private audience with the figurehead of the rising country itself; he was more than a little surprised. He looked up at her, and her gentle, caring smile nearly melted any resistance he could have mustered, and he looked around the warehouse, one that had been so deeply modified that it was no longer able to be called such. This home, their house, had plenty of rooms, so all Celestia had to do was merely ask to use a room, and he was certain that the occupant of the room would be more than happy to offer it for their use.

Blaze decided that kicking a pony out of their room was a little rude, so he nodded and decided to lead her to his room, which was a little ways towards the back of the hall. As he led her down the hall, he couldn't really keep his eyes on anything for ling, and they often found themselves unconsciously returning to look at her, watching her movements for any indication of the coming conversation. He gained nothing from her but the constant warm smiles that he could only deduce to be genuine happy smiles of either friendship or victorious joy. Either way, he was equal parts concerned about her unexpected visit, and glad that she had showed up at all. This made the whole process of telling her that he had reconsidered her proposal to join the guards.

As the pair walked down the hall and Blaze's bedroom door came into sight from around the corner, he could have sworn he heard several sets of hoofsteps following behind them. He spared a quick glance behind them, and sure enough, there was not only Asta following behind them, but Scaled Equilibrium and the nameless pegasus as well.

Blaze couldn't help the shaking his head performed, and he merely decided to let Celestia deal with them as she would. He opened the door to his meager, nearly empty room, holding it open for the following ponies, Celestia entered regally, head held high and basically prancing in a walk. He stared at the others as they got closer, though he made no move to stop them. Asta didn't even hesitate to enter, and as she passed through, she even went far enough as to offer him a wink as she trotted through into the bare room.

The two older ponies showed more reserve, and though Scaled Equilibrium entered the room, she kept to herself in the corner, offering silent support. Well, she thought it was support, but Blaze was feeling more pressure from her to make the right decision. The eldest pegasus in the warehouse had taken to just standing at the door, serving as a barricade to prevent any further members from entering the meeting.

"How has life been treating thee, Blaze Burn? Last we hath spoken, thou had been in the process of severing ties with the Thieves Guild, and judging by the rumors we hath heard, it seems that that venture was a success." Celestia began politely, her smile never wavering from friendly as her eyes scanned each of the room's inhabitants. She looked over Blaze the most, her eyes seeming to return back to him after every time she finished observing somepony else. She scanned Scaled Equilibrium first, taking the least amount of time to look her over, though Blaze knew that was because the two were already familiar with each other.

"Well, I know that it is a bit early to tell, but I can say that so far, the time off has let me spend some quality time with those that had felt that I never gave them enough attention." Blaze responded, not unkindly as he met Celestia's gaze head-on, offering his own genuine smile. His smile never faltered as he watched her summon a couch and sat her sun-bearing flank on the royal red cushions. "Though now that I am finally here speaking with you, and having a coherent conversation no less, I find that this time has been most helpful. I may not enjoy the coming backlash from Al and his cronies, but I had enough friends in the creed that I shouldn't have to deal with too much."

"We art glad to hear that thou art enjoying thine time of resting, though thou knoweth that we hath enquiry about the subject while we are on the topic of those Thieves. What does thou plan to do about them should they wish to retaliate against thee?" Blaze knew, he _knew_ that he detected just the slightest hint of worry in her voice, and the knowledge caused his feelings to go haywire for the briefest of moments. He managed to wrestle them back under control before they did anything serious, but the reaction itself confused him. Blaze looked down at the floor for a moment, trying to come up with a solution, but he truly didn't know how he was going to react should the creed try anything on him. Since he wasn't getting anywhere right then, he answered truthfully: with a shrug. "That is, well we shalt not lie to thee, Blaze Burn. That is slightly worrisome, because thou hath knowledge that the creed is a group of selfish and greedy ponies who would do anything to further their own personal power and wealth. We doth believe that we are all aware that they would happily stoop to the lowest of tricks in order to make thee suffer for their gain."

"Yeah, we can agree. However, I also happen to have made a few friends while I was in there, and I think that those friends of mine will do something to help me out. Though if you truly do want to talk about it: remember that conversation we had, a while back, about you talking like a normal pony. I know that you truly do care about the health of the majority of ponies in the city, but relaying that would work a lot better if you were able to speak to them as ponies, and not as subjects."

"Ah, yes. I must apologize for that, Blaze Burn. It is not very often that I have a 'normal' conversation with ponies, as most of the time I am in a social setting, it is because of royal duties." Celestia chuckled, breaking eye contact for a second to look at the floor, remembering all her past interactions with her servants and guards. Only recently had she been able to open up daily requests from a small number of ponies, however, that was the nobility hogging the privilege. She always had to be on royal behavior during those, else she ruin her growing image, and tear down everything that she had built.

"Be that as it may, I would caution you to never rely on thieves for anything, Blaze Burn. Friends are nice to have, yes, and having friends in powerful places would be even better, for instance: a princess perhaps? However, I do not think that those thieves are anywhere close to the type of pony that we could consider to call friends." She grinned, looking at him with a glint in her eyes that Blaze only associated as glee. "And I have heard some rumors that I just wish to follow up on that revolve solely on you, as a non-member of those very same thieves anymore. Would you care to enlighten me on the truth or falsity of those claims?"

"Oh, that. Well, I guess I can confirm that I am no longer a member of them, so yes. I left them, just like I said I would, though I wonder why it is that you are coming here to question me about this: because I made it very clear during our last conversation that I was going to do so anyways."

"I could answer that, but I doubt you would enjoy the answer, so how about we just pass on that, eh?" Celestia asked, giving her toothy smile as she cocked her head to one side, Blaze following suit with his own head. He kept a pleasant smile on his features, as he was not alone with the Princess, so couldn't be himself totally, especially since Asta seemed to have such a high opinion of her. He scanned her eyes, looking for any hint of what he intentions were, because he knew that she was aware that he was going to leave, and this visit was only confusing him more. He stared her down for ten seconds before her smile dropped, along with her ears, and she straightened her head. "Very well. I suppose we are at the point where withholding any information would not improve our relationship. I wanted to come by to confirm that you did indeed leave the Thieves, and were not merely speaking lies in an attempt to fool me. I am here hoping that your leave from the guild was legitimate and permanent."

"And you also came here to request my joining of your guards, didn't you?" He asked after taking note of the lack of a confession on the part the Princess of the Sun seemed most invested in furthering. The look of surprise on her face nearly made Blaze doubt that she had actually come to do so, but it was forced under control by another part of him that was humored at seeing her face.

"Well, now that you mention it: I wasn't really coming here to ask again, seeing as how you made your position clear during our last conversation. Although, I suppose that with some time to think, I have realized that my methods of persuasion may not have been the best for a youth such as you. I do not wish to bother you about such matters right now, but if I were you, I would expect another request soon." She said, watching in curiosity as Asta had walked from her position next to Scaled Equilibrium and sat right next to Blaze Burn.

Blaze was going to ask the filly a question, but she had crawled up onto the bed, and had snuggled under his forelegs, cuddling up against his white, furry chest. He spared her a confused look before returning to the conversation he was in the middle of. "Well, I can still say that I am not terribly bursting with excitement over the idea of joining your guards."

"Hey Blaze?" Asta's voice cut the rest of the words from the pegasus' mouth, and he looked down to see what was so important. What graced his eyes was Asta giving him the most adorable face he would ever see, her eyes growing so massive, he would have questioned how they fit in her head. Would have because he was currently absorbed by the massive eyes, her little legs wrapped around his shoulders giving him a gentle squeezing, and her lip trembling slightly. She squeaked. "Remember what we talked about earwier? About giving the Pwincess a chance?"

'That voice.' Blaze managed to think for a little bit before he lost himself into the cuteness of this little filly. He did the first thing that came to his mind, which was wrapping his wings around her and pulling her in for the tightest hug he could give her.

"That has to be the most adorable thing I think that I have ever seen." Celestia managed to remind Blaze that he was not alone with the filly, and he had guests to appease, so he gave the filly one final squeeze, then let her go.

"I'm going to have to agree with you on that, Princess. Asta does seem to have this charm around her that makes her just so adorable." Scaled Equilibrium said from her spot in the corner, which the nameless pegasus at the door could only nod to while Blaze smirked. "I do just wish she would let herself be a filly a little more, you have no idea how difficult it has been to get her to wear a dress, or a skirt. Hay, I'm sure she enjoys rolling around in the mud whenever it rains, just to spite the mares in here that a filly gets dirty."

"And how could I ever forget something that we talked about, Asta? You _are_ just so incredibly adorable, that I don't know why you could ever think such a thing. Well, that and I can't really say no to that cute scrunchy face of yours." Blaze said as he pinched her cheeks with his hooves, making her both blush and try to swat away at his hooves with her little brown ones.

"It's nice to know that if I ever need you to say yes to something all I have to do is put on that face." Asta grumbled, finally wrestling herself free from his grip. "Maybe I should use it more often."

"While I think that that little display was adorable beyond every measure, my curiosity is overwhelming me at this point. If it not intruding would you mind informing me of what it was that you two discussed, seeing as how little Asta felt it important to mention now?" Celestia asked, once again stealing the attention of the others from the filly so that the conversation she wanted to end could do so.

"Yeah, Asta brought it up because she wanted you to hear it, though she probably mentioned it now so that she could hear me admit it to you herself. Pretty cruel if you ask me." Blaze shrugged, adjusting his position on his bed so that he was more comfortable, and better prepared to react to Celestia. "Asta made me make a promise to give you a chance, because she just really wants to see me be a guard."

"What?" Celestia blinked.

"I made a promise to Asta to give you a chance, seeing as how she seems to think that you aren't all that bad-" Blaze felt the mentioned filly slam her hoof against his wing, making him jump and look over at her. She glared at him, then motioned for him to continue his conversation, so he turned to Celestia. The Princess was staring at him with wary eyes and looking at him as if he was joking with her. "Sorry, but yeah, that seems to be the gist of it: Asta wanted to me to give you an extra chance, to prove to me that you aren't a bad mare, she did so by utilizing her natural gift of cuteness. I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and I wouldn't mind being able to help clean up the streets a little along the way. So I've decided that it can't really hurt to try to enlist, and that your amazing sense of timing means that I can tell you right now that I'll be enlisting sometime soon."

"Oh." Celestia looked at him, then shifted her gaze over to Scaled Equilibrium, who just shrugged in confusion. She then looked over at Asta, who had a shit-eating grin on her face at the victory she had over Blaze, but when she saw she had the attention of the Princess, her grin morphed into a pleased smile. "It seems that you, young Asta, have been able to perform that which both I and my sister have been incapable of doing. It seems that we are both to be thankful for you allowing us this opportunity."

"It is not a problem, Princess Celestia!" She beamed, hopping down from the bed to merrily trot over to the named mare. "I just want what is best for everypony, and because Blaze is so great at protecting us, I thought he would make a great guard too!"

"Yes, Asta. We already went over this, and I said that I would give it a shot, but we still have to get there. So how about we calm down, huh?" Blaze asked as Asta had started to prance in place, her hooves firing like mad. "I mean, it's not like I'm signing up today."

"Right, because you still have to spend it with me, Sweet Flower and Muffin! Trust me, I know, and I have just the thing already in mind for how we can celebrate." Asta hopped around excitedly before inhaling deeply, then she spun around and looked directly at Blaze, her eyes glinted with a passion that made him queasy. She smiled at him with so much intensity, he had to look away for a second, yet when he looked back, all he saw was an Asta-shaped cloud of dust. He blinked and the cloud faded, revealing a trail of fire on the ground that burned out of the room.

"Well, that just happened." The Princess of the Sun remarked, her eyes turning from the doorway and resting back on Blaze, a very satisfied smile spreading across her muzzle as she accepted that her work had finally paid off, though little of it was her own doing. She was going to have to find a way to reward Asta, as the filly had done something that she herself seemed so helpless towards. "But I must ask, because I could have sworn that I heard you say you were going to enlist to join the guard."

"Yeah?" Blaze faced her, confused as to what she was getting at. "Isn't that kind of how the process goes? Like; don't I have to go to the guard station or something, and like, sign some papers or the like?"

"Well, that is the general process for how a normal pony goes to join the guard, but I was thinking about sending you to the royal guard, so that we may better help you grow into your role as a Gold Blood." Celestia explained, standing from her position so that she could approach the pegasus on the bed, who uncomfortably sat up. "But even if you were just going to try to join the guard, you are still a little young to even try. I'm sure that the guards wouldn't mind the enthusiasm, but they wouldn't be able to accept you into the training, just due to you being too young."

"Hang on there a minute." Blaze sat fully up while Celestia had literally stopped mid-step at his raised hoof, which promptly went to the side of his head as he tried to understand how things went. "You mean to tell me that after all this time, I am just now finding out that I am too young to get into the military? You are seriously telling me that all this time, after all the work you have put into trying to goad me into siding with you: that I have been too young?"

Celestia only nodded, making him sigh in annoyance.

"Be that as it may, being the co-ruler of the nation does have a few perks that I can take advantage of: one of which being that my decisions can trump expectations. I am able to bypass this little inconvenience and get you into the guard with my permission: so I could have had you join at any time that I wanted. If I so desired, I could have had a newborn foal join the forces, not that that is something that I would ever even consider."

"Celestia, please. Just." Blaze rubbed his head with both hooves, while the sound of the other ponies in the room laughing only made his headache worse. "I'll show up at the castle tomorrow, and then we can have a talk then, because I did promise Asta that I would try the guard option."

A pair of wings wrapping themselves around him made him stop rubbing his head and open his eyes so that he could investigate the invasion of personal space. It was Celestia, as there were no other pegasi in the room, but the fact that the Princess herself had taken to physical contact came as a bit of a surprise. He looked at her, with her caring eyes that made him feel far more comforted than he knew he should be, he noticed how her entire face had taken a softer look, as if she truly cared for his health. He had to blink to make sure that he was seeing reality, but when he cleared his vision again; her face had returned to the normal, caring smile that he was accustomed to. Her wing patted his back once more, then she separated herself from him, and the silence hit him like a brick wall. It seemed that he wasn't the only one surprised by the mare's actions, as both the Sage and nameless guy were staring, dumbfounded at her. Blaze was barely able to detect her own surprise, though he could only guess as to its legitimacy, so he didn't invest in it.

"Very well. We shalt see thee on the morrow, where a new day shalt begin, and discourses of thine's future as our royal guard shalt be held. We wish thee an excellent day, as today may be thine's last relaxing day in some time, should thee choose to join forces with us." The hurried tone she had was interesting to Blaze, but he didn't have the opportunity to dwell on it because he found that Celestia was quite capable of pulling stunts similar to those of the young Asta, and a cloud of dust appeared in the form of a certain Princess of the Day. That dust cloud then faded into nothing, though the eldest pegasus in the building did now lay on his back just outside the room. Blaze watched as the guy was lifted in golden magic and placed back on all four hooves, then he decided that that had to have been the strangest part of the day, and left the room.

Scaled Equilibrium followed after him, while a dazed pegasus stayed at the door while his brain process just what had happened to him.


	14. 14 Ice Blazer

_Author's Note: Summer Beak! I should have more time to produce content, now that I don't have college to focus on, though I should be balancing work at some point soon as well. I'll keep you guys updated on changes if they need to be mentioned._

 _I also wanted to mention that this chapter was supposed to be Blaze's introduction to the guard, and his subsequent training, but then things just sort of happened._

 _-Seer_

 _Disclaimer: I don't own any of the lyrics to the song in this chapter. They belong to Audioslave._

Chapter 14: Ice Blazer

Celestia hadn't been in a situation like this in some time: feeling something that she was so accustomed to being absent that it took her completely by surprise. What happened to be just hope that this stallion before her could be their most valuable weapon during these struggling times evolved: and it had evolved so quickly that she didn't have time to stop this issue before it became a serious problem.

This pegasus, this simple Blaze Burn, who had surfaced as a Gold Blood under the most unsuspected set of circumstances, had suddenly just crashed into her life. The last Gold Blood to appear had been some number of decades prior, and he had left his legacy for his coming descendants. Now all, she had to do was get him to join her and her sister, and there were a few routines she had set into motion once she had found out about Blaze Burn's heritage. Though they were ready, she was still forced to sit there, over the last year, pondering just how she was going to go about it. This was an ideal circumstance with Blaze Burn, as he was still young, and quite malleable, making his conformation to their work that much easier.

There was just this single glaring issue in the solution they had to welcome the Gold Blood into their ranks of royal guards: his predisposition towards her and her sister. Celestia sat there in the room, watching this pegasus, whom she had been carefully observing ever since she learned of him. She had been waiting for a moment like this for quite some time, and now that it was finally here, she was forced to accept all the mistakes she had made: each and every time she had pushed him further from them. She was now recognizing all the times she had made this moment delayed because of her attitude towards him, and now she had to pay the price.

Blaze Burn's expectations of her being a disservice to society was partly her fault, as she hadn't taken proper measures to leave the finest first impressions on the young lad. She had come to accept that the best way to deal with it was to start over, and she had been doing her best with every interaction past that point, showing him the most tender sides of her she could allow in public. That was her only real hope at getting him to change his mind: he just had to see that she did care about her ponies, and that she was a capable and protective mare. The tricky part was trying to show it to him without the negative reactions that some ponies had to displays of weakness.

She was well aware that his time with the thieves had taken its toll on him, and that he was going to be exceptionally difficult to train away from. But at the same time: she was also banking on the fact that he had left them due to incompatibilities within the group.

That was what had caught her attention, and had been on her mind the entire time she had been getting ready to approach Blaze this final time. She needed to make sure that she fixed the issues she had created: and she had to make amends as quickly as she could.

So, she came into this expecting some hostility, and then this pegasus, Blaze Burn, just had to go and shatter her plans once more, simply by choosing to follow her original plans, and join her. What then took hold of her was the realization that while it was true she cared for all of her little ponies, some tended to worm their ways into her heart much more than others. What came as a surprise blow for her was the unintentional worming Blaze had done, by showing so much maturity, and a deep passion for helping those he cared about. What was also on her mind, though she did her best to fight it off; was that this cycle, the Gold Blood was hers to claim bonding to, as Luna had rights to the last one.

Now that she was standing here, observing this stallion, still fresh from being a colt, who had taken up family after his only blood had been gone from him. This stallion, whom she viewed as a resource, was suddenly a pony, and she was unprepared to deal with that. She had known that this was bound to happen, that being close to him after he had accepted them as his Princesses, that she would have time to learn who he was, and what he was like. She decided to go with the flow of things, and that making up for past grievances was the best path to follow. She walked over to the pegasus, embracing him with her wings, trying to convey with as much emotion as possible, that she was going to be there to support him. She needed him to trust her and believe her; it was what her plans were standing on.

The act itself surprised her, and for a moment, with her head not in direct control over her body, she observed herself like a third party. The embrace was not something she imagined she would have been comfortable with, especially not since the gap between her last Gold Blood and now. As she watched her own actions, she took the moment to check her emotional state, though she quickly came to regret it, as blossoming in her heart was something she was loathing to have bloom.

Seeing that her emotions were taking a turn for the worst, she decided to reclaim her body from her subconscious mind, ripping herself back inside her skull. The intrusion of herself from outside forced her body back into its original position before her departure, and she stepped back, feeling no end of amusement at the baffled look on Blaze's face. She had to admit that it was rather cute to have his jaw agape in surprise, and it took all of her willpower to suppress the giggle threatening to reveal itself.

Backing away from the pegasus, and finally being able to get a good look around, she could see the surprise that she was feeling etched into the faces of the other ponies in the room. She was feeling the very emotion they were openly expressing, so she didn't think too much on it, but she knew that she needed time to process exactly what had happened to her.

"Very well. We shalt see thee on the morrow, where a new day shalt begin, and discourses of thine's future as our royal guard shalt be held. We wish thee an excellent day, as today may be thine's last relaxing day in some time, should thee choose to join forces with us." She said as courtly as she could muster, resisting the urge to give Blaze Burn a final hug goodbye. In her rush to escape, however, she had forgotten the fundamental aspects of being a Princess, and her distress burned into desire to flee this situation.

As such, her rational mind never had a chance to remind her that fleeing as scene as rapidly as possible was not, in fact, a polite gesture. Her rational mind was currently resting in the back of her skull, tied down and gagged by her panicking brain, and she had done the fastest exit she could think of. Since that little filly Asta had proven immediate exits to be beneficial, she decided to recreate one of those exits, and she burst out of the room as rapidly as her lengthy legs could carry her. Unfortunately, she blasted through the elder pegasus standing in the doorway, knocking clean on his ass.

Due to her exceptionally long legs, she had been carried to the end of the hallway in five strides, and she took the moment to right the grounded pony. Her magic engulfed him in gold, and he found himself back on his unsteady hooves, head still reeling from the impact. With that little issue fixed, her mind snapped back to the present, with her stately duties to attend to, so she slapped on her political smile and strode out of the room, smiling and waving at any pony she ran into as she left.

She was greeted outside by her four day guards, each standing dutifully at attention at the door, who had faithfully bowed at her appearance. She walked between them, stepping delicately into the golden chariot that she had crafted for her not a week before. It came come to her attention that with things cooling down, she was going to need to take trips out to the neighboring countries and speak with foreign leaders. She would have flown there herself, except this was the game of politics, and having her guards and staff treating her like a proper Princess was the best path when dealing with ambassadors of other nations, or more formal appearances with the leaders themselves.

The four pegasi guards stood from their kneeling and strapped themselves into the yoke, the drawbar securing between the pairs of ponies. Celestia hummed in thought as they prepared to launch, not paying any attention to the various citizens staring at her. She knew that what she was doing was most likely impolite, definitely impolite, but she had a lot on her mind that was far more demanding than the attention of some lowly civilians. The only indication she had that her guards had taken off was the slight, sudden jerk as the pegasi took to the air. She was glad for the wind, it helped ease her mind as she pondered how things were going to progress now that everything had been falling into place. She was, as ladies should not do, dwelling on her potential interest in Blaze Burn, oh no. Ladies never dwelt on those kinds of thing; sure they gossiped about relationships, they may even conspire behind allies for the sake of interest. But to actually think obsessively on any stallions they may or may not have an interest in? She would _never_ do anything of the like.

She had to nod to herself at that; she was most obviously not considering any relationship with Blaze Burn. The biggest reason she tried to keep her mind off of him in that respect was his age. She had not lied to him about the age restrictions, and she knew that he had barely started to hit puberty: and she was well over a thousand years old already. She wasn't going to dive into delusion about that.

Still the gnawing at the back of her mind told her that at some point, she was going to have face these feelings, and that very same force was reminding her that she was going to be in an excellent position in a few years to properly deal with Blaze. Luna and her had gone through this little thing a few times, she was well acquainted with the process of watching a Gold Blood grow up, only to fall in love with one of the two of them. She could be patient, she had done so before.

"Back to the castle, my Princess?" One of the guards had asked, the silence being broken brought Celestia's attention back to what was going on right then. She shook her head, scattering her thoughts so she could pick out a proper response.\

"Not quite yet, guard. Take me along a loop around the castle, then thee shalt land outside of the western border of the city, and leave me there, near the ravine. We hath a need of precious time to clear our head and formulate plans for the future." She replied, leaning against the back of her bench, enjoying the wind blowing through her mane, the cooling breeze competing with the heat of her glorious sun. She was going to enjoy once things had finally calmed down, these last few years had been especially hectic, ever since they had overthrown Discord, scattering peace among the lands. Getting all her little ponies accustomed to a simple life full of ease had not been easy up until this point, and she was in deep need of a vacation. Or at least a proper advisor: her current set of them had been rather incompetent about their duties, and had done everything in their power to expand upon the luxuries that only the elite would have access to.

Had she not already had her hooves full with repairing the damage wrought by Discord, she would have asked her sister to help her in removing the annoyances that were this absurd social class from existence. Unfortunately, her hooves were rather full, and until she could start to employ Blaze Burn to take some of her tasks, she was stuck in this unappetizing position.

Luna was of the same opinion as her, and the younger sister had asked on multiple occasions the purpose of the class of stuck up ponies who did seemingly little for society. Celestia had begrudgingly answered in favor of those she despised: that they had the resources that the Sisters desperately needed, and that keeping all ponies happy was the only way they were going to come out of this as one strong nation.

"As you wish, Your Majesty." And with that, silence encroached on the five once more, not that the Princess of the Day was really complaining. She often found that the silence offered by her guards, or late into the night when she was working on paperwork, was an invaluable way for her to re-center her thoughts and order her mind. That was one thing that Celestia was admittedly jealous about her younger sister: this predetermined path that they had to walk, Luna was gifted with the more peaceful path. The Princess of the Night had to handle dreams, yes, and Celestia was well aware of the difficulty of dealing with nightmares herself. However, the peace of the night was something that Celestia truly wished she could experience by herself.

She wouldn't dwell, though, she was happy with where she is now: having to face the blunt of the politicians head-on, she took the stress that she knew Luna wouldn't cope with. She was barely able to deal with it, and Luna was always a tad more temperamental than she was.

The remainder of the flight was in comfortable silence, with Celestia contentedly relaxing in the back of her golden chariot as it did its loop around the castle. Her mind was whirring with the prospect of finally having this current Gold Blood finally giving in and joining her guard. Having him under her control meant that she was finally going to be able to solve a lot of the issues that her wonderful city was facing. She was most strongly hopeful about being able to finally put a stop to the massive crime spree that the capitol was facing.

As the chariot pulled away from the stone structure she called home as well as the place most of her burdens came from, she began to ponder about how she was going to put Blaze into the training programs, as he was a little younger than she would have wanted for him to take up the mantle of 'Royal Guard.' If she had gotten him to come to her when he was even younger, somewhere closer to Asta's age, she could have put him into the intellectual studies, sharpening his mind before he came of age to train. She couldn't change the past, however, so she decided to move passed it and put her efforts into the present conundrum. She watched the clouds roll passed them as the chariot pulled over the castle wall, and houses began to swarm underneath them.

'Give him a modified training schedule?' She thought to herself, while the city rolled under them. She didn't like that, as she wasn't extremely familiar with the programs that her royal guards went through. She had instated the initial schedule, but it had been modified by the captains afterwards, each one adding or removing parts to better suit the times. She barely had any idea of what they did nowadays, but she was sure that it was solid training, well solid for normal ponies. What sprung to the front of her mind was that because of Blaze Burn's heritage, his power and strength in his wings meant that normal activities would be no challenge for him.

She was going to have to put him in a special program just because of his blood, but then she had to consider that he was already a powerful flyer. His physique was in pristine condition, if a little weaker than had he spent his youth in the guards, but she couldn't deny that he had made fantastic use of the rougher aspects of life to work his body into shape.

She huffed in annoyance, wondering just what she could do, because she still had little knowledge of how much skill he already had, and she still needed a plan of action. She deeply wished that she had had more time to get a plan in place that was better suited for the circumstances. She had one already in place, but it would only be able to go so far when dealing with Blaze's training, though she did thank her original foresight. Her original plan did come with contingencies, each with plans for issues like these, where things weren't perfect. She finally had a use for her old paranoia and complex thinking, as it usually only offered confused or exhausted looks from her friends and family. Now that she had a good excuse for her past behavior, she was finding herself in a better mood, though she would have to go through the old texts, just to refresh her memory of what to do under what circumstances.

She was certain that one of the plans she had in reserve would help her deal specifically with an untrained, aging Gold Blood and his training. That certainty put a smile on her face as she finally had these things rolling, and she could almost feel the massive leap that the city was going to go through. Once she had Blaze Burn trained and ready to be deployed, she was going to be able to turn this place around, and fix so many problems, Al Capony being the largest and foremost among them.

The city walls faded behind them, and Celestia peered over the ridge of her golden ride, admiring the beautiful sight before her: the Everfree Forest being split away from the city by a chasm, chipped away from a long-since dried river. She watched as the walls of the chasm rose steadily, engulfing the ponies and their sun-wielding leader who were descending into the depths of stone. A cave appeared, not so far from the edge of the city, yet easily concealed by the maw of stone that put fear in the hearts of most ponies.

The chariot landed a bit roughly on the uneven terrain, dirt and dust being kicked up by the gold-clad hooves of the guards, who trotted to slow the chariot to a stop. Before the device had even come to a stop, the lead pegasus had disentangled himself from the drawbar falling slightly at the lack of any pony shoulders on one half of it to hold it up. The guard hustled around to the side of the chariot, opening the side door so his Princess could exit, who nodded her thanks to him before stepping out. The guard had an offer hoof to help her exit, but because she was a strong, independent mare who don't need no stallion to help her, she shrugged his hoof away and took the six-inch fall like a champ.

Having one her fight against gravity, she landed in a super tiny cloud of dust, then proceeded to leave her company behind so that she could enter the awning cave in solitude. This particular group hadn't been with Celestia on any of her previous trips here, however a couple of the individual guards had. It was those guards that stopped the other three from following Celestia into the cave, shaking their heads at the silent, confused looks shot their way.

Celestia was eternally grateful that those guards understood her wishes without her even needing to voice them. This cave, this simple hollow depression in the surrounding stone, housed one of the most important wonders in all of Equestria: The Tree of Harmony. She approached the crystalized tree, her eyes flowing between the six different stones set within the branches and heart of it. The Elements of Harmony were still grey, having had most of their magical energy dumped into imprisoning Discord years before. She wasn't surprised; they had used a lot of magic in that final fight, and with the vile being of chaos finally reigned in, she was sure that the Elements would take as much time as they needed to recuperate from the war. She took a final step, stopping just before the tree, her neck craning slightly so that she could properly see the top of the tree.

She stood there for ten minutes, her eyes glued on the tree as she waited for the Spirits to offer her their advice. This cavern wasn't housing the Tree for nothing, and while she was never told the exact reason for it, Starswirl had hinted that the Spirits had a massive influence in the region. She had managed to speak with those Spirits only once before, in this place, and it had left her with more questions than answers, and the answers she did have were to completely unrelated questions.

After considering her options, she decided that talking with her sister about the situation would be the wisest choice. She nodded to herself, hoping that things didn't take a turn for the worst, then spun on her hooves and walked out of the cave, leaving whatever mysteries hiding in the cave to their lonesome selves. She spared a glance at the guards, then entered her chariot, letting the guards hitch themselves back into the yoke.

Once she was airborne again, she let the wind ease her mind as she fantasized about all the possibilities now open to her. The largest on her mind was finally having the opportunity to take a bit of a break with an extra soldier she could completely rely on for multiple issues. And she was desperate for a break; working with nobility, trying to rebuild a ravaged city, and then working overtime to repair society had drained her badly. As she imagined being able to enjoy an evening in a relaxing bath, she began to wonder just what was left for her to do with Blaze Burn. She knew that training him to be a proper Gold Blood guard would take a few years, and that was going to be time she was also spending busy rebuilding this world. However, she was uncertain as to what she was going to do with him after he had graduated from training; she suspected dealing with the larger crimes would be high in priorities.

Shrugging to herself, she let the thought slide away, as she felt sufficiently confident in her management skills to be able to deal with that when she got there. With a comfortable sigh, she adjusted her position on her seat to better let the breeze blow her mane behind her, leaving a radiant wave of color trailing after her. She was positive that more than a few stallions, mostly the nobles, had taken a keen interest in her after she rose to power, and while she knew that it was mostly for the position, she also saw the lustful glances they had sent her way. It flattered her to no end how she was able to make so many heads turn, and on more than a single occasion she had taken liberties just to put on a show. The memories brought a smile to her face as she remembered the guests being so completely flustered, and many a stallion had been just a tad excited during those events.

But now she had to consider the future, and mindless flaunting was not an option, between her duties as a Princess and her work guiding Blaze Burn. She was a little sad that she couldn't have as much fun with her little ponies as she used to, but she was the Princess of the Sun, after all, and even she had some wiggle room.

Blaze Burn jumped back into the forefront of her mind once more, and she momentarily entertained the possibility that he would accept her as a partner. She didn't want to think on it too much, as that would be something to consider much later down the road. She did think about what she would want from him, but she knew that his duties as a soldier, and as her guard, would most likely come first. At least; they would until things calmed down and she no longer needed him as a Gold Blood, and she could talk with him as a pony, somepony to talk to and spend time with. She had time.

The chariot landed in the royal air strip, the runway barren of other occupants, as the shift was barely midway through, and only herself and guards were permitted to use it. She would have had an issue had anypony been using the strip then, but her mind was occupied with finding Luna through the connection they shared. Being a magically overpowered being did have its perks, and one such perk she relished was the ability to sense other powerful beings, such as her sister, within a close vicinity. She used this ability to walk determinedly through the entrance to the castle, and confidentially down the halls. She stopped to recognize her servants whenever she passed them, but for the most part, the journey was spent with the guards rushing to catch up with the long-legged Princess.

That was something that she also really enjoyed about life now: things had calmed down, and she was able to relax enough to enjoy being able to outpace her faculty just by walking. It brought her no amount of pleasure seeing her guards having to skip between jogging and walking to stay behind her.

She strode through the carpeted halls, half-mindedly listening to her guards as they did their little jig to keep pace, though her attention was mainly diverted to following the path towards her sister. She soon found herself in the royal kitchens, where Luna's magical displacement led her, and she had to stop at the door, shock stealing her drive to move. Sitting at a counter, guilt painted all over her face, was the Princess of the Night, staring at Celestia as if she had been caught doing to forbidden dance with a guard. Unfortunately for the younger sister, she had been caught in the act of something far more heinous in the eyes of her elder sister: she had been caught red-hoofed, eating a whole Royal Cake.

Crumbs splattered all over her blue muzzle, only marking worse the guilt already present from the last few slices of a towering cake sitting before the terrified sister. Luna's horn was aglow in royal blue, a slice of cake just ready to enter her already opened maw, tongue frozen in the process of reaching out for the delectable pastry. She stared at Celestia, who stared back.

The Princess of the Sun's pink eyes darted between her noticeably heavily sister, the slice of cake inches from doom and despair, and the remains of the cake itself, slouched on the platter on the counter, resting in its final deathbed. She couldn't decide what was worse: Luna eating cake, or Luna eating cake while she was gone, though she didn't really even know how she was going to react.

That was a lie, Celestia knew exactly how she was going to react to such and atrocity, and it seemed that Luna sensed the familiar rage boiling inside the eldest sibling. The Princess of the Night scarfed down the remaining slices as the Princess of the Sun marched heatedly across the kitchen. Luna had just enough time to finish the remains of the cake before her sister was upon her, and as she turned to look back at the white princess, the yelling commenced.

The guards stayed outside, for they knew exactly how this was going to go down, having had enough of a glimpse to see that Celestia's most valued thing in all of existence had been stolen from her in her time away. Luna had always been a tad rebellious, and they knew that this was not the first time the two had had an argument over the sacred Cake. They knew a royal argument was eminent, and they took the cautious path, staying as far from an enraged Princess Celestia as they could.

"AGAIN, DEAR SISTER?! AGAIN?!" Celestia shouted, using her ascendant gift, the Royal Canterlot Voice to force her sister below her. Unfortunately for the elder, Luna was more than familiar with this form of aggression and had formed resistances to its effects, taking the blast of air like a champ. "WHAT HATH THOU REASONED TO JUSTIFY STEALING THINE ROYAL SISTER'S MOST DELECTABLE FOODS?!"

In reply, Luna stood taller, taking a step away from her seat, letting her very full stomach groan and slump into the embrace of gravity. She smirked, looking up at the pissed pink eyes of her elder sister, victory swelling her heart as she was caught in the act: something she doubted she would ever get over. She stole a quick glance behind her sister, only to see the royal entourage had taken to hiding behind the doorframe, peeking out at the wrath of Celestia. It amused her that the guards were scared of an argument over cake, but it disappointed her that they were so weak-willed.

"It is so wonderful that thee thought to join us on this fine summer day, and enjoy the delectable treats that our master chefs hath prepared for us. And what fine meals they hath baked, 'tis a truly awful tragedy that thou could not make time to share the cake with thine lovely sister." She figured she would have a little fun, as the last three weeks had been particularly boring for the Princess of the Night. This argument could be just what she needed to quell the raging fire for some conflict that always burned in her heart. Things had been just too cool for her. "We art sure that thou could merely approach thine master cooks and politely request another, though we do not think that our stomach shalt have the capacity to store much more cake."

Celestia could only growl in response, her rage burning deeper and deeper at the insult topped upon her injury. Not only had Luna stolen a cake, but she was now reminding the day princess that she had done so, it made her want to kick a puppy. Behind her, the very audible sound of guards gulping in fear engulfed the sudden silence as Luna smirked at her little victory, though all the ponies in the room knew that this was not going to end in pretty little cake snacks for all around.

Blaze Burn decided that he had better talk to Asta about her little intervention back there, not because he was angry, but because he really needed to know why she did it. He was concerned because she had never shown any behavior that ever leaned close to emotionally driven, and now that she had started, he wanted to know why.

He knew from experience that Asta wasn't going to just dive into a conversation about her 'feelings,' so on his trip down the hall he tried to come up with a way to get her to talk. He made his way through the main area, looking for the little brown filly, though he got a lot of curious glances from the various community members. He ignored the few questions he received, opting to continue his search for the pegasus before she got too far away from him that day.

"Asta!" He called out when he had cleared the first floor; including her room, the kitchens, the backyard, and even double checking each and every hall downstairs. He didn't really want to go upstairs and repeat this process again, so he stood at the base of the stairs, now calling up and hoping that she hadn't run off.

Much to his surprise, she actually answered his call, and to an even greater extent of his surprise, she answered him from behind. He spun around at the sound of her voice, catching an image of her walking out of the kitchen, and began to blink rapidly as he tried to figure out how she snuck passed him. She stuck out her tongue and his confused glare, then trotted over to him and snatched a quick hug, one that he was stunned into returning. "And to answer the question I know you have waiting for me: I was hiding in the pantry so you wouldn't find me in the kitchen."

He stared at her for a second, coming up with a follow up to her revelation, but when he had nothing, he just shook his head again and tightened his grip around her. He expected some resistance, but the filly practically melted into his grip, sinking into his chest far further than he had expected her to permit. Not going to look a gift pony in the mouth, he accepted it and decided that he had better put into action that plan he had developed on the short trek out.

"Asta, mind if I ask you a question about earlier?" He asked quietly as he pulled away from her.

"Are you going to ask anyways, even if I say no?" She retorted, offering a smile while gently tapping his chest with her wing as she turned to lead him away from the group of ponies starting to surround them. Blaze was glad that she had taken the initiative to take them away from the group of curious ponies who no doubt wanted to know just why the buck Princess _Celestia_ had shown up at their home.

'Touché.' He thought to himself as he let her take him down the hall and into her room, the door being closed promptly behind him as he watched the herd of ponies begin to grow as curiosity grew in them.

"So, what would make the incredible Blaze Burn want to speak with little ol' me about an incident where I helped you grow a pair and ask Princess Celestia out?" She added that last part with a shit-eating grin as she plopped onto her bed, rolling, over the blanket until she had completed two revolutions and had wound up on her pillow. She looked at him with her massive emerald orbs staring at him with a twisted mix of humor, dirty knowledge, and what Blaze could only assume was conspirations. He could almost hear the gears turning in her head, while he was clearly able to see them turning behind her adorable eyes.

"Wow, first off. . . Just wow. Where did you even learn this stuff, missy?" He had to rub his head to make sure he still had ears, and wasn't losing his mind, but the action only made the grin on her face morph into a knowing smirk. "You know what? Never mind, I don't want to know where you would be able to get this sort of information. Anyways. First off: I'm not incredible, I just do whatever the buck I have to do in order to keep up alive. You are little now, and that is only because you are small, so don't be talking like I'm supposed to be above you somehow."

"Sure. Whatever." The smirk wasn't leaving her face, and Blaze had a sneaking suspicion that this conversation wasn't going to end in his favor.

"Secondly: Watch your language, young lady! No filly should know what that phrase means, and you shouldn't be using it, which means that you are going to forget about ever hearing it. If I ever hear you say anything like that again, you are going to be in big trouble, got it?" She nodded, though Blaze was fairly certain that the message had gone in one ear and out the other. He sighed, lowering his head closer to the ground, briefly questioning the purpose of his existence if this is going to be the fruit of his labors, but raised it again so he could finish this conversation and be done with any emotional nonsense that he really didn't want to have to deal with. He knew for a fact that his own opinion on the variety of expressed emotions Asta had came directly from him, and while he wasn't proud of it, he wasn't going to try to deny the fact. He could only move forwards. "And thirdly: Celestia and I are not dating, nor would either of us ever consider this 'going out' that you speak of. She is a Princess, and I am about to become a guard, so I have no idea where these ideas even came from, Asta."

He had to emphasize his point with air quotes, though the reward for his efforts was that Asta had rolled onto her back, rolling her eyes during the transition.

"Whatever floats your boat, there Blaze Burn. And as to where I get these ideas from, I realize that you may not have the best interactions with mares all the time, but I have had more than one forced conversation with Scaled Equilibrium. She has taught me a few things, and while I doubt I ever really needed them, it is nice to be able to see whenever another mare is going to try to take you away from me." She started with a smile, but as the conversation went on, Blaze saw her face drop and become more serious. By the end of her explanation, Blaze was staring directly at the most shocking transitions he might ever see: she was staring at him with a look of deadly seriousness.

He had to swallow his fear, but his jaw wasn't quite on the same page as him. "What?"

"What?" She replied, her face returning to its adorable self in a heartbeat, making Blaze doubt himself, genuinely beginning to worry that he may be insane. He stared at her, trying to figure out what she meant, but his poor simple little brain was struggling to process, and he was certain that if she could see into his mind, all she would see was an empty void. Every time he tried to get his brain started back up again, he'd try to think too fast, and it would all break down again.

"Did you just say what I think you said?"

"What do you think I said?"

"Did you just say that you didn't want any mare to take me away from you?" He sat down, feeling a rather large migraine coming on, though he knew that this one wasn't going to be easily avoided. Still, accepting defeat wasn't really his style, so he decided that he could fight this the best way he knew how: by separating his rational brain functioning from his emotional distress. "Because that is what I thought you said, but that would be crazy, because you know that I don't think any of us own any other. We are all a community, and that means that we are all family, and family don't own each other."

"Oh, well. Yes, I did say what you thought I said, and that would mean that your assumption about us being all equal is wrong. I want what is best for you, and if I think that a mare is trying to take you away, and she isn't best for you, I want to be able to stop her. I think-"

"Hold on there, kid." He had to hold up a hoof to stop her, while his other went straight to his head, where he tried to forcibly remove the storm raging in his head. This headache was pretty bad, and he had no way of preparing for this.

All he had done was ask to talk with her because he wanted to know what motivated her to want to go with him. Now he was finding out she had possession issues, and considered him something that _she_ needed to protect, something that needed to be covered and coveted. He already wasn't a fan of this, and while he understood that she wanted to protect him, he really didn't need her to act like his mother: he had done well enough without one of those.

"Blaze Burn." Her voice got his attention, though it was mostly because he had just told her to give him a moment of silence so he could stop this headache. "I know how you feel about us all, and that you want us to be a family, however, I also know that you have made it a habit to do whatever you can to help us. The thing is; we don't need you to keep us up, we are all able to save ourselves, and now we want you to work on you."

He didn't really want to know where she was going with this, but her voice was helping to sooth this storm cloud shoved into his head, so he permitted it.

"I look up to you because you are willing to put anything in its place in order to help us all, even though we repeatedly tell you that we don't need you to anymore. I look up to you because you are always there for us, and even when you were with those thieves, you were still more than willing to help us try to become normal again. You offered a safe place for us to go to, even when your own life was even crazier than ours, and it is because of that selflessness and generosity that I want to help you." She said, finally rolling onto her stomach and sitting up, offering Blaze a truly happy smile that was full of an emotion that Blaze hadn't been too familiar with on her face: awe. "Blaze, you have always been there for us, so I want to be there for you. If that means that I have to let Princess Celestia take you away, then it better be because she is what is right for you. I talked with Scaled Equilibrium about this for a long time. Blaze, you mean everything to most of us here: it was you who saved us, and it was you who did everything you could to make us become a family."

"Asta. . ."

"Blaze Burn, you have become what we all want to be: a true hero, the hero that is willing to do anything to make his loved ones feel cherished and important, the hero that anypony can look up to whenever they feel lost. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you had not only agreed to give Princess Celestia a chance, but that you had done so without much of a fight. It tells me that you are willing to put your own arguments aside to try to see another's point of view, and when you took us out for a walk around the city. Blaze, you were ready to give those guys the beating of a lifetime for us, and you were there to comfort us when we were terrified. You were our anchor, Blaze."

Blaze didn't really know how to respond to this onslaught of emotions, and his brain had ceased attempting to do anything brainy until this battering of feelers was over.

"Look, what I am trying to say is that; you are always going to be the most important thing to all of us, because you were willing to turn us into a family, just because it was the right thing to do. We all love you for that, and while we will all have our different ways of showing it, the feeling is the same throughout us. You mean something to us, Blaze, and to some of us you mean everything. If you hadn't picked me up from the abandoned building last year, I doubt I would even be alive right now." Blaze had given up resisting the emotion behind her speech, and had taken his course of action appropriately: he got up, walked over to her bed, meeting her at the edge, and embraced her in another hug.

"Asta, you all mean everything to me, too, and I will always be there for you."

"Good, because tomorrow, you join the guards, and you prove to the world that you are the best big brother anypony in the world can ask for!" Blaze's heart hitched a little at that, though he was uncertain how he felt exactly, he knew that there was a combination of good feelings in there, tangled up with a noticeable amount of bad ones as well. He did a double take, hoping that he had heard her right: that she really thought of him as a brother, because his heart was betting on it. She must have sensed his general emotional state, because she squeezed a little tighter, letting him know that she meant it.

"Asta, that has to be the most beautiful thing I think I have ever heard." He couldn't help himself, and he felt the edges of his muzzle fur soaking in the first of his tears, tears he wasn't expecting to shed so soon, not after Star had disappeared. And following the tears were grateful sobs of joy, pent up emotion letting themselves loose after a year of being bottled up. Asta sat there, patting his back as he let it out of his system, silently supporting him and being there to help him through something that she understood was difficult to deal with. She had, after all, learned to conceal her struggles from him.

She had always been praised for being so smart at her age, but she felt like her intelligence came at a cost that she didn't know whether it was worth it. She was well aware that most of the other foals her age didn't think things like she did: she always saw things as more grim and somber than her friends.

Thus; her being able to tell Blaze how much he meant to her, how much he meant to the entire community, was something that she understood had to be done in a way that he would be receptive to. Her best option was candor: straight truth, no hidden information, no false truths.

"And while I am completely blown away by that amazing, heart-felt explanation, I feel that I should tell you that I went in here with something else in mind. I wanted to know why you went all emotional on us earlier, because it isn't really something that I noticed you did a lot." He paused so he could sniffle, still a little shocked by Asta's confession, and as he did so, he let her lean back looking her in the eyes. His smile grew a little larger as he decided to make the heavy emotions just a little lighter. "I came in here expecting you to answer it with something a little foal would answer with: 'because I wanted to put you on the spot' or 'I just like to watch you suffer, and getting the Princess on my side would mean denying her would make you suffer.' And then you go and do something like this, Asta, and now my whole concept of reality has been utterly destroyed."

She giggled a little, but her shiny eyes told him that her confession was still fresh in her mind, and he doubted that she was going to be letting this go for a while. He nudged her a little back, then plopped his fat ass on the edge of her bed, using his wings to pull her back into the hug he really felt like they both needed. Rubbing his wing down her back, his happy smile still plastered on his face, he watched as she leaned herself against his side. Both ponies enjoying the company of the other, living in a moment of vulnerability neither knew was going to happen.

The remainder of the day passed, both Asta and Blaze Burn were inseparable throughout it all, the fact not lost on the other residents. Blaze spent some time walking around with Muffin and Sweet Flower, but Asta had stolen the former's spot atop Blaze's back, which made the colt make super adorable pouty faces at them both.

Wherever Blaze went, Asta was either on his back, or snuggled up against his side, something that he was grateful for, especially since he had no idea what guard training was going to be like. He had never bothered with learning what happened to make a pony into a guard, but he could guess, and in his head, he imagined that they spent a good deal of time away from loved ones. Blaze was more than happy to spend the remaining day with her, though he doubted he'd be able to spend too much time away from her, else Celestia herself would be unable to stop this little filly's wrath. That made him chuckle a little, just the thought of Asta marching through the castle to find him: the image his mind cooked up was more than hilarious.

He sighed contentedly at it as he carried the filly towards the evening meal, the kitchen being full of ponies hungry and weary from the exciting day. Talk had gotten out all over town that the Princess of the Day had taken a little trip to a small warehouse that housed a large group of ponies, and gossip was all over. Some of the community were basking in the attention, some had desperately avoided any contact from ponies for the same reason. Then there were ponies like Blaze, Asta, and the foals; who simply stayed indoors and had no idea about what had been happening, only to hear about it as the exhausted travelers returned. Blaze had a perfectly acceptable excuse: bonding with Asta and enjoying his last free day before he decided to jump into a career that he had no idea what exactly he was getting into. He didn't care, being busy again did mean that he was going to have something to do, as the restlessness was starting to get to him. What did matter, in this however, was his conflict over his desire to protect this family of his by joining the guard, but also his desire to be there for them, like he should have been. His guilt over being away with the creed had left its mark on him, but Asta was the one who wanted this for him, so he felt that it was justified.

Grabbing his bowl of stew, something he had grown to love over the last year, as Scaled Equilibrium was a master chef when she was cooking up stew. That had been one of the things that he was very vocal about, and he loved how she suddenly went all shy about her cooking: he really loved teasing her about her skills, though in the reverse sense, as he praised her for it.

On this evening, she happened to be busy in the back making a second pot of the delicious stew for the community, as Blaze had not gotten them large enough pots for a community of a couple dozen ponies to eat at once. His regret again, but not severe, as it gave the cooks more time to do something they claimed to enjoy a lot. He smiled as he received his bowl, silently thanking the filly working the server's position, and led Asta out, who was carrying her own steaming hot bowl of the food.

The rest of the community had gathered around the firepit, each carrying a bowl or some bread, though Blaze was quite happy that some of the older ponies had gathered in a group, passing around a wineskin, and he briefly considered taking some. He decided against it, as Asta was with him, and encouraging alcohol around her wasn't something that he was interested in doing right then. He lay on the ground with his stew in front of him, mostly so he had an excuse to sit as close as possible to his new little sister.

'Wow, this really feels like a dream.' He muttered in his head, his mind seriously considering the possibility that he has been in some kind of extended nightmare that left him feeling strange. His brain knew that the truth was the opposite, but he did wish that things weren't quite the same: mostly in the department of Star. He was happy that Asta wanted to try to fill the hole, it was just that he doubted it was something he would be able to do for a while. Not that he wasn't going to put in all the effort he could. He nodded to himself and leaned to his left, feeling the tiny body of Asta lean against his side as he draped his wing over her back.

He took a look around the room, watching each of the ponies enjoy the most relaxing part of the day with each other. He smiled when he considered how far they have all come, and in such short a period of time, too. His gaze fell passed the nameless pegasus, somepony he had grown to understand more than he would have ever guessed: the two shared so much in common that it astounded Blaze. The guy was busy speaking with a few of the older colts about their duties around the place.

He looked around the room, then his eyes fell upon somepony he had come to consider a good friend of his: Scaled Equilibrium, the Sage. While he did wonder just what had happened to her, and he was curious about her origin story, he knew that she was going to open up to him later. Maybe once all this guard shit had calmed down, and he was able to spend some more time relaxing just like this again. The purple mare was walking towards them all from the kitchen, a steaming bowl resting on her back during her approach. She smiled when she made eye contact with him, nodding at him before engaging in conversation with a group of other mares, talking lively with them. Blaze would have continued to watch, but he felt his attention shift, and the urge to look elsewhere overpowered him.

There was another group of ponies that did catch his interest: the foals. They had grown on him a lot over the course of his stay here, and he wondered just what lay in store for them in their future. Right now, they seemed more than content to play and have fun, wrestling over each other, and really just doing things that the young did, and the joy of their activities rubbed off on others all the time. Blaze smiled as he watched one of the mothers walk over to them, scolding them for playing around during meal time, but then lovingly help them settle down.

He chuckled to himself as he watched the foals calm down, each diving into their bowl of food, and his happiness continued. If it were any other pony, he would not have been happy with the mess these foals were making: but they just so happened to be adorable foals, so he was more than happy to let them make any mess they wanted. Part of his bonding with his newest sibling was going to be watching her suffer as he ordered her to do her chores.

This was where he belonged; right here, next to Asta, with the community around him. Surrounded by his family, embraced by those he loved, and who loved him.

 _Blaze walked through a drifting field of smoke, his mind uneasy, each hoofstep sounding unnaturally loud as he drifted forwards. He looked around, noting nothing of interest except the constantly shifting patterns of smoke, each tendril different from the next, yet blending into the background seamlessly. He checked behind him, wondering just what was going to happen, but his thoughts were slow, sluggish, definitely sleep-deprived. His brain clicked, and that was when he realized that he was in his normal body, though he did not know why that stood out to him, but something in his subconscious told him it was interesting. His head swerved as he gazed through the swirls of the smoke never ceased, and his sense of direction, which never really existed in the first place, vanished in a thought._

" _And with the early dawn, moving right along; I couldn't buy an eyeful of sleep." He heard the voice, it sounded eerily familiar, yet he couldn't place it. It rang out into the abyss before him, the ceaseless field of smoke that obscured everything._

" _And in the aching night, under satellites: I was not received." Another voice rang out, though he was able to tell the direction this one came from: his head whipped to the right, eyes piercing the dense smoke to find the singer's origin. He trotted forwards, until the smoke around him suddenly cleared, and he was able to see an off-shade Luna, her deep blue had been whitened dramatically. She was almost as light as Rainbow Crescent's shade of blue, though her mane remained as midnight blue as ever, the stars still waving in an undetectable breeze._

 _The Princess of the Night looked at Blaze, her eyes distant and unfocused, as if she wasn't even there looking at him. She walked towards him, her legs stiff and unbending, just waddling forward, and the strangeness of it made him start backpedaling away from her. He kept going until he slammed into something, which made him yelp in surprise, jumping to the right so that he could face whatever was behind him, while keeping an eye on Luna._

 _Standing just to his left was a grey-scaled Celestia, her normally pristine white fur appeared to have been coated in ash, while her mane seemed less vibrant than before. She looked at him, just like Luna had, and just like the younger sister, her gaze was hazed and unfocused, only adding to the confusion that was reeling in his half-functioning brain._

" _Nail in my head, from my creator." Both the Princesses said in unison, terrifying the shit out of him, again making his yelp and leap back, though this time he used his wings, taking to the air. He was airborne for less than ten seconds when there was a bright flash, and suddenly then Princesses had returned to normal, well, Blaze thought they had returned to normal. Celestia was pearlescent white again, while Luna no longer looked like some alien version of Rainbow Crescent, and the mystical breeze blew harder for a second, whipping their manes and tails towards the center of them._

 _The breeze lasted for less than a second, until Luna blinked away, while Celestia dropped to the floor, holding her head in her forelegs while groaning. "Luna, hath we not discussed using such mundane methods of forcing thine own sister into the realm of the Resting?"_

" _We apologize, dearest sister, but there hath been an incident we thought thee would take great interest in. We art here with the Gold Blood, during his dream." Luna answered, shaking her head clear of the weariness from pulling a woken pony through into a third pony's dream. She looked over at Blaze, who was now lying on the floor on his back, one wing pinned painfully underneath the rest of his body. Her horn lit blue, and a magic aura enveloped itself around his midsection, pulling him off his back and onto his hooves once more._

" _You know that I can hear you two, right? Anyways, incredible timing Luna, you were honestly just about to do something, well I have no idea what you were about to do, but it was something weird or uncomfortable, I'm sure." Blaze said, ruffling his feathers to shake the dust from them. Celestia also took the time to stand up, wiping her eyes with a hoof as she took a look around: staring quite interestedly at the swirling smoke that had begun to creep up on them. "Though I have to wonder: why did you bring Celestia, isn't this supposed to be her time to sleep? And isn't this supposed to be your domain or something like that?"_

" _We hath brought our dearest older sister here because she hath requested to peer into one of thine dream at some point in the near future." Luna waved a hoof, and was about to set it down when the swirling smoke caught her attention, freezing her in place as she stared at it._

 _Blaze was busy staring Celestia down, the two engaged in some kind of standoff: Celestia looking a tad guilty with his being cautiously curious. His ears were suddenly changing directions as he listened to the various sounds that had taken up hinting at existence in the smoke. The clamor from Luna's and Celestia's intrusion now dying off, his ears wanted to return to the deathly silence of the smoke. "Hey Luna, why are you here anyways? I mean; it's not like I haven't had any dreams since we last spoke, and I know that there have been more than one that you could have welcomed Celestia to. So why this one?"_

" _Uh. . ." Luna had only half heard the question, having taken to turning around to look into the smoke, something about the atmosphere making her nervous, though she couldn't track the feeling to anything._

" _You know what: I just decided that I don't care, and that I would greatly appreciate it if you let this go to wherever it was. I get the feeling that this is going to be a very interesting dream: singing only happens with the interesting ones." He laughed, and had gotten nearly half a lung out of breath when the noise suddenly died, all ambient sounds vanished so fast that the silence was almost ringing. His chuckling stopped very suddenly, as the smoke's silence was almost deafening, and something felt very wrong, he looked around him very worriedly, and then it hit._

 _He was encased in golden magic, and ripped through space with a loud popping noise, only to be dropped to the ground, facing nothing but the smoke in front of him. He leapt to his hooves as a terrified yell of anger left him, and he spun around in a circle, nearly tripping on his own hooves as he realized what had happened. Now standing in front of him was Celestia, her horn's golden glow fizzing out as her spell ended: she had teleported him closer to them both, with Luna watching the elder's back._

 _He glared at their shared bemused grins, then turned to watch the smoke behind him, once again facing the endless grey that swirled and moved. The more he looked at it, the more it looked like it was alive, moving with intention, almost. . ._

 _Blaze had to shake his head, there was no way that this smoke was_ thinking _._

 _He stared out in the smoke, hoping that his brain was just playing tricks on him, and that was when things started to get really strange. The first thing to happen was that the smoke froze, and Blaze knew that he wasn't going crazy because Celestia and Luna gasped right as it happened. He would have flinched, but it took him a moment to really understand what had happened: he had never seen total stillness before, and the lack of motion made his eyes hurt. The second thing to happen was the smoke began to bleed, or that was what Blaze guessed: Bleeding rainbows. Because colors began to pour out of the smoke in random areas, as if somepony had opened a barrel of cider by banging on it with a hammer, and the wood had cracked. The color just oozed out of the smoke, mixing together to make further shades and colors, and began to give Blaze a real headache._

 _And the piercing scream from behind him did nothing to help the migraine coming on, but he decided that at this point, nothing really mattered. It felt like he had been shown the true way on how to live, though the best-fitting example his shattering brain could think was: nails in his head. The colors ground to a halt, the lack of motion furthering his headache, and he had to close his eyes to stop them from bursting._

 _When he opened them again, he had to gasp, as what he saw was yet more beautiful proof that his song dreams were indeed the most interesting._

 _Laying before him was a massive castle, with glistening towers, rainbow water falls sparkling in the sunlight, all attached to the side of a tall mountain. Blaze had to admire the view they had, flying far overhead, off in the distance, and between two mountains: the only word that came to mind for him was beautiful._

 _Well, there was another word that came to mind after that one. "Princesses: Canterlot."_

" _What?"_

" _This just so happens to be the Canterlot Castle, or Canterlot Palace, if you so wish, while just down the mountain is the actual city of Canterlot." He explained, looking at the confused sisters, who were staring at him with the most intense looks of confusion that he would probably ever see. He looked down at the city, wondering why he had dreamed of this place again, and then he wondered just why he had dreamt of it in the first place. "really is a beautiful place, ain't it: kind of makes you wonder just what goes on in my mind to make a palace like this up, huh?"_

" _Canterlot?" Celestia asked with an understandable amount of disbelief in her tone, though at the time, nopony in particular was listening to her. "And thou says that thou conjured this palace in thine mind, simply a figment of thine imagination?"_

" _Yes, dear sister. Blaze Burn hath created this building in his mind, though we hath doubts that this is from his imagination." Luna said cryptically, managing to tear her gaze away from the palace to look at her sister, who had already done so and was now looking even more confused than before. "We hath some evidence to believe that Blaze Burn hath an ability yet seen in his ancestry. We believe his dreams prove to be a form of premonitions: seeing into the future."_

" _Wait what?" The mentioned pegasus turned from the glistening white towers to look at the Princess of the Night. She turned her teal eyes onto him, and he was able to detect the tiniest obscure hint of jealousy in her gaze, though he wasn't sure. "What the buck do you mean you think that I can see the future?"_

" _We mean not that thee hath the ability to see the future, merely that thine brain is in some way capable of predicting certain aspects of events to come. An example may be in this scenario, where this lovely castle seems to have an event of some sorts occurring in the lower sections, at the gate." Luna countered, returning her gaze to her sister so that they could share a look, but the sound of hoofsteps on stone caught their attention. Blaze was mildly surprised by the sound his steps made, as he was literally walking on air, but he didn't stop or slow as he approached the sisters._

" _I would really like to have some answers as to what the buck you mean." Straightforward, just how Blaze liked it._

" _We doth apologize to thee, but the accusations are not meant to be taken with integrity, as it is only idle speculation on our part, Blaze Burn. If we hath more opportunities for the research about what is occurring in thine dreams, in time we may have an answer for thee. As for now, we hath nothing but our own speculations."_

" _That'll do just fine right now. Give 'em." Blaze said, standing his ground and staring at Luna, who looked nervously at her sister. Celestia, meanwhile, was busy watching Blaze with something akin to admiration in her eyes, which did not do anything to appease her younger sister. Luna had to resort to sighing to herself and taking the best course of action, something she really was getting tired of._

" _Very well. We hath reason to believe the visions that occur during thine dreams are of a semblance to what may happen in the future, be it distant or near. With the parallels that occur with your interactions, but the lack of lucidity in thine dreams, we believe that they may be oracle-like in behavior. Giving mystic visions, not false, but not entirely truthful. It is as we hath already stated, however, that these are nothing but the idle musings given in little time or thought."_

" _Huh." Blaze was starting to get a little tired of all this half-answered shit going on in his life, and that frustration was threatening to boil over. That was when he remembered that this was dream world, and he had already proven that he was capable of doing whatever the buck he wanted in this place. He turned from the Princesses and opened his wings so that he could escape from the situation. Then the giant grey spike of mist struck out from nowhere, striking him right in the chest and sending him flying back, into the Princesses he was trying to flee. It was also at the moment of seeing the spike that he started to hear the music again, and he dreaded what was in store for him this time. A dream within a dream?_

 _The lyrics were fading in and out, but the rhythm was nice, and very clear, sounding like he was right next to a phonograph, with the tube right next to his ear._

' _After birth. . . Here on the quiet earth. . . You. . . '_

 _Then there was a burst of clarity, and Blaze snapped his eyes open, witnessing both Princesses standing over his body, concern over their faces as Celestia's horn burst with golden light. Blaze felt a numbing sensation over his body, while Luna spoke to her sister, though what scared him was that he couldn't hear a word that she said, as the music became unbearably loud. "You thought you made a man, you better think again, before my role. Defines you. Nail in my head, from my creator."_

 _His lips began to move of their own accord, singing along the words to a song he had never even heard before. "You gave me life, now show me how to live. Nail in my head, for my creator. You gave me life, now show me how to live._

" _And in your waiting hands, I will land, and roll out my skin. And in your final hours, I will stand, ready to begin. Ready to begin. Ready to begin, ready to begin!" He let out a sigh, unsure of what had happened, though he saw that Celestia and Luna had heard him, and were staring at him as if he was crazy, though his memory was beginning to fog up. He was starting to forget where he was, or why he was so tired, but the scared looks on the Princesses' faces was alarming to him, so he decided that he had better let them know that he was okay, just a little sleepy. "Celestia, you mind? Show me how to live, okay? Show me how to live."_

 _And with that, his vision began to darken, though Celestia's golden light did its best to illuminate the growing shadows, they really couldn't compete with the sleep that was wrapping its loving wings around him, letting his muscles relax and his mind ease, the stress from the day melting away. As his eyes began to seal shut, there was a violent shake, and they cracked open just enough to see that Celestia was pretty much freaking out, while Luna was staring at him with eyes as wide as the moon. The final thing that he saw before he fell into unconsciousness once more was Luna's horn brilliantly lighting up, and then darkness welcomed him with open legs, embracing his broken mind like a long-lost family member returning home._

Blaze awoke from his slumber with a very long yawn, feeling positively refreshed, and more than a little anxious for his meeting with Celestia for the day. He tried to stretch, and was half successful, with his left foreleg reaching into the air, while his right remained firmly planted to his side, buried under the weight of a warm, furry object. That same warm furry object shifted over his pressure, and a slim, but equally warm and furry, object slapped his stomach. He cracked his eyes open, grimacing with expectation of the light piercing his skull, though was greatly surprised when no light killed his eyes.

He fully opened his eyes, only to find little change in lighting of his room, and while his brain was still running on fumes, it began to freak out, thinking he'd gone blind. It was only when he began to shift around, and the slap of the warm, furry object on his stomach repeated its earlier action did he calm down. He looked, and was surprised to see a tiny, brown leg arced across his midsection, and as he scanned, that leg was attached to an adorable brown filly, who had curled up with him on his bed. The only thing that made her less adorable was that he had sweat a little last night, and it was clinging to her mane, sticking the green hair to her ears.

He sighed to himself, starting to get his brain function back, remembering that he was not in fact, blind but it was merely dark outside. He groaned silently, feeling the rest of his stiff muscles doing the same, and blinked several times to remove the sleep from his eyes. He craned his neck to try to look out the window, but due to the time, he had no idea what it was like, as he could barely see the window frame. He had to guess that the moon had already moved to the other side of the building, and he wanted to know how much time he had left before he should start making his way to the castle for his super, incredibly fun-tastic day talking with Celestia about what training would look like.

He found it highly amusing that he had only realized now, at the great time of 'late at night' had he thought to find out exactly what training would be like. He decided that it was something to kick himself later over, and that since he was already up and fully awake, that he might as well get ready for the surely busy day he is going to be having. He briefly wondered if he was going to begin training today, or if he was just going to be given an overview of what to expect the following day. His mind left no time for idle musing, however, as it got a timely reminder from his bladder that he had not taken care of important functional duties the night before, and he had enjoyed a sip or two. Or seven, of cider that night after he had tucked Asta in for the night.

Blaze looked down at the sleeping Asta, the half of her face that he could see was so adorable, and totally happy. He was sure that he was looking at the epitome of bliss, as she snuggled against his side, though her smile was matched by his more _yin_ feature of a frown. For he was in a pickle: how to get out of the bed, without disturbing and waking the filly.

He was grateful that she only had a single leg wrapped over his torso, else he would have to be able to move her without waking her, and she wasn't exactly a heavy sleeper. Now, she wasn't a light sleeper, either, which is why Blaze was even attempting this in the first place: he knew that if he was careful enough, he could get away without causing a mess. He scanned the situation, wondering just how sensitive she would be to him moving her, and decided that the safest way to test it was to move her as little, and as gently as he could. He tried to find the best way to slip out of bed, but quickly realized something that would only make his mission only that much more impossible: the accursed blanket of damnation! He was under his covers, which meant that he would have to move them, but he was also, for some reason unbeknownst to him, under his sheet. This very much made his question why the buck he even had a sheet in the first place. When did he even get a sheet? Why would he need a sheet in the middle of the summer, when his fur was more than enough to keep him warm? He had a blanket if it got a tad chilly.

Asta, she was laying on top of the blanket, so he was going to have to not only worm his way from under her, the easy part, but also had to work around a blanket, and a sheet without either hitting the sleeping filly. He contemplated his options, and decided to go as delicately as possible, because he didn't have many other choices. Zero, to be exact. He had to get to the castle at dawn, which meant he had to leave slightly before then, and he had to eat something for breakfast. He wasn't sure when he was going to eat when he got to the castle, but he didn't really fancy risking an entire day without breakfast.

He waited until he felt sufficiently awake to sneak his way out of this trap, knowing that failure would bring ruin to this household. Once he felt he was ready, he moved one hoof to gently lift Asta's leg, while the other simultaneously removed the other edge of the sheet and blanket. He left his right hoof hovering over Asta's tiny brown leg until he had removed the barrier of the sheet from his escape route, but once he had enough clearance to move his body that way, he began the tricky part. His hoof carefully enshrouded Asta's, delicately lifting the leg, trying his best to not make it slack anywhere that could be enough to wake her. He managed to get her leg a few inches above his torso before he decided it was far enough.

Gently folding her leg at the joint, he repositioned the leg so she would continue to sleep comfortably, then used his left wing and hind legs to deftly slide to the left. Once he had escaped the danger zone, he let her hoof go, and rolled off the edge of the bed. Half his body was teetering on the edge of the bed, and it was only his balance that kept him from crashing to the floor. He stopped the rocketing back and forth, leaning back enough to maintain balance as he lowered his right limbs over the edge, and silently to the floor.

With enough weight on the floor, he felt sufficiently extricated to complete his roll, pushing off lightly and letting his momentum carry him away from the bed. He had all four hooves on the floor when Asta muttered something in her sleep, but Blaze was quick to react, grabbing his still-warm pillow, and weaving it in her grasping legs. She cuddled the pillow closer, and he hoped that she wouldn't be angry with him when she woke up, though he was curious why she would try to sleep with him. Yeah, he understood that they bonded the day, but it was still extremely out of character for her to just be a sudden cuddle-monster. He wasn't one to complain, especially about Asta, but it just seemed strange to him.

Shrugging it off, as was his custom, he went to the window to see what the weather for the day looked like, and was not disappointed: looked like they were having a day of blackness with a slight possibility of total blanketing unknown fog.

He left the blank window and decided to get himself ready for the day, as there was no way he was getting back into bed, not after the acrobatics he had to pull to get out. He shut the door behind him, hoping that Asta stayed asleep for a while, and his day was brightening since he didn't get that pit in his stomach. Maybe today would turn out alright.

The halls were eerily silent as he trotted down, and the sound of empty walls echoing his hoofsteps made him take the silent approach to travel. He took to the air, hovering above the ground, while keeping his noisy hooves off of the hardwood, and exited the dark halls, to be graced by the darkest darkness he had ever seen. Blaze doubted that he had ever seen the warehouse without any lights on, in the middle of the night: but he decided immediately that he didn't miss anything then. Literally: he couldn't see a thing, the only reason that he knew where he was going was because he had spent long enough there to have memorized the distances between everything. He flew through the empty space that was the main area, heading to the doorway leading to the kitchens, nearly hitting his head on the frame as he entered.

Once he was sure that he would be fine, he lit a small candle near the door, using the flame to light a few of the others that lined the room. With enough firelight to see, he went to the pantry to grab something to eat, unsure as to what he could even make, as most of the supplied they had were for larger portions. Not left with a whole lot of options, and with plenty of energy but no appetite, he picked the first thing he saw that didn't take forever to make: waffles.

He grabbed the flour, sugar, salt, baker powder, vegetable oil and vanilla from the pantry, dropping the ingredients on the counter once he had gathered everything. He walked over to the cooler, reaching in and pulling out the eggs and milk, before placing those next to the other ingredients. He tapped his chin as he thought if he had everything, though he doubted it, since this tended to be everything anypony ever needed for anything baked. He nodded to himself and shut the cooler, walking over to the cabinets that held most of the cookware, grabbing the industrial waffle iron that they somehow managed to get their hooves on. Actually, he knew exactly where they got the iron, as he had stolen it from that one fat merchant about a year and some odd time ago. He also grabbed a ceramic bowl, and the hoof whisk.

Because he was only planning on making a few waffles, he wasn't going to burn through the ingredients he had at his disposal. He cracked open a few eggs, merrily plopping the eggs into the bowl, tossing the shells in the trash bin, humming a song that was stuck in his head, one he had no memory of ever hearing. The song made him think as he made his meal: where was the song coming from? A recent dream that he had? He didn't remember any dreams recently the last being a while ago, now that he thought about it, maybe Luna had been keeping him from having anything noteworthy. Not that he cared, dreams were dreams, not anything to worry about, not like him trying to become a guard, something he still thought was a little surreal.

Hoofsteps from behind made him jump out of his thoughts, and he found himself whipping around to face the guest, crushed eggshell held in front of him. An eggshell thin defense.

Walking into the kitchen was a bleary-eyed Sage, walking in on three legs as she wiped at her eyes with the fourth. Blaze calmed once he recognized the purple earth pony, chuckling to himself as he tossed the eggshell into the trash, knowing full well he would have just dropped it and used his hooves if he had ever gotten into a fight. He spun around so he could speak with the mare, finding her standing next to the waffle iron, her tired eyes switching between the items on the counter, the mixing bowl of eggs, and the iron itself.

"Morning, Scaled. You are up rather early." He commented as he walked up next to her, grabbing the bowl in his hoof and started to beat the eggs. She hummed at him, but her attention was devoted to the items that rested on the counter, seemingly absorbed by them. He watched her stare at the items as he mixed the yolks and egg whites together, curious as to whether she was even awake. He hadn't known anypony to sleepwalk, but then again, he never spent a whole lot of time in the warehouse when others would be asleep. "Are you even up? Is that jug of milk so enchanting that you are just utterly entranced by it?"

She blinked a couple of times, sagging a little as if hit by a wave of exhaustion, catching herself on Blaze's shoulder, who snatched his hooves around the bowl to prevent spillage. Shaking her head, she managed to get her bearings back, and stood up on steady legs as she offered him an apologetic smile. "No, sorry. Just a little tired is all. Can't really say I was ever a fan of getting up before the sun, and I had to have a pleasant little conversation with some old friends last night, keeping me up later than usual."

"The Spirits wanted to talk last night?"

"What? Oh, no." She shrugged stepping back so that Blaze could drop the bowl on the counter. He reached for the jug of milk with a hoof, pouring in what he thought was close enough to a couple of cups, maybe a tad extra, before the milk was replaced with the oil. He mixed in the wet ingredients, then moved to the flour, dumping in three and a half scoops of the fluffy white powder. "Princess Luna wished to have a conversation about your new role as a guard. She seemed a little excited, so maybe this whole thing about you having magic in your blood is really going to be a change for the city."

"Eh." The bag of flour was traded for a small pouch of baking powder, which he daintily added, bad memories of extra powder haunting the edge of his vision. Sugar followed suit, and then in went the tiny amount of salt.

"What are you doing up so early anyways, Blaze? I thought you were going to visit the Princesses in the morning, not before dawn?" She asked as he began to furiously mix the waffle batter with the whisk with enough care to not get the future food everywhere in the kitchen. He glanced up at her in short bursts, keeping a bit of attention on the batter, while his gaze went from the batter, then up to her before falling back to the batter, then out to the window above the kitchen sink. She waited for an answer, which he gave shortly after, with a subtle one-legged shrug. He wasn't certain that she got the movement so he paused the relentless assault on the liquid waffles, shrugging in earnest before resuming the hoof-mixing. "Really? Just a shrug?"

"What? I woke up, was completely wide awake, had Asta snuggling up against me. I was nervous about falling back asleep, as I wanted to be at the castle as early as possible, but I knew that if I fell back asleep, there was a possibility that I would oversleep. I figured that I may as well come out here and make myself something to eat, just in case that Celestia throws me into training right away. Wanted to have a good breakfast, you know?"

"Right. Well, since we're both down here and awake, might as well get everything ready for the day. No way that I'm going back to bed now." She sighed as she walked around him and let him have the space next to the waffle iron, though she gave him a playful shove as she reached for the milk jug.

"What are you doing up, Scaled? If you're so tired, why not have just gone back to sleep. It's like you said: it is still before dawn, and most of the others aren't going to be up for quite a few hours, if some decide to get out of bed at all." He asked as he began to pour the waffle mix into the heated irons, nodding his thanks at her for doing it when he was mixing ingredients. "And I just want to point out that you are obviously still exhausted, so why not get as much rest as you can? Especially since you had to stay up late last night?"

"Meh. Part of it is that I wanted to see who was up this early, because those of us that take night shifts aren't supposed to be back for another few hours. The other part was that sleep is pretty difficult for ponies who communicate with the dead: another unfortunate side-effect of being a Sage. So, I guess you could just call it me not wanting to waste time rolling in bed, waiting for exhaustion to claim me." She answered, moving the jug of milk back into the cooler.

"I guess so. Want me to sing you a lullaby?"

"Funny." She muttered, finishing the task of putting raw food materials back into their proper storage spaces. She turned to look at him, her baggy eyes dragging heavily on her features, yet despite that fact she offered him a tired smile. "But no: I would hate to wake the rest of the town up with your horrible singing voice."

"That's not very nice." He smirked, matching her smile, and raising it with his much more energetic one. "But I happen to think that I have the voice of an angel, and that the whole world has the wonderful privilege of hearing this beautiful voice."

"Ha ha. If you want to keep yourself delusional, that choice is completely up to you, but I don't think anypony else wants to hear a dying cat screeching from my room. So how about we don't, and say we did, eh?" She laughed as she shook her head so that she could get the clinging sleepiness from the inside of her skull, to little effect. "Besides, somepony has to be awake to get the rest of these things ready for everypony once the day actually starts. You may be up and awake, but right now, it is only the two of us that are up and about, which means I get a head start on meal prep! When you leave, somepony better be cooking to feed the family."

"Yeah, look about that." Blaze began slowly, his face sobering up as he looked around the nearly pristine kitchen once more, with jars of seasonings and other eating necessities laid about the back of the counters. The only thing really out of place was the waffle iron, but because he was using that, it was excused from the inspection. He broke character then, a smile piercing his face. "I know you absolutely adore cooking and all that jazz, but it's got to be like five in the morning! I mean, look, the sun's just starting to light the sky!"

She did look out the window, and noted that the sky was turning a light shade of blue as the stars began to hide from the encroaching light.

"What on the Sister's green earth are you doing getting meal prep done before the sun has even started to come up yet?!" In return, she merely shrugged, making him sigh in accepted exasperation. He turned his attention back to the waffles baking on the counter, sniffing excitedly at his very early breakfast, and his stomach growled expectantly at the teasing aromas beginning to fill the room. "I really don't think you should even be worrying about thinking about making food yet, and that you should head back to bed, and try to get an hour or three of sleep before you have to get back up for a long day. Well, I think you'll have a long day: being a speaker for the dead seems to be the kind of job that takes a lot out of a pony."

"Yeah, it can be a little tiring at times, but I assure you that I am fine." She insisted, smacking his raised hoof, denying any need for assistance. Blaze smirked, but let his hoof drop to his side as he waited on his waffles to be done, his stomach being much less patient all the while. "But maybe you are right, and I should at least try to get some more sleep."

"If you want to, the decision is totally up to you, but I would recommend it: sleep _is_ the time for ponies to recover from things. Why do you think I enjoy napping whenever I can?"

"Well, that actually makes a bit of sense: you are one of the more lazy ponies around here when you weren't out with those thieves, or doing whatever it was that you did when you weren't here." Blaze nodded, leaning against the counter so that he could reinforce her opinion of him being lazy, and rested his head against his shoulder as he stared into space. "Before I head off to bed, do mind if I ask you a question?"

"Not really, go ahead."

"Thanks, Blaze." She sighed, her head dropping to look at her hooves as she shifted her weight around, trying to come up with a way to ask her question. Blaze was willing to be patient, something that the creed had taught him how to do, but the community reinforced his acceptance for the need of it. His family could be slow to come to decisions sometimes, but that was okay: he felt that thinking something over was more important than rushing into things. Most of the time. "Yesterday, when you told the Princess that you were willing to give her a chance, and that you told her you were going to volunteer to become a guard: why? I know that Asta had asked you to give her a second chance to prove herself, but I know how you felt about her. I'm just confused why you would so easily give in and offer her your services."

"Ah. Well, you kind of answered that in your own question. I said that I would give Celestia a second chance because Asta asked me to, because you all have made it clear that you don't oppose me becoming a guard. I said I would try being a guard because my family wants me to, and because, while I am not a fan of either Princess, I do want to make a change in the city." He smiled as he thought about how he could improve things. "Maybe, just maybe, I can make a difference, to make this place better for everypony. If I have to become a guard to stop bad things from happening, to make the city safe for not only my family, but for all ponies, then I am willing to put past differences behind me. I know that the Sisters are more than willing to forgive me, as they have made known plenty of times before.

"I don't really care what they think, and I know that you know how important you all are to me. If I have to join the guard to protect you all, then I won't hesitate to enlist: because keeping you all safe is more important to me than fueling the fire for some ridiculous feud." He stepped forward, wrapping the purple mare in a hug, patting her back and letting her know that he cared about her. Simple acts, it was the simple acts that he believed held the most power. "Now, off to bed young lady!"

"I'm older than you, Blaze Burn, so I could send you to bed right now if I wanted to." She smirked, and Blaze was about to reply, but she was already turning to head out of the kitchen. "I'll see you soon, hopefully. And for the record: Luna came her last night asking if there was anything she was going to have to do to help convince you to stay as a guard. She really wants you there, though I get the feeling that she was only here because Celestia had to sleep."

"Doesn't really surprise me at this point. Get some sleep, and we can talk later." He nodded for her to leave, and she made no effort to resist, heading out of the room and trotting heavily towards her own room with the promise of a few hours of good sleep. Blaze didn't need to see her out, she had been here longer than he had, so if he knew his way around the darkness, surely, she would as well. He waited at the edge of the counter, smelling the tantalizing scent of the waffles as they finished baking, and his stomach was reminding him that he had not eaten enough stew the night before for a growing stallion who had lots of exercise.

As his glorious waffles finished baking, he popped the iron up, and was immediately slammed with a wave of delicious waffle air. His stomach growled very angrily at his teasing, and his muzzle began to drool with renewed vigor, though he savored the moment as he inhaled the wonderful scent. Sighing with the utmost content, he walked away from the waffles to allow them to cool slightly, grabbing a ceramic plate from a cupboard, and a bottle of maple syrup from the pantry.

He plated the waffles, setting them on a table, with the syrup right next to them, before he marched over to the cooler, grabbing a stick of butter, and a knife to butter his waffles.

Blaze found his breakfast to be of amazing quality, as nopony could ever go wrong with waffles, and he found that he quite enjoyed the solitude and peace of the predawn building. He had always enjoyed the quiet, and this was only deepening his desire for there to be as few ponies around in moments like these as possible. His sense of bliss was only expanding as he sat in the empty kitchen, the only sound was the gentle inhale and exhale as he breathed, and his inner peace washed over him again. In the silence, with his waffles thoroughly devoured, his mind began to wander, and his thoughts took him to the approaching day. He wondered just what life as a guard would be like for him, especially with the keen interest the Sisters had taken in him.

What worried him, but at the same time filled him with curiosity, was that because of their interest, he was certain that the Sisters would both be spending an awful amount of time with him specifically. It worried him because he knew that they wanted him as their special weapon, which meant that he was going to go through Tartarus in training: but that also filled him with curiosity. With extra training, he wondered what he was going to be able to do: what skills would he unlock with the Gold Blood flowing inside of him? He was extremely curious about what he was going to be able to do with this power he supposedly held, and his dreams hadn't helped.

He knew that at some point, he was going to have to asked Celestia what special skills his heritage was supposed to be. It could be something he could use to protect his family, it could be something that he could use to attack and crush his enemies. He wanted to know.

First thing he had to get out of the way, however, was basic training as a guard. And once he had gotten basic training out of the way, he knew that Celestia was going to make Luna train him extra hard. And maybe then he would have time to unlock his abilities. He looked out the window, seeing the final shades of black and midnight blue fading from the sky, replaced by the beginning shades of dawn approached. With the prospect of a new day, Blaze cleared his dishes, then walked out of the kitchen. He left the warehouse, letting the crisp air cool his body as he shivered from the temperature change, and he let his wings dip a bit. The smallest hint of a breeze made him shiver in delight, the cool air felt wonderful on his feathers, after a night of being bunched tight against his side, it felt nice to have air going around them again. He opened his wings fully, admiring the size difference they had taken in a year: his body may not have been huge, but he was certainly growing right, and his wings were already as large as many stallions older than him. They were one of his most prized aspects, their size having grown to adult wingspans in a year, his testimony to aging and surviving this cruel world.

Flapping his wings, he enjoyed the cooling of his feathers, but remembered why he had come out here in the first place, and he took to the sky. With gently pumps, he rose above the height of the buildings around the block, getting a perfect sight of the sun rising above the distant forest, bathing the sky in golden rays of promise. He loved the night for the quiet, but there were few things in the world he had seen that matched the pure natural beauty of the sun rising over the forest. He floated higher still, hoping to expand on the perfection he was seeing, and he was glad that he had woken early, as chances to see something like this seemed so few when he had so many things to do.

He hovered where he was, loving the sight of the sprawling city before him, with so many parts of it being repaired, feeling his content rising again. He stayed in the air for the next fifteen minutes, enjoying the bliss of a silent sunrise, with no other ponies anywhere near him, and the air to himself, with a gorgeous view, and his own thoughts as company. Once the sun had cleared the treetops, he decided to get on with his day, and he glided in lazy circles down to the front of the warehouse, landing with a skip and sliding just before the door.

He opened the door silently, and crept in, hoping that nopony else was awake, and was grateful that he still had the building to himself for a little longer. He glanced around the main area, happy that the area was still dead silent, and then used the power of flight to take himself over the noisy floorboards and down the hall once more. He only needed a couple of things for the day, his saddlebags, a pouch of bits, and anything else he could come back for. He landed silently, and cracked open the door. He peered inside, and with the new light, he was able to barely see the shape of a still-sleeping Asta curled up on the bed. He slid the door open a bit more, and wormed his way into his room, stepping with the utmost care as he made his way towards the wall that he usually threw his belongings against. His method of disrobing was acceptable for him mostly because his belongings consisted of a large pouch of gold, his saddlebags, and a cloak, the last courtesy of the creed.

He bit down on the edge of his saddlebags, planning on donning it once he was not in danger of waking Asta, though he had to place it on the ground so he could work out how to grab some coins. After mulling it over, he just slid coins out of the sack he had them in, and placed them each in a saddlebag, careful to not make them clink together. Once he had twenty bits, he closed the sack, bit down on the saddle, and made his way out of the room.

He snuck his way down the hallway just like he had entered, and stopped in the main area, dropping the saddle and rolling his shoulders. He was feeling restless, and was more than ready to make this day happen, if only to get to what he was dreading to happen; joining forces with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

Knowing he couldn't delay it any longer, and with some encouragement from the back of his mind, he strapped on the saddle, feeling the familiar weight take to his back. He shifted it around, trying to get it comfortable against his wings and back, guessing that he might very well be wearing it for a while. With the saddle settled, he let out a breath, taking his apprehension with it: this was the day that he finally grew up and accepted what fate had decided for him the moment he was born. His blood led him this far, there was no point in trying to resist it now.

He left the building without a word to anypony, though he was glad that he didn't have to say goodbyes: he didn't like goodbyes. Not after Star going missing, not when goodbyes had been stolen from him.

Blaze shut the door behind him with finality, knowing this was the last time he would leave the building as an independent pony. Asta wanted him to be a guard, the community, his family, desired him to take up the duty to protect the entire city, and his genes called him to action. No matter what, he was going to do this, and even if he didn't join the guard today, he was going to be under the Sister's guidance from now on. Standing tall and proud, he stared ahead of himself, watching the clear skies lighten with the rising sun. He unfurled his feathered wings, and took to the air once more, leaving the life of a citizen behind him. He could have written it off as his imagination, but he thought that the air smelt slightly, off. Different.

The flight to the castle was much different for Blaze this time around; he had no worries about being captured by the guards, no heavy thoughts of finding paths to infiltrate. He had no worries about being spotted by guards and forced to hide from search parties, no desire to stalk those that served the Princesses or the city. No, he was coming to the castle with a mindset chalked full of acceptance, and lined with hope.

Hope for a brighter future.

 _Author's Note: Sorry if the schedule for this is really random. The truth is: I'm currently posting the chapters as I go along, I had a short start when I began posting the story, but then I caught up, and am now writing whenever I am able to, posting as I finish a chapter. If things seem a little odd about posting, that is probably because I decided to pull an all-nighter to get a chapter done. I can't really promise that the chapters will come out in any sequence, as I am currently writing the next chapter right now. I said it earlier, and I'll say it again: I'll give you an update if anything comes up._


	15. 15 Ice Blazer II: Voracious Sands

Chapter 15: Ice Blazer II: Voracious Sands

Blaze landed in front of the northern gates a little harder than he had wanted, but it was his opinion that the surprise looks on the guards' faces made it worth it. And while he was enjoying the bewildered look on their faces, the fact that they sobered up as fast as he startled them made him a little nervous. He chuckled a little as they stared at him with a noticeable lack of amusement in their facial features, which made him immediately regret his decision to drop in front of them.

Blaze happened to be in luck, however, as the guards, a curious mixture of the late-night shift guards as well as some early waking day troopers. And just because life tends to be a cruel mistress, there were even two mercs, despite most having left once the robbed merchants had begun to feud with the Sisters.

"Morning, guys. Don't know if you were told this, but the Princesses are expecting me this morning, so if you could kindly just open the gate, that's be terrific." He flashed a semi-confidant smile, though the frowns on the guards did not turn upside down, and he had to revert to a neutral face after his failed attempt. He did have to give it to the guards for not moving: aside from the little mishap from a sudden pegasus being right in their noses, and the frowns sticking to their muzzles, they hadn't even batted an eyelash at him. "So, yeah. I wish I could be joking, but they really are expecting me this morning, and I think I may already be running late, so if you guys could be some great bros and just get the gate open for me, I can just be on my way."

One of the mercs, who most likely had a combination of non-blind eyesight and a lack of statue-like training, glared at him for a long time. Blaze had tried his best to avoid making eye contact, but the sheer determination of the merc made him uneasy, and when he looked over at the soldier, his eyes were met with the image of the merc staring into his soul. That was the point that Blaze was sure that this merc had delved so far into his being that the guy should have seen everything about the pearl pegasus. It unnerved him to the point that he had to tear his gaze away from the merc. "You look an awful amount like that thief we've been warned about, the one that helped break into this castle, the one that stole from the Princesses."

Blaze was a little nervous, but under the circumstances, he didn't feel too pressed to bury himself in lies with guards he was most likely going to be spending quite some time with. He still had to repress a sigh, knowing full well that this was going to be a fantastic morning, and accepted his fate with a slight nod to the merc who asked the question. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to look up to see their reactions to his confession, as a very hard, and heavy hoof had established a relationship with his skull, and with a dull crack, his vision faded to the inky void of unconsciousness.

He came to hearing the distinctive sound of Celestia shouting, well he assumed it was Celestia, as he had never had chills running down his spine so hard in his life. The shouting was reverberating in his skull, doubling back in his ears for round two, all the while the shouting never ceased. He briefly wondered what had happened to make Celestia angry, but then remembered that he was now in the presence of royalty.

Making an attempt to open his eyes only revealed to him that he was indeed going to regret being an honest pony. His head hurt, like really bad, and he winced and groaned at the same time, moving his forelegs to his head to shoo the pain away. It didn't work.

He did learn one extra thing when he moved his legs up, other than that his headache was there to stay: his legs were chained. He had to suppress another groan, as he knew that making any movement with any part of his body would only make the pain worsen. Still, he was glad that he was at least awake, and that meant that the pain would only go away slowly, even if he was going to suffer until it was gone. He rubbed his temples with his hooves as best as he could with bindings, and listened as Celestia ranted to whom he would now assume was the guards at the gate. He figured as much because she was shouting pretty nasty things about guards being idiotic bags of flesh, and well. He didn't want to have to think about the creativity in her use of language.

He was much happier not thinking about the things that Celestia was offering to do to the guards for hurting his, self-admittedly, sexy ass body. He wanted to chuckle, if only because he imagined the guards were shaking in their boots, but the pain of using his imagination reminded him he had a job to do: not think.

He waited for the conversation to cool down, although he was very entertained by Celestia's treatment of the merc especially, as he heard her tell him a great many creative threats about traitors to the Throne. He took the opportunity to get a feel for where he was, as the ground beneath him wasn't terribly rough, indicating that he had been bound and dragged somewhere else than the cobblestone pathway outside the gate. He shifted his weight to feel the ground and felt, "Carpet?"

The conversation ground to an immediate halt as he muttered to himself, though speaking hurt his head, he could tell that the pain was dying down. Still didn't feel like the smartest idea for him to speak, and his aching skull reminded him of that, making him wince in pain. The sharp sound of steel-clad hooves on marble clanged around in his skull, and Blaze was really wishing he had just kept his mouth shut at the gate. The carpet beneath him gave way to empty air, and for a brief moment, Blaze wondered just what was happening to him.

"How art thee, young Blaze Burn? Thou appears to hath arrived at the Castle early." Celestia's smooth voice derailed his thoughts, and he grimaced at her words.

"It hurts to think, so I would have to go with; 'peachy.'" He muttered, though his jaw barely moved so he could alleviate as much of the pain as possible. While he understood that he most likely deserved to have received this treatment, he also really didn't want to have to deal with it, but he was stoic enough to take the punishment as it was. Not really in the mood for any more communication, and still waiting for his head to finish its pounding, he shut his muzzle tightly as grit his teeth as a wave of pain punished him for speaking. At that point, rubbing his head wasn't really doing much, so he just accepted it and let his legs hang limply at his side. Well, they would have hung limply, except they didn't obey his commands, and stuck at the sides of his head. Then he knew that he was being held up by magic, most likely Celestia's.

"Doth thou need any assistance?" The honest question, while making his skull vibrate, did make him wonder if she was even able of offering any help that he could use. He nodded numbly while taking the pain as it came, not knowing what she was going to be able to offer, but grateful for the offer itself. He was then, greatly surprised when the pain began to diminish at an astonishing rate, and he was soon left with only memories of the pain. He cracked open his eyes, instinctively wincing at the difference in lighting, but as his eyes adjusted, he was able to appreciate being free once more. He smiled at the Princess before him, giving her his thanks as he was lowered to the ground, and began to look around.

"Thank you, Princess Celestia." He felt so much better that he even took the time to give her a short bow, before he returned to giving the room a thorough scanning with his eyes. They were standing in a carpeted hallway lined with numerous doors, but in a section of the castle that Blaze was unfamiliar with, and they were not alone. Standing at either side of the door directly behind Celestia, were two guards strapped in slightly beaten gold armor. They stood still as statues, and stared off into space with hardened eyes that made Blaze wonder if he would ever obtain. He didn't object to the look of a hardened pony capable of protecting his family, but he was still trying to cope with his new reality. "And yes, I did happen to get here a little early. I just wanted to be able to go over some things about the program and such with you before I began training."

"Oh, well then. How would thou like to join thine Princess for breakfast, as it is still early in the morn, and we hath much to discuss?" She stepped to the side, indicating with her gold-clad hoof the room she had presumably come from; a lavish dining area that housed a single rectangular table. Blaze glanced at the table, and while he had just eaten before his trip to the castle, he figured it would be highly inappropriate to deny the Princess. Especially when she already had several guards on standby in case of emergencies.

"I'd be honored, Princess Celestia." He bowed again, really hoping that he didn't do much to piss off these guards, as he was sure that while Celestia was looking out for him the last time, he doubted she would pardon any disrespectful behavior while they were in public view.

Celestia stood at the door for a moment, a highly amused on her face as she pondered Blaze's reaction, though the face itself was enough to worry him. She stared at him for a few more seconds before turning around and entering the dining area, Blaze hesitant to follow. Eventually, he walked through the doorways, though he jumped as they shut behind him, sealing him in with the Princess of the Sun, alone and unsure as to what he was going to do. He looked around, trying to get a feel for the room, the far wall, the one to catch his interest, had a row of large windows gracing the length of the room. Each window was stained the colors of the morning sunrise, and was sectioned into organic circles and grooves, giving the impression that the sun was made of stained glass.

It helped that the wall was facing east, so that the morning sun only illuminated the glass with life that made it truly stunning to look at. The fact was made apparent when Celestia had to clear her throat to get his attention, and he nearly jumped again when he realized that he had been staring at the windows. "I also enjoy looking at the panes after I raise the sun: it makes for a truly beautiful sight, does it not?"

"Yeah, pretty." He replied in an even tone, shaking his head so that he could look at Celestia and she what she was up to. She had taken her seat at the head of the table, a massive stack of pancakes resting in front of her, and she was looking at him with a look unrecognizable to Blaze. When he had turned to look at her, her gaze shifted nearly immediately to her pancakes, but he caught her looking at him whenever he turned to look away. He was tempted to play the game, but decided that standing in the doorway seemed to be unproductive to what he was trying to do.

He walked to the middle of the table, taking one of the many empty chairs and seating himself as 'posh'-y as he thought he should. His efforts were rewarded by an unforeseen giggle from the Princess, which incited his curiosity and he glanced at her. She was sitting as all ponies seemed to sit a table, as ponies usually sat in general, and her horn had lit an illustrious gold. A fork and knife were glowing in the same shade of rich as her horn, and the former was already bearing the weight of syrup-laden pancake slices. While she had food in front of her, her attention seemed to be drawn to the Gold Blood, something that neither was sure what to follow with. Their eyes were locked in a strange stare down, one waiting for the other to break contact, but neither willing not wanting to continue, though they did through unknown motivations. Celestia knew why she wanted to look, and though she was fighting against it, she feared that she was going to have to tread lightly whenever she was around him, else she force him into training to early. She was anxious to have a proper Gold Blood at her side again.

After what felt like an eternity in combat, a butler walked through one of the doors that Blaze had yet to observe yet. The butler was your standard earth pony, light cream in color, a mane and tail brushed in orderly blues, and the black suit with the bowtie only sealed the image further. The butler stared straight ahead, as if the sight of Blaze Burn were nothing more than normal occurrence, and made a slow beeline for Celestia.

While Blaze watched the butler make his entrance, Celestia had been munching on her pancakes, anxious for the butler to reach her so that she could tell him that she would take her morning cake now. She smiled when he reached her, wiping her muzzle daintily, as royalty should, and nodded for him to take her now-empty plate.

The butler politely reached for her plate, and turned to head back through the door, though he paused in front of Blaze Burn. The butler stood straight in front of Blaze before turning to fully face the pearl pegasus. "Is there anything that thee would like for thine morning meal?"

"I'm good. I ate before coming here." Blaze tried to offer a smile, though he wasn't sure that that was what came out. If his face was displeasing to look at, the butler made no indication of such, and simply nodded and bowed before turning again and heading back through the doors. Blaze wondered what to do with that, and just as he was about to leave it be and resume looking around the room, Celestia shifted at the edge of his vision, just catching his attention. He turned to look at her, though nothing struck him as off, she did have that content smile on her face again. He had the sneaking suspicion that the face was something he was going to have to get used to if he stayed as a guard, or if she took the time to get to know him. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of that: spending time with Celestia wasn't a thrilling thought, but he knew that she was going to take an interest in his guardship training, even if only for her own reasons.

"It would seem that thou art uncomfortable, though we shalt admit that we find thine emotions to be concerning, thou should know that there shalt be nothing to fear." She spoke in her heavenly tone, the one that Blaze found overly soothing, and a bit alarmingly comforting. He shivered as he thought about the music in her voice, and he had to admit that he was worried at how much he enjoyed listening to her talk. He supposed that he now had a reason to believe why she had gained popularity so rapidly: anypony could have assumed the throne, but she made herself sound like a caring leader that was utterly devoted to helping all her subjects.

He also had to admit that when he didn't think about the fact that she had assisted criminals taking control of the undercity, she genuinely seemed to care about ponies. But the image was really tainted once he thought about what she had done to keep that image the way it was. "I guess you could say that I'm a little uncomfortable, yeah. I'm sitting in Princess Celestia's dining hall, sitting around doing nothing as the Princess of the Sun eats her breakfast. I have no idea what to expect, and I'm not sure what to do, because I don't want to interrupt your meal, but sitting in silence is really awkward."

"Oh." She seemed to pout for a moment, her gaze dropping as she thought, though her ruminations were cut short when the door the butler had used opened once more, and in walked that very same butler. This time, he had a large silver dining tray on his back as he approached the Princess. As he settled the large covered platter in front of her, she thanked him and he left them alone again, though his arrival had provoked Celestia's delighted grin. Her eyes were lit with passion, and for a moment, the lid to the platter glowed gold, her magic ready to reveal the food beneath. Blaze had to briefly wonder just what else Celestia had to eat for breakfast, as he had seen her eat a dozen massive pancakes. He would have commented on her quantity of food, but that whole thing about telling a mare how much to eat, and the idea of a mare and her weight came to the front of his mind, effectively sealing his mouth shut.

He was ready to see her rip the lid off the food so she could begin to eat, but conflict quickly rose on her face, and he caught her casting quick glances towards him. He was curious about what she was thinking, but before he could ask her about it, she seemed to come to a conclusion, and the golden aura around the lid fizzled out. She lifter her gaze to look at him with that usual warm smile he figured she wore all the time, though he detected hints of glee in her posture.

"Would thou like to share this lovely cake with us?" She immediately asked him, making him blink in surprise, and he even had to lean closer to her to clarify what she had said. There was a flash, and the lid was lifted in a shining golden aura, revealing a carrot cake, complete with what appeared to be a large frosting carrot on top. His jaw dropped, and the sly little grin on her face only grew, though Blaze couldn't know why. He still had to blink several times to make sure that he was indeed offering to share a cake with him, in the bucking morning, for breakfast. After she had just eaten two ponies' worth of pancakes.

He did lick his lips though: that carrot cake smelled absolutely delicious, and while he did have waffles for breakfast, it looked very appealing. Still, his will to resist won out, and he had to lean back in his chair, politely shaking his head. Her smile seemed to waiver a bit, and she sagged ever so slightly that Blaze wondered if she had shifted at all. She set the lid to the side, and almost defeatedly used her magic to lift a fork to the cake. Once she was chewing on a bite of the cake, her demeanor seemed to return to normal, and her blissful smile returned to her face as she ate the cake, bite by bite. Blaze watched her for the first two bites, but lost interest and decided to look around the room. While he did so, his mind was constantly asking the same question over and over, unable to figure out the answer: Was Celestia going to eat that whole cake for breakfast? Or was she going to eat some of it, call in the butler, and have it saved for lunch?

He had finished counting the doors that led to different parts of the castle, most likely parts that he had never been to. He had been counting for all of ten seconds, and before he could look at the windows once more, simply because he found them truly beautiful, something totally unbelievable was sitting at the edge of his vision.

He blinked slowly, hoping that what he barely saw was merely a figment of his imagination, but the more his subconscious registered it, the more his disbelief and shock rose. He slowly turned his head to look at Celestia, who was grinning nervously at him, her own shock at the situation making itself a touch noticeable on her face. Her muzzle had a few crumbs of carrot cake on them, and there were a few more clinging to her bare chest, something else that Blaze had failed to notice. What really caught his attention, and both of their surprise, was the sudden lack of a carrot cake sitting in front of Celestia.

"Celestia, I've been looking away for, maybe, fifteen seconds: there is no way that you ate an entire cake in that time." He observed, staring at the clean platter before the Princess, and even as he watched, the Princess' crimson tongue snaked its way around her muzzle, removing any evidence of there ever having been an actual cake. He watched a blush rise on her cheeks, though he was far too stunned to believe that what he had just witnessed, or not really witnessed, had actually happened.

"I may have gotten a little into the cake." She muttered, looking at the literally licked clean platter, and the only crumbs left were somehow on her chest, so she looked as accusingly at those as she could. "Where did you take the cake, little crumbs?"

"Celestia." Blaze said, catching her attention was more, and he suddenly realized he didn't know what to say, so he frowned and waved his hoof in the air. "Never mind.

"Actually, I think now would be the perfect time for us to begin to talk about what I'm going to need to do to become a guard." He said decidedly, watching as her face stooped a little, though he wasn't worried: he knew she would get over it. "Though I have to thank you for offering some of your cake, I know how much you love cake."

"You have no idea." She whispered to herself as she prepared to stand up, hoping that the carrot cake in her fur fell out before she left. She still needed to put on her chest plate, and the only reason she had it off right now was because she was hoping to spend a little longer relaxing with Blaze Burn. Him arriving early was a surprise for her, though she was not one to complain, and the fact that she had teleported said breastplate shortly after sitting down was still echoing in her mind.

'What were you thinking, Celestia? He still has so long to go before he will ever consider you, so how about you take his training seriously, because he is talking to you right now.' Her mind had to remind her to focus, and as she brought her attention back to reality, she smiled at Blaze, letting him know that she was listening. She was really riding on him not having just asked her a question.

". . . and while I agree that training would be best held off until I get a little older, I really think that I can hold my own. The only thing that I am worried about right now, is that I have absolutely no bucking clue what I would be doing, so it would be great if you could offer me some advice on what I am going to do." He asked as he leaned back in his chair, his deep blue eyes staring into her bright pink ones, and something in the back of her head had to remind her how to pony. Her smile frowned up, but returned to normal as she remembered that he was talking to her, and she inwardly cursed her air-headedness right then when she really needed to focus.

"Right. We art most pleased that thou sincerely wishes to enlist and begin physical training so soon, however, our original statement still stands true. Thou art still too young to begin the training regimen that our guards use, and as believing we shalt be, thine statement that thou art capable. We just cannot allow thee to engage in the physical test we put our guards through, not yet." She stood from her seat, Blaze mimicking her, though Blaze's brow furrowed at her apologetic face. Blaze followed Celestia as she led him out of the dining room, the sounds of their hooves on the stone floor echoing uncontested through the silence of the guards in the early morning. "We doth apologize, as we know that thou hath a great amount of excitement directed towards growing your abilities. However, we believe that it shalt be in thine best interests to wait until thine body is matured enough to resist the stress thou shalt endure."

"Can I just stop you here for a moment, Princess?" She actually stopped, her hoof still in the air as she leaned her head to the side looking at Blaze from around her flowing mane. He nearly bumped into her, but managed to stop himself before he made that mistake, though he was significantly less smooth about the abrupt stop than the two guards tailing behind them. It seemed they were much more used to their leader stopping for sudden reasons.

She looked at him with the usual intrigue and confusion that he had seen on her face multiple times, and each time it made him want to chuckle. Like every time before, he held back the chuckle, though he had extra motivation in the form of two armored guards standing at his back, ready to take any reason to drag him to the ground.

"I know that you like to keep up appearances and all that fun stuff, but I get the impression that we aren't here on formal business. With that in mind, it'd be absolutely fantastic if you could just not talk like that, it gives me a headache." He said with a touch of hesitation in his tone, he had to tread carefully with the guards, but he felt secure enough to bring the request to the Princess, seeing as how she had wanted him to get comfortable around her. Celestia's gaze drifted off of Blaze for a second, and she appeared deep in thought to him, though in the privacy of her own mind, she was making a note to deal with this conflict later. She smiled at him, nodding once, before they continued on their way, with a much less stressed Blaze not feeling the need to watch over his shoulder at the shadowing guards.

"But it is as we have already said, Blaze Burn: we don't think that having you training with the guards as of yet to be a good idea. My sister and I agree that it would be beneficial to get you under training as soon as possible, but we think that mental training would be best." She stopped again, though this time it was so she could look out a balcony that they had stepping in front of. Blaze was doing his best to remember the course that they had taken, as he was certain that he was going to have to see himself out, but he was very unfamiliar with this part of the castle.

"Well, thanks for the concern, Princess, but I think that I will be able to handle anything you put the guards through. Working with the thieves may not have been the ultimate workout, but I spend a lot of time exercising, and I think I'll do just fine."

"I must wonder, ever briefly off the discourse we are on, as to why you are suddenly referring to me as 'Princess,' as you have never shown an interest in titles before now. Would you mind elaborating on the subject?" The question threw him off a bit, as it was as he said: off topic and sudden. Still he shrugged as her horn lit up and the doors swung open, a blast of refreshing morning air invading the carpeted hallway. She led him to the balcony, which overlooked a lovely miniature garden, complete with statues of various creatures, hedges, flower bushes, and a central fountain. He stopped just before she did, turning his head back to watch the guards, each of them having reached for the doors once him and Celestia had passed through. They made short eye contact, though Blaze noted that the guards had a stone cold expression, no emotion he could detect was getting out of them.

"I mean, yeah: especially since your guards just closed the doors, sealing us out here until you get your answer, am I right? Well, to answer your question, I got one of my own: do you want an honest answer or the one that sounds pretty?" He asked coolly, walking over to the railing, and leaning against it as he met Celestia's gaze. She seemed mildly amused by the gesture, though her eyes glistened with energy that Blaze would not have figured a pony like Celestia to have this early in the morning. Maybe it was the cake that she had inhaled earlier.

"Honest."

"I'm calling you Princess in front of your guards because I'm terrified shitless that they are going to beat me senseless if I don't address you with 'proper respect.' So whenever we are in front of other ponies, or at least, the guards or those posh ponies who take up all your time, I'm going to act like a behaving citizen. Just as I would expect you to speak to me like I'm an old-timer with that language of yours, which always gives me a headache." He explained, sighing as he looked back at the door, really hoping that he didn't have to deal with them hazing him or whatever. He wasn't looking forward dealing with their shit, especially if they feel that Celestia is favoriting him because of whatever reason she has.

"Oh. Blaze Burn, you know that I would not allow them to harm you: that is to come later, once the real training for you begins." She answered with a sly smirk on her face, which Blaze could only chuckle at as he shook his head, internally wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

"Very well. If you insist that I'm not going to have my flank hoofed to me on a silver platter, then I have no choice but to trust in your instincts. And as for the beatings I'm going to receive during this training you have planned for me; I think that I'll manage just fine." He puffed his chest out confidently, because even if he was going to be put through Tartarus, he knew that he would come out stronger than before if it meant he could protect his family. "I guess you'll be putting together everything you can think of to try to beat my awesomeness, because these guards don't know what real challenges are like."

"Cocky, much? Trust me, Blaze Burn, that when I say I have something in mind for _you_ , it is something that is meant to test and challenge the Gold Bloods, who would have had grown up under my guidance. Blaze Burn, I will show you what it is like to be broken down, and made anew."

"Misinformation, dearest sister. It would be hath to contain far more accuracy to say that thou would teach thine Gold Blood how to act as noble as possible." The sudden interruption of a certain royal blue Princess took both ponies by surprise, and rising from the pathway in the garden below, Luna landed on the balcony. She smiled warmly at her sister, approaching her and the two engaged in gently sibling-nuzzling, though the act made Blaze wonder if he would ever achieve that bond with Asta. He had to shake the thought free, because matters on hoof demanded his attention.

"Luna." He said quietly with a short bow, before he took up his original position against the railing, though the act itself earned him a curious eyebrow from the Princess of the Night.

"When hath Blaze Burn began bowing to royalty, dear sister? We feel obligated in admitting this curious behavior is most peculiar, if past behaviors are to be under judgement." She stepped away from her sister, looking Blaze over, as if trying to find where his most appraising aspects were hidden. He would be lying if he didn't admit that he felt a little uneasy under her stare, as if she was seeing far more than he was thinking she did. He squirmed a little, though the shivers that ransacked his body were subtle enough to stay hidden underneath his fur.

"He was just explaining that he wants to keep this attitude up for as long as he is joining forces with us, Luna. For the sake of appearances, he is willing to cooperate with our desires, and will behave as he properly should."

"Oh, dear Celestia, and pray tell: which of those desires are you asking him to cooperate with?" The quiet question was not asked quietly enough for poor young Blaze to ask, and the equally burning blush that spread across both Celestia's and his own cheeks were evident to the volume of insinuated topics. "Because I do recall you mentioning some time back that he was-"

"Alright that's enough!" Blaze raised his voice, cutting off whatever Luna was about to say, and he really wasn't interested in hearing it: he had other priorities to worry about, and he was disinterested in exploring _that_ topic yet. Luna only grinned at him, while Celestia remained as red-cheeked as ever. "Look, as much as I would like to enjoy these conversations, I didn't really come here for idle banter. The sooner I can begin to train to be a guard, the better for everypony involved: which includes you two, me, and my family. So, the question I have, and had have since I decided to do this thing is: when can I begin training?"

"Doth thou truly wish to begin thine abuse so quickly? Thou hath no knowledge of what awaits thee in thine training to be one of the great Gold Bloods, and thou still insist upon the challenge without council?" Luna asked, cocking her head to the side in a curious motion, looking at Blaze in a different eye than she had before. She was starting to understand what it was that had first caught Al's fear: Blaze was headstrong, determined, and uninterested in the usual bullshit that was often found in hierarchies. If Luna was going to be honest with herself, she kind of respected his desire to jump straight into the difficult parts, and to deal with the challenges as they came. But then she reminded herself that it was foolishness like this that broke ponies in the worst of ways. "While we must appraise thee for thine enthusiasm, we must side with our dear sister on this matter. Our regimen for training thine ancestry hath always been trying in the extreme, and thou appear to be far younger than we hath desire for to begin the physical training.

"When thou reaches an age appropriate for the hardship of physical reconstruction, Princess Celestia shalt send thee to us to train. Until that point, we hath an arrangement under effect at this moment, and thee shalt study under mine dearest sister, learning the skills of the noble, of the scholar, and gaining the knowledge that is reserved for intellectuals." With that Luna made her way through the doors of the balcony and went back into the castle, presumably to get her last meal of the morning before heading off the sleep. Celestia made to follow her, but stopped before she took a single step, instead choosing to discuss what her plans were for Blaze, seeing as how he was already here, and she did want to get him started on whatever training she could muster.

"Blaze Burn, doth thou enjoy reading?" She asked, turning back to him with that gentle, caring face of hers. Blaze shrugged, he knew how to read, but it wasn't something that he took enjoyment out of as he never spent a lot of time doing it. He had other things that he had to do other than sitting down and reading a book about useless information. "Well, thou would be best off it thou tried to find pleasure from it, for thou shalt be doing a notable amount of reading under my education."

She motioned with her wing for him to follow, and went inside, with the two guards from earlier taking flanking positions behind her, while also enclosing him between the three of them. Blaze noticed how they closed his options of gaining headway on the Princess, and he also noticed how they kept eying him, sizing him up.

"How much reading are you planning for me to do, Princess?" He asked tentatively, watching how the guards would react to his question from the corner of his eyes. She didn't even stop when she answered, she only kept on trucking forwards.

"We hath an educational program for the more elite guards to go through, but we imagine thee would be far better suited to be given a proper education. Thine studies shalt include history, mathematics, language, so on and so forth. Do not fret, Blaze Burn, thine studies art to be expansive and thorough, for thine responsibilities as our guard means thine knowledge of the fine details in life art to be of maximum quality possible." She led him through the barren throne room, and Blaze was surprised to see only two guards standing at attention at the other end, waiting at the main door that would lead outside. Celestia didn't pay them any mind as she led him through to the other end of the castle, in regions he was far more familiar with.

She walked him through the halls, leading him to the castle library, a region that he assumed he would be well acquainted with before his time with her was over. As she walked through the doors, the guards following them stomped on the ground before taking positions at the door. Blaze watched their movements, briefly wondering if he would look that ridiculous in golden armor, stomping around and just being so lifeless. He hoped not.

Remembering that he was here for a reason, he trotted to catch up with Celestia, who was walking to an empty table, her horn glowing as she used her magic to grab a book or two. Or seven, seven works too. Blaze stared with wide eyes at the seven large tomes now sitting on the table, each bound in aged leather and practically reeked of ancient knowledge.

"These four tomes detail the history of our country as the late Starswirl the Bearded hath declared to be documented." She said, indicating with a hoof to four thick books bearing green-dyed leather with a lack of words etched into the spine. He walked over to the table, seating himself in the chair and looking at them, each one had an image of the head of either a unicorn, earth pony, or earth pony that had a feathered wing behind it. The final book was a deeper shade of green than the last, and the cover only bore the image of both Celestia's and Luna's heads on it, their wings curving behind their horned heads. His eyes traced the ancient engravings, noting the subtle glint of what was probably molded gold in the bound leather. "Thine studies will focus on these three, then thou shalt transition to the more enigmatic knowledge left to us by Starswirl the Bearded when thou proves to hath a fine understanding of the histories."

"Sounds great, but before I decided to just dive into books, isn't there anything else I should be doing, other training other than just reading? I know that you want me to get to schooling, but I also know that your guards aren't guards because they know the history of the country. They are in the position to protect you and this city because they are capable of doing so, so shouldn't I also be in a position to protect, should the need arise?"

"No. While we hath the opinion that thine body shalt be in prime condition for guard training lessons, the time shalt come for that, and that time shan't be now. Thine education is thine highest priority, as mine dearest sister already hath regimens prepared for thou when thine art ready for them. Thou art not ready." She said with a tired smile, and Blaze considered it a success that he was wearing her down, maybe in a couple of weeks, he'd be able to skip all this reading and just jump into the training.

He really wanted to prove to them both that he had a lot more in him than some simple guard, and that he was more than capable of dealing with anything that they could come up with.

"Now, when thou hath completed thine studies of history, and successfully completed thine testing of the subject for understanding, we shalt discuss more detailed accounts. We hath a desire to see thine educational growth be expanded to other studies in addition to history, so thine shalt take these tomes of mathematics and the other cultures of the world." The last mentioned book caught his attention, as he was unfamiliar with the exact number of other creatures that inhabited this world, and learning about them may not be as bad. "We hath responsibilities to attend to, so should thou ever be in need of materials or faculties, thine hath a guard outside the door to ask of."

She stepped back from the table, allowing Blaze to look at the books, though her horn quickly flared the dark green history tome levitated over to her. Blaze shrugged, his interest already peaking on the book about creatures. "Have fun, Blaze Burn."

Her tone shift caught his attention, and he looked up from the book cover just in time to see her own gaze leaving him with that satisfied smile still on her lips. She stepped out of the room, the door shutting firmly behind her. Blaze waited for her to leave, giving her a minute to get away, before he stacked the history books and the two math books and tossing them on another table. Glad that he had that taken care of, he grabbed the creature book in his mouth, the aged leather tasting funny to him, and he flew up to the second story, gliding over to one of the back doors. He pulled on the handle, intending to get out of the library and leave.

"Locked." He muttered to himself around the book as he leaned into the unmoving door, he turned his head and put the book in his saddlebag. He was tempted to fish around for his lock picks, but the door suddenly unlocked and a guard poked his golden-armored head out of the crack, staring at Blaze Burn with annoyed eyes.

"Princess Celestia ordered us to tell thee that thine art to stay in here until she returns." He said with the most disinterested, suffered voice Blaze thought he had ever heard. "Sorry, kid. But she really wanted you to stay in here, so you might as well get comfortable, she put one of us on each door, with them locked. You're stuck until she gets you."

The guard was nice enough to offer an apologetic smile before the door abruptly shut in Blaze's face, leaving him mildly irritated that she had thought ahead of him. Still, he was persistent, and tried each door, getting similar responses from each of the guards posted at the locked doors. Now that he knew for sure that he was locked in the library with six books to read, and an unknown amount of time to read them, he sighed defeatedly to himself and marched his way down the stairs and to the tables. He filled his saddlebags with the other three history books, dropping the mathematics in a dark corner to be forgotten: he had less than no interest in learning math.

Blaze took his laden saddlebags and flew up to the highest corner of the library, finding a neat little table to put the books and relieved himself of their burden. One he was free of informational weight, he thought about what to do, as he was interested in the species book, but not in the mood to read. Coming to a solution quickly, he decided to take a little stroll, and began wandering around the library, looking at what tomes of knowledge were offered, and he lost count of how many very quickly turned off his attention.

He had made a complete lap of the third floor of shelves before he gave up, knowing that he was going to have a lot of time to do this. Celestia was probably going to have him reading this stuff for quite a while.

He plopped his defeated ass on the chair, reaching across the table and grabbing the species book, sliding it over to him to read. The unappealing brown leather was graced with bland letters that he didn't bother reading, though he turned the book over to see the back, catching a glimpse of the spine in the process: _'Inhabitants of Equus'_ was boldly written across the length of the book, no room being left for the author. The lettering was strangely unique, flowing and graceful, unlike the cover, and the silver lining to the words sparkling in the torchlight caught his fascination.

Letting his breath flow out of his nostrils, he plopped the book on the table, opening the cover with an idle hoof and began to read, preparing for a long day.

And after two hours of reading, he was greeted with the presence of another living being, in the form of a guard carrying in what was presumably brunch. He nodded to the guard, who returned the gesture, but left the food sitting on the table next to him, not really in the mood to eat. He was somewhat sorry that the guard had to walk all the way up to him, but he found that the height and relative freshness of the area made him more than content to stay.

He was utterly engrossed in the book, reading and absorbing everything he could about the other races. Much to his displeasure, however, there seemed to be a significant lack of information on most of other species, with much of the book dedicated to either the ponies of Equestria or the griffons to the west, across the Celestial Sea. There were a few pages that detailed what little was known about the dragons, a single paragraph was for the mysterious Changeling race. That paragraph was burned into Blaze's brain, and he was going to ask about them, as it only described them as parasitic predatory insectile ponies.

The last few chapters loosely covered the distant yaks to the north, as well as a plethora of minor details regarding the various non-vocal creatures found in the known world of Equus. As he flipped through the pages, he skimmed what wasn't thrilling his mind, soaking the information that he found intriguing, until he had gotten to the back of the book. Time passed, and Blaze had finally finished the book, but he was surprised and utterly delighted to find a loosely drawn map at the back of the book, giving the general idea of what the terrain looked like. His eyes were glued to the map for what felt like days, and he lost complete track of time as he studied the map, occasionally glancing through the earlier chapters to check for what was where.

Blaze was so absorbed in his book that when Celestia herself walked through the doors into the library, he hadn't heard a thing. He was in the middle of trying to understand how big Equestria was, if the Yaks to the north were separated from Equestria proper by the expanding Crystal Empire. Then there were the massive mountains to the distant south, beyond the scorched earth, where yet more unexplored territory waited to be charted.

She stood at the door as she around the ground floor, trying to find Blaze, and it was only when he had started to shuffle through the book pages again that she was able to locate him. All the way at the third floor, hiding himself away and pouring his attention to the book he was reading. She waited at the end the walkway, watching as he studied the map some more, and she found herself smiling at the pure curiosity that was glowing over Blaze Burn. She waited for him to notice that she had arrived, but when he only flipped through some more pages of the book, constantly shifting from the map at the back to one page or another, it became clear to her that he was oblivious to her presence. She grinned deviously as an idea sprung into her head, and she slowly backed away from him, slipping into the shadows.

Celestia skulked her way around the bookshelves as she made her way to the other side of Blaze, putting herself between him and the back wall. She crept forward until she was right behind him, then she rose to her full height, spreading her wings and leaning over him. She was pleased that he still hadn't noticed her, and her pleasure was only rising as he seemed to be even deeper in study. She waited until he had started to peer at the map once more before she sprung.

"BLAZE!' She spoke sharply, leaning forward to stare at the pearl pegasus. Blaze, who had been perfectly fine studying the map and learning what he could from the locations and geography, had been suddenly snapped back to reality with a loud sound coming from practically on his back. His wings flared involuntarily, slapping Celestia in her smug face, and before either could register what was happening, Blaze had leapt into the air, accidentally headbutting her in the process, before ripping the table with him as he took off in the only safe direction: forwards. Celestia had been knocked onto her back, legs sticking straight in the air in stunned stiffness, her eyes smarting while her muzzle was threatening to start bleeding,

Blaze was crouching at the rails, ready to leap over should he need to, the table flipped upside down at his hooves, with his book crashing into a nearby bookshelf. The saddlebags had been lost over the edge of the railing in his jumping.

Once Blaze was able to see, he realized what was going on, and stood straight, rushing over to the fallen Princess, who had recovered enough that her legs had slumped to her torso. Her eyes were clamped shut as her forelegs went to her muzzle to check for bleeding, something she hadn't had to do for a very long time, Just as Blaze had reached her, and was about to ask her if she was okay, each and every door in the library burst open as an entire squadron of heavily armored guards bolted inside to see what the commotion was.

Blaze's eyes snapped up to the guards, those of whom were already at the third floor, and by the looks of horror and rage on their faces, he immediately knew that he was in for a very painful trip to the med bay. "Buck."

In a flurry of motion, the two pegasi guards were already on top of him, acting with speed that made Blaze both envious and petrified, but it was the bone-crushing weight of the two armored stallions pinning him to the ground that sealed his opinion. He didn't like it at all.

They jammed their elbows and hooves into his back, onto his legs, and forced his wings tight against his back in painful brutality. They were yelling at him, but he wasn't able to hear anything over the sound of pain ringing in his ears from the impact. He tried to shift, but the moment his muscles began to move, the guards put more pressure on his wings, forcing him to lie still on the ground, a mouthful of carpet being his only comfort. After a few seconds of ear ringing, the pain subsided enough for him to hear the other guards rushing up to their area, and the sounds of the guards worriedly gathering around Celestia soon replaced the sounds of the two brutes on top of him telling him to stop resisting. Not that he was really resisting, he knew that he was in for a long day.

"We art fine, loyal guards." Celestia's normally heavenly voice sounded a touch nasally, most likely the product of him basically ramming her to the ground in fright. "'Tis was but a minor mistake on our part. Now allow Blaze Burn to rise."

The guards on top of him shared a look, nodding to each other before getting up quickly, leaving Blaze enough room to breathe again, though his back and wings hurt a great deal. He sighed to himself angrily and stood up, dusting himself off and glaring at the guards, blaming them for all of his misfortune. When he turned back to Celestia, she bore her regular smile, though the hints of humor sneaking at the edge of her eyes made him frown even more. "You know, things would go a lot smoother if you didn't just pop up out of nowhere: you could have been hurt. And I would much rather have not been hauled off to the dungeons because you wanted to scare me."

"We understand thine concerns, but we only hath wished thee a farewell afternoon, and to ask thee if thou shalt accompany us for lunch?" Celestia said in an apologetic tone, her smile dropping a bit, until she perked right back up and backed away, nodding to the guards for them to leave. Each guard made a bow, and snuck a glare at Blaze before heading back to their original stations outside the library.

"Not like I have a choice: volunteer for lunch or be dragged to lunch: I'll go." Blaze said with his defeated sigh, though the reluctant agreement made the Princess of the Sun smile in delight.

Lunch was about as average as Blaze was expecting, with Celestia leading him back to the dining hall for the meal. Blaze only ate a small salad, knowing that he hadn't done a whole lot to deserve anything more, while Celestia had a sandwich, along with a bottle of wine and a desert of cake.

"Isn't it a little early to be drinking?" Blaze asked when the wine had been rolled out, catching a shrewd smirk from the Princess, and he couldn't help but shake his head at her. Drinking at lunch already? What could the Princess be doing that was so intensive that she needed her dose of alcohol this early? When Celestia answered by levitating two glasses from the tray, he didn't dare wipe the smirk off of his face: she was willing to share. "No thanks. Never tried wine, but I don't think now is the time for that; besides, I have studies to return to once this break is over."

"Eh. Your loss." She said as she filled one glass with wine, daintily sipping at it as she stared at Blaze with uncomfortable intensity. He had tried to meet her gaze for the first ten seconds, but after her gaze turned from blank to interested, he had to look away. He didn't like the sight of her searching pink orbs, they seemed far too invested in sifting through his very soul for any normal eye contact.

"So. . ." He tried to initiate further conversation, hoping to break the awkward silence growing between the two of them. He could feel her eyes leaving him as the doors opened and the cake rolled in on a luxurious cart, and he silently thanked the universe for offering him this one kindness.

After Celestia had her moment, conversation returned to normal, with her investigating his progress after the meager time spent, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had taken a keen interest in the creatures of the world. She asked him what he had found the most interesting, and he told her all about everything he had soaked in, trying to elaborate on the brief studies he had already learned. Most of the lunch was spent with Celestia offering short questions that he was happy to provide lengthy answers for, and before either knew it: an hour and a half had passed. Their conversation had to be halted when a knock on the door indicated the presence of other ponies desiring their Princess' attention.

"We must continue this conversation later." Celestia said with sorrow-laced words as she stood and used her magic to open the door, casting a quick glance, if surprised, glance at the clock. She stood taller as a pair of older ponies marched in through the entrance way and bowed before her, the two being advisors that Blaze had heard about from town. Apparently, they were corrupt, or that was the word being spread among the creed, as Al had mentioned that anypony could be bought out at the right price.

He had heard enough about these two to recognize their positions, but other than that, he cared little, and he simply waited for Celestia to have her conversation with them. The two advisors merely cast a quick glance at him, but quickly shunned his presence, opting to speak with the Princess about whatever matters they had.

Feeling like he had nothing better to do, Blaze made a polite bow to her, then said his farewells to the three others, leaving the dining room to return to the library. He would have preferred to go for a walk, but his guard companions were far more concerned with getting him to where the Princesses wanted him. So he soon found himself sitting back on the third floor, staring at the pages of the history books, wondering just why he had to read something that had little relevance in his life.

Three more hours passed, and it had quickly become Blaze's habit to walk in circles around the third floor, walking with a book opened in his hoof, but doing little reading. He wasn't thrilled to read about how the three pony races came together, though he had a spark of interest in the pegasi of old. That interest quickly faded, however, as it seemed their renown as soldiers hadn't begun until the war with Discord. Still, Blaze found some interest in reading what he could about his lineage, of which there was exactly nothing: it had seemed that Celestia had taken every measure possible to remove any mention of the Gold Bloods from the history books. He soon lost interest in the history books, and had taken to wandering around the library, scanning the book titles for anything that caught his attention: nothing really stuck out as unique to him.

By the time Celestia had returned to investigate his progress, he had given up on walking, and had sat at the table rather defeatedly. He was idly reading the history book, again, barely keeping himself awake by holding his head above the desk with his hoof.

"It would seem thou hath found another book to occupy thine time with." She remarked as she approached him, and he barely registered her as his eyes slowly began to drift shut with utter boredom. Celestia smiled at him, and had to keep herself from laughing at his condition when he started nodding off and his hoof slipped, his muzzle nearly slamming into the book in front of him. He had caught himself, and had to shake the weariness from his eyes. "Doth thou enjoy thine studies?"

"Yeah." He lied, trying his luck with a fake smile as he leaned back to look at the Princess without feeling the need to take a long nap. "Totally having a blast reading about ponies that died off years ago, and how they lived: totally the most interesting thing in the world."

"We art glad that thou hath found an interest thine lessons, because they shalt take up most of thine time while thou matures into a proper stallion." Celestia commented dryly, sitting at the table in the chair across from him. "Blaze Burn, we know that thine interest doth not lay within the realm of studies, but thine duties shalt require thee to be knowledgeable with information such as this. We apologize that thee cannot find more entertainment from histories of our race, yet we simply ask thee to trust thine Princesses, and study regardless."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it: you want me to be some sort of scholar." Blaze waved off her tone, feeling more restless now than anything, the effect of not having a book forced in front of you for hours at a time. "I get that you want me to have this knowledge for whatever reason you have, but the only reason I allowed myself to join the guard is because it will put me in a position to protect my family even better than before. Reading books about how the ponies of Equestria came to the land, and what each race had thought of the other has no place in how I protect my family."

"We understand, Blaze Burn, but we shalt ask that thee be patient, and trust that we hath the finest of intentions with thee." She offered her saddest, most apologetic smile, sincerely hoping that he would be willing to power through this. "If thou shalt give us enough time, we promise that thine studies art not a pointless waste of time, and that we have a purpose for having you read these books."

"For Asta; I'll give you time. For now, I don't think that I could read another page of these ridiculous books without going crazy. I don't mind you trying to turn me into some plump, pathetic scholar or bookworm, but if I don't get outside for a bit soon, I'll lose my sanity."

"We art glad that thou hath such copious amounts of love for thine family, and we art most joyed that thou shalt be patient. And yes, time from the library shalt be most helpful for more athletic ponies such as yourself: perhaps thou simply need to take a walk around the castle?" Celestia stood from the table, indicating with her head to the front entrance of the room, to which Blaze happily nodded. The two made their way out of the library, and once they had left the stuffy room, Blaze immediately inhaled deeply at the chance to finally be free once more. The two guards outside fell into position at their flanks, but Celestia waved her hoof at them. "We hath no need for thine presence, o' loyal guards: we art simply to take a brisk walk around the castle grounds. Stand at the doors, and keep the library available for when we return."

The guards didn't say anything, just nodded and bowed, returning to their post outside the doors, staring into the void as they kept guard for anything out of the norm.

Blaze was thankful for the lack of a flank full of guards, and it seemed that his opinion of them as more dangerous to him than helpful influenced Celestia's order. He silently thanked the Princess, and the two soon found themselves walking along the outer halls of the large castle, Celestia talking to him about how she and Luna had designed the castle, and the great care they had put into its layout. Blaze listened with focus, more than content to talk about the castle as long as he was out of the library. As the two walked along the halls, they made some idle talk, much to the effort of Blaze, as whenever Celestia used her royalty tone for any period longer than a few minutes, it gave him a splitting headache. It took some convincing, but he managed to get her to talk like a normal pony: and his brain was thanking her every second she did so.

Walking for fifteen minutes, and the two ran into a pony that Blaze hadn't seen all day, though he was uncertain as to whether or not it was a good reunion or not.

"Dear Sister: how hath our young Blaze Burn's studies been going for the day? It would seem that thou hath pulled him from the library." Luna commented, smiling at the future training dummy she was going to have, her eyes glistening with anticipation to put him through everything she had planned back with the first few Gold Bloods. It truly was her favorite part of the process of getting a Gold Blood to unlock their full potential, although she did have a close competitor for the best parts of the unique pegasi: but she couldn't really use Blaze for that. He was Celestia's to enjoy.

"He found some interest in the races of Equus, though he seems to have found some hesitation with studying the histories and mathematics I've provided." The Princess of the Sun replied, wrapping a wing over Blaze's shoulders and patting roughly, much to Blaze's discomfort. Luna smiled deviously at the display, her mind already registering the tonal shift Celestia was using as well as the proximity Celestia was with her guard in training. She mentally noted that her older sibling looked just a touch more relaxed, and it humored her to no end: the poor elder sister falling into emotional reactions far too quickly.

"We art sure he hath the skills to educate himself to a degree, however dear sister; we shalt caution thee to ensure that he hath the knowledge to become thine pet soldier. A proper Gold Blood shalt be knowledgeable in all fields of study; as we art sure thou remembers well from past iterations, no?" Luna grinned a little at the sudden drop of the smile Celestia had, thoroughly enjoying the break from her elder sister's usual attitude during their conversations about Blaze Burn's responsibilities. "However thine wishes to train his mind, it shalt not hath contain any concern from us, as the courtroom hath always been thine domain. We do eagerly await turning Blaze Burn into a proper soldier, however."

"Blaze Burn is not a pet soldier, Sister." Celestia's voice was sharpening, and developing an edge to it as she continued to converse with her sister on the sensitive topic. Blaze could only watch in amusement as the two sisters went at it with their words, and while he figured they were joking about this stuff, a part of him doubted whether or not Celestia wanted him as some sort of pet. He didn't want to believe it, but in the end he didn't care a whole lot: he was only here for the ponies at the warehouse, his family. Whether Celestia saw him as a pet or not mattered little if he was only going to be some simple guard. He did enjoy this show, however. The fact that Celestia sounded like she was ready for a rough and tumble only further increased his entertainment, and it seemed that Luna was also enjoying the taunting, as she bore this smug grin that Blaze could only describe as victorious. He stepped out from Celestia's wing, watching her face turn the slightest shade of red, and he knew that one of two things were about to happen: she'd cool off and handle this like a proper lady, or she was going to explode.

A part of Blaze was wishing for the latter to happen: seeing a Princess lose control of their temper would be very good fun to watch, so long as he kept his distance. He wouldn't mind some good old-fashioned sibling conflict to take place. But then he remembered that these were two of the most powerful beings in Equestria, and them getting into a fight was probably a bad thing to happen.

"Princesses." He interjected himself between the two sisters, much against his instinct telling him to get as far away as he could, and had to take turns staring at each of them in turn. "I know that it has been a long day, or night for you Princess Luna, so perhaps we could just calm down for a moment, maybe go out on the balcony and enjoy some fresh air?"

"Calm down." The edge in Celestia's voice was still very much there, and the fact that her gaze now bore down on him made clear his mistake.

"Um. Forgive me, Princess. Allow me to rephrase myself to better convey what I wish to say: perhaps we can go out to the balcony and enjoy some relaxing tea and the fresh air before dinner?" He offered the best, most pathetic smile he could muster, but his efforts were only rewarded by a displeased snort from the younger Princess.

"It doth appeared that thine Gold Blood hath already been smothered within thine grasp, dearest sister." Lune said as she turned around and left, leaving a rather upset Celestia glaring at her with eyes of frozen fury. Blaze sighed, knowing he was in for one Tartarus of a ride, and spun on his hooves to deal with the eruption waiting to happen in the Princess of the Sun. He cast a quick glance up, hoping that there was something that he could do to calm her down, but when she turned her death glare to him, he couldn't help but feel a strike of fear at the boiling rage contained behind what seemed a fragile glass wall. His eyes dropped to the floor, and he shuffled on his hooves as he slowly backed away.

Celestia noticed what he was doing, and her rage melted away, replaced by concern and just a touch of regret. She hadn't meant to be so enraged by her sister, it was just one of those times where a little sibling got the better of her. She stepped forward to apologize to Blaze, but he matched her advance with a retreating back step, maintaining a comfortable distance between them.

"Blaze. . ." Celestia started with a sigh, thinking quickly of what she could do to repair this situation, with only a few suggestions coming to mind. She took the first one and followed through with it. "I would love to sit down outside with some tea."

Blaze stopped retreating, and he looked up, fear lacing his worried eyes, yet his body was still rigid and ready to flee should the situation devolve further. He hid his concern behind a blank face, nodding to her and stepping to the side so she could lead the way. Celestia sighed in relief, not quite being able to muster a smile, but glad that he hadn't fled from her right then and there. Not many ponies had seen her and her sister during their arguments, and fewer had the courage to remain afterwards.

As she led the way back to the usual balcony, she attempted to make small talk, but Blaze seemed a little too nervous around her to really contribute much. Due to his hesitation, Celestia found that she had taken to mentally kicking herself for overreacting to her sister's taunts. It only made her feel worse when she understood that it was only that her sister was trying to have a little fun with the fact that this was indeed the elder's opportunity to bond with the Gold Blood. She knew that she was going to have to apologize to Luna, and she was going to have to work with Blaze a little more closely to make amends with him.

Unfortunately for Celestia, she was well aware that Blaze was lacking in the trust department with her, and that argument, letting her emotions get the best of her, was not doing anything to help. Her ruminations were cut short as she found that the two were at the balcony, sitting in a pair of chairs that she had summoned. She had to blink to adjust to the change, getting back into the present moment.

"We must apologize with thee, Blaze Burn: it is not often that mine dearest sister is able to evoke my emotions from me, especially not in the presence of company. We art deeply sorry that thou hath seen us at our moment of weakness." She said with a weary frown, eyes downcast with sneaking glances up to see his reaction. Blaze, meanwhile was staring out at the garden before them, still trying to get his own emotions under control. He wasn't going to admit it, but seeing Celestia so furious put a little bit of dread in him, and he was starting to doubt whether or not this was the right idea. Hearing her in much better control was easing it a bit, but he knew that his habit of challenging authority was going to be a bit of a problem for her. He had no desire to piss her off, especially if she was a loose cannon like that.

He waited a moment before responding, shifting in his seat as he thought about what he was going to do, and how he could keep this from ending badly. He turned to look at her, and he took note of how tense she was, as if she was holding her breath for him.

"Princess Celestia." He began slowly, hoping that he didn't do anything wrong here. "Nopony is perfect, and no matter how hard one might try, I would be amiss to expect anypony to achieve perfection. I never really argued with Star to the level that I was angry, but I can relate to when the younger ones are doing things that are annoying, though I get more worried than anything else. What I'm saying is: I don't blame you for what happened, everypony makes mistakes."

"But I am a Princess! I shouldn't make mistakes!" Celestia countered, the energy in her tone surprised him a bit, but he recovered before it was noticeable. He understood where she was coming from, and while he knew little about politics, he knew how important an image was for those that looked up to another.

"Princess: you where the title, but you are also a pony, which means that you are not perfect. Whether you agree or not; you are going to make mistakes, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it. The only thing you can do is accept that they happen, own them, and then fix the problems as they come. If you beat yourself up over not being perfect, you will waste all of your time on it, and you will accomplish nothing." He used a much softer voice, hoping that he could get through to her enough that this doesn't turn into a disaster. Celestia looked up at him, taken by surprise at the amount of concern in his tone. She opened her mouth to argue with him, but he raised a hoof and cut her off. "Don't argue with it: whether or not you believe you are perfect, whether or not you feel the need to be perfect, you aren't and you won't be. I've already said it, but let's go over it again: nopony is perfect, so don't try to be, it'll only end in disappointment and sorrow. Trust me, I know what it's like to fail."

Blaze ended with a sigh, though he offered Celestia a sad smile, one which she more positively returned. "Thank you, Blaze."

"Eh, it's not a problem, just try to remember that not everypony has unrealistic expectations about life, and that only a fool expects everything to go perfectly. Now, perhaps we could talk about changing up my books for study. . ." The rest of the conversation was filled with Blaze putting in some effort to both cheer Celestia up, as well as get out of reading the other three history books. There was also a whole lot of effort poured into him trying to avoid doing anything with math, as he explained: "I know enough about numbers already."

The two sat on in their seats for a while, with Celestia blasting Blaze over what he had been learning, berating him for not studying hard enough, to which he could only shrug. And soon, dinner time rolled around, and though Blaze was tempted to stay for the luxurious meal, he had family to talk to back home, so he bade the Princess farewell.

Celestia saw Blaze to the front gate, something that she was willing to turn into a habit for as long as Blaze stayed at the warehouse and refused to relocate into the castle. Blaze bowed to her, making his promise to return in the morning to continue his studies, and then flew away, leaving the Princess of the Day watching as he left. She waited until he was no longer visible, then turned and entered the castle, dealing with the dragging, depressing, tedious work of building this nation to its full glory. Luna greeted her when she arrived in the throne room, a small smile on her muzzle as she sipped at a cup of tea.

"Soon, dear sister, soon." The blue princess spoke with every intention of attempting to ease her elder's troubled mind.

"We art aware, Luna. Tis just a difficult concept to grasp; Blaze Burn finally submitting to our counsel, after so long of feuding with us. We art anticipating his acceptance of the educational system soon, as he hath already taken a keen interest in the various species known to ponies." Celestia explained as she led Luna to the dining area, in preparations for the evening meal, and the latter's time to control the court. The elder smiled fondly at the memory of the discussion she had had with Blaze; how enthusiastic he was about the little information they had on the other species.

Blaze glided into the backyard of the warehouse, sliding to a stop at the doorstep, the sun glaring off the bare stone around the door. He squinted his eyes in the glare, but turned and nodded to the other three ponies sitting and enjoying the declining sunlight of the end of the day.

A purple sage caught his attention by clearing her throat, and Blaze turned to see what she wanted, only to have an eyeful of a blazing sun. He forced his wings up to act as visors, and returned the hug that Scaled Equilibrium embraced him with.

"How was the first day?" She asked when she backed away, walking around him enough so that he wasn't staring at the sun so he could look at her. Blaze shrugged, and told the story of what happened, much to her amusement, and after he had finished, sighed and led her into the building. He was met at the back door by a multitude of surprised ponies, many of whom were carrying party supplies. Scaled Equilibrium had reached to stop him from entering, but he had been so exhausted from a busy day that he hadn't noticed her hoof on his shoulder.

"Blaze Burn! You're back!" One of the ponies observed in surprised stupor, inciting Blaze to blink in confusion at the obvious. He recovered, as he realized that it may seem a little strange that he would enter from the back door, so he shrugged and nodded to them. The Sage behind him finally got him to go back out the back door, shutting it behind him while offering an apologetic smile.

"Things are a little busy in the back of the house, how about we head through the front? Make it easier to get you in the house without having to try to path your way around a bunch of ponies." She suggested, pulling on his hoof as she led him around to the front of the warehouse, though by then, Blaze had his suspicions about what was happening.

Still, he didn't resist as she stood him in front of the door, a massive grin on her face that she was putting a lot of effort into concealing, only further confirming his guess. He waited patiently as she knocked on the door, though what had his attention was that she knocked in a pattern, one that he hadn't heard anypony ever use before. It sounded a bit like a jingle; one knock, a tiny pause, four in rapid succession before a lengthy pause, then two short, quick knocks. There was a couple of seconds of silence, then the mare turned from the door, that massive grin now permanently stuck on her face, and motioned for him to head inside. At this point, he basically knew what was going to happen, and while he didn't like the idea, he appreciated the thought, and showed it by flashing her a knowing smile.

The face that she made nearly made him bark out in laughter, but he held it in as he opened the door with his hoof. The silence inside was palpable, but he pressed on as he waited for the sudden wave of noise as light, which followed shortly after he braced himself. Either way, there was little he could do for what exactly came, which was a flash of the lights coming on, then the blur as a small brown filly slammed into his face.

"SURPRISE!" The whole damn community yelled at the same time, but the happy shout turned into gasps of collective sympathy directed at the welcomed pony now lying on the floor, begin crushed to death by an adoring filly. Blaze was struggling for air, but he loved the filly too much to pry her away, so he gently tapped her on her back to get her off of his windpipe. Asta chuckled her apology as she backed off him, resulting in a desperate inhalation for flowing air. Blaze wasn't going to be mad, but her shot her a stern, if playful, glare before standing on his hooves again and properly smiling at the assembling ponies of the community.

"And what occasion is so important to be marked with a surprise party involving my attempted murder?" He playfully asked as several of the other ponies marched out of the kitchen with a large cake in tow. The cake, of course, came from supplies borrowed from Celestia's personal kitchen.

"Our peace with the Princesses, of course!" Asta replied merrily, flapping her wings and wrapping her little brown hooves around Blaze's neck with considerably less force this time. "And don't try to do anything to get out of this: you're going to enjoy this party with the rest of us even if I have to tie you to a chair and strap a party hat on you!"

"I'm offended! I would never dare try to avoid a party with you in it, Asta!" Blaze joked, holding a hoof against his chest in mock offense while holding a straight face; one that broke nearly immediately and he grew a big, goofy grin. "And while I don't really think a party is necessary, as there was never a war going on between the Princesses and us, I have never been one to refuse such a pretty face, have I? Yeah, I'm going to stay for cake and a good time with friends and family."

The crowd cheered as Scaled Equilibrium and Twilight cut the cake, the latter using her magic to dish out slices for each and every pony in the community. All in all, the entire crowd had a very good time, full of ponies talking about past thoughts about this fictional war that they had been engaged in with the Princesses. The experience only got better when several of the foals got to talk to the large group of adults about their own fictional war between a group of guards. It was all good fun, they had this childish idea of having a large snowball fight between the best of Celestia's and Luna's guards, which might have actually happened. Blaze enjoyed the thrilling adventure they thought they had, and the rest of the community seemed more than willing to encourage the kids' imaginations. Blaze had no problems with that.

The cake had been devoured before the actual dinner was prepared, and the group of ponies, now all closely packed into the main living area and all enjoying each other's company, were excitedly talking about what the future had in store. It eventually ground to a halt when Asta had asked Blaze what the first day was like working for the Princesses, and each and every pair of eyes and ears were trained on the pearl pegasus.

So, Blaze told them what had happened, and he tried to make it sound as exciting as possible, but what caught most of their attentions was what he read about the other creatures. The foals were excited to hear about the dragons and griffons, while the adults were mostly concerned about the existence of Changelings. He powered through the numerous side-discussions that spawned because of his revelations, but he did hear several words being spoken about the potential threat that the creatures posed. He had just finished his story when several of the community cooks walked out of the kitchen and informed them all that dinner was prepared.

The chatter of the area shut up real quick, and there became a herd of stampeding foals and scurrying ponies into the kitchens for some of the more delicious foods that the chefs had cooked up. Blaze waited at the back of the group, not overly hungry, and preoccupied with what he was getting himself into with this guard business. Sure, he had a few doubts, but now that the community was behind him, so much so that they had informed him that they legitimately thought they were in open hostilities with the royalty of Equestria, he was wondering just where his life would go. Celestia was pretty bent on him becoming some kind of figurehead or something of that variety, while Luna seemed very eager to beat him into a proper soldier.

He just wasn't sure which was going to be the worst outcome.

He waited patiently at the back of the line, and had a few conversations with the ponies around him, most of them congratulating him on his new position as a guard. The rest were warning him to not spend too much time away from home, but were otherwise supportive of his decision. He thanked each of them in turn, and enjoyed speaking with Asta the entire time, though she seemed far too pleasant to have not been hiding something. He figured he would question her about it over dinner, so she had nowhere to run off to, but she seemed to be enjoying talking with Sweet Flower and Muffin for him to want to interrupt her then.

Blaze enjoyed the loaves of banana bread muffins, paired with fresh apple pies and Blaze's personal favorite: hay burgers. Blaze sat with his group of ponies, Asta glued to his side as they all ate their food in peace, though the mass of ponies also enjoying the evening outdoors made the backyard seem a little cramped. Blaze was hesitant to complain, and was content just sitting with Asta and her friends, the Sage and the every-present Old Dude. Twilight had chosen to sit with her group of girls, but she had sat as close to Blaze as possible, given the proximity of other ponies.

"So, Asta." He began after swallowing a chunk of hay burger, waiting for her to look at him so he could question her sudden extreme positivity. She hummed and looked up at him with that merry little smile of hers, that little smile that held a secret. A secret he was going to learn. "What's got you so up and excited? Can't be the party, I know you better than that."

"Oh?" She smirked at him, her smile turned into one conspiring grin. "Just thinking about what my cutie mark means."

"Cutie mark?" Blaze asked, visible confusion flooding his face. His question prompted the filly to nod rapidly as she shifted the skirt she was wearing, a skirt that he had never even noticed she was wearing.

'How the buck do I miss something like this?' He had to ask himself, as a pony earning their cutie mark was something that was kind of hard to miss, especially when that pony happens to be an adopted little sister. He looked down at a pair of black feathered wings wrapping around a lightning bolt, the bright and dark colors contrasting like the night sky during a lightning storm. He smiled widely at the image now spread across Asta's flank, and pride swelled in his heart as he thought about how grown up she was getting. He leaned over and wrapped her in a tight hug, one that she readily returned, and he heard the chuckles coming from both Scaled Equilibrium and the eldest pegasus grouch of the community.

"Well, isn't that something amazing?" He said as he pulled away from the filly, both ponies grinning widely at the cutie mark of a strong flier, and Blaze's pride only grew as he joined her in considering her future. "I guess there was more to this party than just celebrating my new career as a guard, huh? I think you guys should have just started with this, the party would have been so much better."

"It's just been an amazing day, Blaze." Asta said as she snuggled closer to Blaze, who instinctively wrapped a wing over her, pulling her even closer to him. "Ah, this is the life."

"Yeah, you said it. This is where we all belong." Blaze sighed as he laid his head over the fillies, enjoying the setting sun and the cooling evening with night approaching. Life certainly throws some strange events at a pony when they least expect it, but that's not always a bad thing. Blaze found that things may not turn out how he imagined them, with Asta growing into a wonderful mare, his family growing and becoming closer and closer by the day: life was turning out perfectly. "You know you have to tell me how you earned you cutie mark, right?"

"Mhmm." Asta hummed, shifting around so she could sit comfortably under Blaze's chin while she talked about the wonderful day that she was having.

Asta pumped her wings as fast as she could go, hoping to catch up with Muffin and Sweet Flower before they got too far ahead.

"Guys, wait up!" She called as she made her way around a row of trees and bolted passed the park, leaving a small cloud of dust as she soared by. Her two friends were currently running at full speed, trying to get away from the other foals from the community. They were currently engaged in an epic game of cat and mouse, and these three were stuck as the mice, with the whole block as their playground. Running to catch the three foals were several of the older ponies, but mostly those who were still blank flanks. There were a few colts that had cutie marks but they had opted to spectate more than play, though they offered plenty of taunts towards the three foals as they ran.

Of course, it was all in good fun, but they were quickly running out of places they could hide at, as the 'cats' had a significant numbers advantage, and those pesky colts were giving away their position.

Asta had finally caught up with the other two, and started to fly above them, keeping pace while staying alert for anypony trying to cut them off. They had gone completely through the small park, and were currently being taunted by two of the unicorn colts, warning them that they were about to be caught by a group of others closing in on them.

Asta spared a look behind them, confirming that they were indeed slowly be caught by a group of four foals, all of whom were steadily gaining on them. She groaned and took off in front of her friends, scouting for an escape route as they followed the road back around towards the warehouse. She had gotten half a block away when she heard the screaming squeals of two foals being caught by their friends, and when she turned around, she saw that Muffin had slipped, and was now covered in others. Sweet Flower looked to be about to fall over, trying to continue running while watching her friend get captured. Asta made a split decision, and flared her wings open to stop, then she burst backwards, quickly meeting the misty white unicorn ahead of the pursuing foals. She wrapped her forelegs around the filly, and pulled up with as much force as she could.

The pegasus' efforts were rewarded with an awed gasp as she lifted into the air, rescuing the filly from certain destruction as poor Muffin was absorbed by the mass of foals having a good time. Asta was straining her wings, but she managed to not only get Sweet Flower out of the danger zone, she carried the filly all the way back to the park, where her wings finally gave out and she collapsed onto the grassy field.

"That was awesome!" Sweet Flower exclaimed, jumping around and having experienced flight first-hoof, her heart pounding, even if the flight was short. She ran in circles around her exhausted friend, who could only smile at her antics, and started to proclaim loudly that flying had to be the coolest thing ever. "Asta, you totally need to do that so much more often. Ah! I know: new game! New game!"

"Sweet Flower, as much as I enjoy seeing you happy, that was really hard to do, and I don't think I'd be able to do that again without a bit of a rest okay?" Asta sighed as she laid her head against the grass, feeling the soft blades gently caressing her mane as she breathed deeply, letting her feathers feel the light breeze.

"Oh, right." The unicorn seemed to deflate a little, but her ears perked back up and she turned to watch the group of awe-struck foals running into the park, babbling mindlessly about the spectacle they had just witness. "Time to go, Asta."

The named pegasus only groaned, but slowly crawled onto her hooves, warming her wings back up to take off again. She watched as the stampede of foals raced towards them, and though she was exhausted, she knew that this was an excellent test of what she was going to be capable of. She turned to look at Sweet Flower, a wicked grin on her face as she flapped her wings to get the blood flowing again, and nodded once. The misty white filly smiled back and before she could do anything, Asta had her hooves around the unicorn's midsection, and was taking off into the skies, much to the awe and wonder of the foals below. She heard cheers and gasps as she caught the attention of the older ponies around, but she managed to flee from the hordes chasing after them.

Asta had managed to get clear to the other side of the small park, an impressive feat to all who saw, considering her size, the fact that she was hauling a passenger, and that she had already tried this once before. She landed roughly this time around, however, and had to roll to break keep her momentum from hurting her, and as she landed, dropping her friend in the process, she blacked out for half a second. The world went black around her, and when she opened her eyes, it felt as if no time had passed, but she was now underneath a worried group of ponies.

For a split second, she was worried that something might have been wrong, but when the crowd around her had all breathed a sigh of relief, she felt better. They were all staring at her with wonder and admiration in their eyes, event he adults, and she had to assume it was because she was so totally awesome.

While not to her disappointment, quite the contrary, she very rapidly found out that the reason they were all gaping at her was not, in fact, because of her total badass-ery, but because she was now sporting something very unique and personalized to her. She looked over at Sweet Flower, who was gaping at her flank with something akin to envy and joy mixed together.

A single glance at her dusty brown coat let her know that she had found her true calling: her cutie mark had appeared after the amazing flying skills she had performed. A pair of gorgeous black feathered wings wrapping around a bright yellow lightning bolt, and she couldn't help but squeal in delight. She was soon jumping around and giggling at her cutie mark, overjoyed that she had finally gotten that thing that separated the foals from the ponies, and made her feel so much better about the already amazing day. She was flying around in the tightest circles she could manage, her wings still a little sore from the previous excursions., but she was so happy that she didn't care. She could only repeat a single sentence over and over as she did her circles: "I got my cutie mark! I got my cutie mark!"

"So, yeah. I guess my special talents are in flying." She shrugged, hugging Blaze tighter for a second before backing off, a grin plastered on her face as she relived the high from earlier. "You are my brother after all, and if you are such a strong flier, then it makes sense that I would be too! Oh, I can't wait to go flying with you Blaze! I bet I might even be faster than you!'

"Funny, Asta, but I doubt it." Blaze chuckled as he playfully knocked the filly on her side with a light shove of his wing, though he had to admit that he was also looking forwards to being able to spend as much time as possible flying with his sister. "Since Celestia is determined to have me grown fat and lazy reading books, that means that I'm probably going to be taking nightly flights, if only to stay in shape. Assuming that I'm going out before your bedtime, then you are more than welcome to join me, though I think that Scaled Equilibrium might have had her eyes on teaching you a thing or two about alchemy. If that is the case, I don't want to interfere with your lessons. Keep that in mind, Asta. But other than that, I'd be very happy if you would go for flights with me."

"Oh, are you going out tonight?!" Asta practically jumped out of the building as she thought about having the best day ever become even more the best day ever! At this point, she was basically reliving her earlier energy attack, bouncing around with unprecedented amounts of energy. Blaze chuckled, nodding that he had plans to do so, and the filly squealed loud enough that the ponies in the room had to cover their ears to save their hearing.

That night, under the gentle cover of a starlit sky showing the pure beauty that only Luna seemed capable of dedicating to pure beauty that so few would be willing to stay up to see, Blaze was floating on an updraft while he watched just how much Asta had grown as a young flier. He lazily floated as she did various loops and barrel rolls, arcing around him, soaring gracefully through the midnight black skies, with only the stars, moon and each other for company.

Blaze was impressed with how much more confident she was in her wings, it was as if she had learned to trust herself more now that she had a cutie mark. Blaze admired her for it, to have come so far, and have gained so much: he truly did think that she was going to be able to make the most of her newfound abilities, and that she was going to be a strong flier wherever she went. He only hoped that whatever she chose to follow in life, it let her be in the air as much as possible, because she seemed to be having the time of her life flying up here.

"Asta, you've been putting in no effort, how about we do something that'll take some practice, huh?" He called over the gentle breeze blowing across the empty skies, dipping his wings forward and using momentum to carry himself closer to where she was heading. He idly moved his wings, gradually gaining speed as he matched Asta's velocity and direction, soon flying side by side with her.

She grinned at him, and whooped with anticipation for whatever it was that Blaze had planned, the sound was mimicked by the elder pegasus as he flared his wings and gave them a large pump, sending him rising through the sky. Asta stuck close on his tail, doing her best to follow his every move as he began to gain speed and altitude. He rose higher and higher, doing the occasional barrel roll, or doing a gentle loop, ever increasing his lead on his sister. Once he reached a point that he deemed worthy, he snapped his wings shut, and then let gravity do its thing, pulling him past Asta. She let out a startled yelp, but quickly followed suit at the unexpected turn of events, and the two matched pace as they descended towards the ground, Blaze felt the desire to make this moment ever more special for his sister, and he began to do lazy circles around her as they plummeted. She couldn't help but let loose a serious of mighty laughs as they descended faster and faster, having complete trust in whatever Blaze was going to do. They were able to make out the distinct shapes of the roads and sidewalks before Blaze called for them to break the freefall, spreading his wings and pulling from the dive.

The two split, each heading in an opposite direction as they fought for control over their movements again. Blaze followed a massive loop, finding himself a significantly higher distance from the ground than Asta, who had chosen to glide lazily on her own momentum, following the path above the city, eyes staring wondrously at the sleeping city below, whose inhabitants had called it a day before the sky had even turned black. Blaze sped up until he had caught up to her, the two enjoying silent companionship as they flew above the city, not exhausted from the exercise, but feeling worn out enough to be able to relax.


	16. 16 Ice Blazer III: Hard Lined

Chapter 16: Ice Blazer III: Hard Lined

The sounds of casual hoofsteps echoed down the uncarpeted halls as Blaze made his way away from the library, as he had done after every test Princess Celestia had given him on his studies. The same route he had taken nearly every week from the library for two and a half years, down to the main corridors of the castle.

He made a short pause at a window to look out at the city, watching the smoke columns rising from chimneys as families warmed their houses amidst the snow-covered streets. Over two years of study, and he had finally been granted permission to begin actual training, officially beginning his life as a future Equestrian guard. This final test was the last he had to worry about, assuming he did well on it; Luna had fought for him to be able to skip it, as both Princesses had agreed that in the passing time, he had grown far enough to be able to start training. Still, Celestia had insisted that he finish the sections that he had been studying, and she had won out over her sister, leading Blaze to complete lessons in identifying forms of magic.

It had been a very tedious course, as he wasn't really able to understand the advanced concepts that the Princess of the Sun was prone to use when she talked about anything to do with magic. He had repeatedly informed her that he often had no clue what she was saying when she would lecture him, but he held his own when he read the books. He may not have been able to cast spells, but he had a firm grasp of how a unicorn would, which made him capable of taking care of spells before they became a threat.

Blaze nodded to himself, knowing that it was his personal studying that ensured that he was going to pass the test. The unicorns that Celestia had assigned to grade his work would be busy scrutinizing his answers for the test, as the elder Princess had informed him of, but he was given free time while he waited for their grade.

He roamed the castle for less than ten minutes when a maid was sent to fetch him, rushing to get him to the throne room, where Judgement would be passed, and determine if he was fit to move away from his studies. He had no fears, the amount of time he had poured over those spells books, the nights he had stayed up after his flights to study; he could nearly recite how to perform the complex spells that Celestia had given for him to understand.

The maid led him through the lofty side passages that brought them into the throne room from a servant's side door. The two entered the lit carpeted walkway leading to the throne daises, where both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna sat looking down upon the approaching ponies. Celestia had a rather pleased expression on her face, and Luna appeared to be relieved to the point of contentment, indicating what Blaze was already certain of; he'd passed.

"Princesses." He bowed once he had reached the base of the dais, finally accustomed to the formal greeting that he had taken up.

"Rise, Blaze Burn." Celestia commanded, her voice strained to retain its air of regality, though it was tainted with pride and joy. He did so, offering a toothy grin as he looked up and saw the impressed faces of the Sisters, and he couldn't help but feel overly satisfied that he had not only survived the longest ordeal of his life, but that he had done so to the extent of earning the respect of the smartest ponies in the capital. "It hath appearance that we art in need of a celebration, as thine final test hath been scrutinized, and decreed to be of exceptional quality by our esteemed professors."

"Indeed, dear sister. A celebration shalt be held to mark this occasion of triumph, and Blaze Burn's education shalt be finished." Luna nodded as she voiced her agreement, smiling at her sister with amused relief. "And after today's festivities, we shalt finally begin thine proper exercise within our troop training regime, Blaze Burn. As it stands, we merely ask that thee savors thine final day of peace and placidity, for on the morrow, we shalt prepare thee for the life of a trained soldier."

The blue alicorn's face hardened a bit, but under the serious gaze Luna dropped upon the growing pegasus, he could see the barely concealed glee of pushing him to his limits. While he was more than thrilled to begin the work he had wanted to begin, and he knew that his nightly flights would be of great help, he was also aware that Luna was going to have him flying through Tartarus in training. Still, he would heed her words and enjoy the day off of studies, and the final day before the fun began, so he bowed deeply and thanked them for their generosity and patience, just as he had learned to do under Celestia's tutelage. Once he had bowed long enough, he rose and turned to leave, only to be enveloped in a strong golden aura and hauled up to the dais.

Celestia's long legs wrapped themselves around his torso as she pulled him in for a tight hug and she squealed with joy. "Oh, Blaze Burn! Thou hath no knowledge of the pride thou hath instilled in us from thine efforts!"

Blaze gasped for breath as the Princess of the Sun squeezed tighter and began to shake him around in her grip. He tried to respond, but the air was being forced from his body and he wasn't able to get his chest open enough to breath in. He started to pat her on her grasping forelegs, hoping to get attention, but before he could get far, she noticed what she was doing and dropped him to the ground, chuckling as she apologized to him.

"It really is no problem, Princess. I merely did as I was asked, and it did help that I found some of the subjects interesting." He wheezed out as he tried to get his chest cavity back to its normal shape, waving off Celestia's concern before she tried to pull any more stunts. Once he had gotten his breath back, he stood straight and looked the elder Princess in the eye, offering a genuine smile as he noted the overwhelming pride and happiness in her eyes. "I do thank you for your gratitude, though. It is not every day that a normal, average pony like myself earns the attention and pride of a Princess."

Luna scoffed at the obvious groveling, but both Blaze and Celestia chose to ignore it, the former merely wishing to finish the final interactions he planned to have with Celestia for a while on a high note. The latter ignored in the bliss of accepting the attention that she had been starting to crave from him, even if he denied any such involvement.

With the formalities tied up, Blaze made a tactical retreat, making a beeline for the doors leading out of the throne room. He exited the large castle, quickly taking to the skies in an effort to get home and spend some time with friends and family before he had to prepare for training. Though his efforts were in vain, for as soon as he was above the castle towers, and had just began to break into the city proper, he was wrapped once more in a Princess' spell, this time being a midnight blue aura.

"We would ask thee to wait a moment and spare us thine ears to listen." Luna said as soon as she had set him down on the balcony she waited upon. Blaze sighed but nodded, knowing he wasn't getting out of listening to what she had to say: she was a Princess, and he had accepted that he was bound to treat them with the respect they deserved.

"What is it, Princess Luna?" He asked as he forced a smile on, though the smile slowly grew genuine as he thought about the chance to finally figure out what he was going to be capable of with his training. Luna returned the smile, though hers was far more exhausted, and the bags under her eyes spoke of the long nights she was no doubt going through. Blaze's smile dipped just enough to be noticeable, and he stepped forward, setting a caring hoof on the Princess of the Night's side. She silently thanked him for the support, but chose to instead lean against the railing before she answered, her eyes drifting over the city as she considered the changes finally arriving for her and the Gold Blood.

"On the morrow, at the break of dawn, we expect thee to be at the barracks, just outside the castle grounds. We will be far too exhausted then to be there to determine thine training needs, but do not fear; we hath requested one of our strongest fliers be there to occupy the position." She explained without looking back at Blaze, who could only stare at her in mild confusion, her mind occupied with dreams of the grandeur her ponies would experience once more now that a Gold Blood would be present to guide the populace with her and her sister's orders. "His name is Scarlet Cloud, and he hath the position of Solar Guard Captain. He shalt train thee whenever we art unable to lead thine exercises, which shalt, unfortunately, be more often than not, we art afraid."

"Princess, a question, if I may?" Blaze asked gently, knowing that the younger Princess took a great deal of pride in her abilities and appearance. He wanted to tread as lightly as possible, because he knew that the concern he was about to raise was one not brought up by ponies other than Celestia towards the blue alicorn. She turned to face him, eyebrows raised ever so slightly showing her curiosity.

"Yes?"

"Are you well? I don't mean to intrude on your personal life, but your welfare is for the best of the entire country, and I couldn't help but notice that you seem a little, I don't know, tired. Have you been neglecting sleep too much? I understand that you spend every night performing your duties, but I also know that you have been up for quite a few days as well."

The Princess couldn't stifle the slight chuckles before they escaped her maw, and she was left shaking her head as she slumped against the railing even more. She looked out at the city, before turning back to Blaze, her eyes brightening up considerably while she took a breath and thought of her answer.

"Yes, Blaze Burn. We art in perfect health, but we thank thee for thine concern over our wellbeing. It means more than thee could hope to understand that our citizens, especially ones who spend more time avoiding us than with us, would care about how we fare. We hath simply been exerting our strength to ensure that the ponies of Equestria are both safe and sound during the day and night, as per our dear sister's request." She explained as she stood from the railing, flaring her wings while arching her back and relieving some of the tension in her worn muscles. Rolling her neck, resulting in rapidly popping joints, she wrapped a wing around Blaze and led him back inside. "Enough of this dreary conversation; 'tis a time to celebrate thine achievements!"

"Just don't overwork yourself, Luna. I know what it is like to push yourself too far when doing something day in and day out; or in your case, night in and night out. Get some rest whenever you can, we'll manage without you there at whatever your sister has in mind." Blaze suggested as they emerged into the throne room once more, where they stumbled across an all-too-familiar sight: Celestia was sitting on her throne, mouth stuffed with a slice of a cake that hovered in a golden glow a reach away from her seat.

The Princess of the Sun's eyes grew to the size of saucers when she saw that she had unexpected visitors, and the cake itself disappeared in a flash while she hastily swallowed the slice while wiping her face clean and struggling to clean herself properly. She forced a smile onto her face until she realized who had entered, then her smile dropped into a scowl as her horn took the golden glow and the cake reappeared beside her.

"Well, perhaps it would be better for the nation should we find some time to rest; so we shalt bid thee a fine day, Blaze Burn. We wish thee a restorative day before thine time of trials." Luna bade her regal farewells before trotting off to her personal chambers for some well-deserved rest. Blaze nodded as she left, before turning his attention back to the scowling elder, a slightly bashful smile spreading across his face as he noticed the irritated look upon Celestia's face.

"Thou should know not to interrupt thine Princess without notifying her that she hath visitors, to properly give her time to prepare." She burst out when he was standing before her at the base of the dais, but then she resumed stuffing her face with the cake. Said cake was gone before Blaze had a chance to respond to her, not that Blaze was one to complain. He had taken a great understanding of what battles to partake in with the Princess, and anything revolving around her most sacred of consumables was not on that list. "But what is it that thou wish to speak with us about?"

"Nothing much, Princess Celestia. I merely wished to ask you what your thoughts were on any brief celebrations, since you seemed particularly excited about my graduation from that dreadful education program of yours." Blaze replied with a shrug.

"Oh, well; we hath made a few ideas in mind, but we art more than confidant those mentioned would hath to be delayed until a later time, tonight perhaps." Her answer was emphasized with suggestive eyebrow wiggling, something that Blaze immediately regretted seeing. The insinuations coming from the Princess made him slightly uncomfortable, not because he was foreign to the subject of certain. . . aspects of pony relationships. He was somewhat knowledgeable on those aspects thanks to his growing community, with aging ponies and a particular purple unicorn that seemed to desire his attentions. No, what bothered him was that he was some simpleton pegasus, and that this Princess of Equestria was suggesting she wanted something from him that she should only ask of from somepony she was either wed to or already in a relationship with. Thinking about those interactions was enough to get his heartbeat increasing slightly. But before he needed to reign in his thoughts, Celestia did so for him. "But until then, we art sure thou would wish to see thine family and friends while thee still hath time? We give thee the remainder of the day to do as thee wishes, though we politely inquire as to whether or not thou hath established any plans for the night?"

The shift from her brash confidence to this sudden nervousness, drowned in what almost felt like anxiety to him, made his thoughts completely derail. He had to blink several times to register that he was still talking to the Princess of the Sun, and when he had done so, he had to come up with something to respond to her with, so he burst out with the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh, no Princess Celestia. I'm afraid that I don't really have many ideas for the night, as my schedule usually had a flight, but now that I'm going into training, I think working on my body will be a good thing tonight."

"Oh, we see. Perhaps then, thou wishes for a quiet night with thine friends and family, to revel in the peace before thine begins to spend all day and night breaking thineself?" Celestia actually sounded a little saddened, and Blaze knew for certain that he heard the definite sound of disappointment. He was about to try to rectify that, but then his brain clicked, and he remembered what about it she was most likely disappointed, and he had to pause to try to figure out where he needed his priorities right then.

"Princess Celestia, if you had any ideas for something we could do to celebrate, I'd love to hear them. I know that there are a few ponies that you haven't spoken to in some time at the community that would love for a chance to meet with you on a more casual level." He suggested, hoping that something was better than nothing, and his efforts were rewarded when Celestia's smile returned and she nodded, the earlier emotions completely replaced.

Blaze inwardly sighed that he had avoided a crisis and bowed before taking his leave and finally exiting the castle. Once outside, he inhaled deeply, feeling freedom from that accursed program he was suffering through. Freedom that he was no longer obligated to study and retain as much information as possible, because while he knew that a lot of it might come in handy later down the road, he did not know where he was ever going to use the quadratic formula in real life. Nor did he know where the history of the founding of Equestria itself would ever be useful, but now he had that information, and he might as well use it to the best of his advantage. What little there was on the history of his country: he'd find some use for it.

The glide back to the community home was far more relieving than Blaze had known in a long time, and with all the changes in the building, and with so many ponies finding their places in the city; it truly felt like a proper family.

Aside from the little things that he doubted normal families went through, he was certain that they could pass for a very large extended family. One thing that did bother him was his current status with Twilight, as she had made it very clear that she wasn't thrilled by the idea of contributing more to whatever was between them than the convenient bucking that they did. It had started as simply helping her through heat, but once he had gotten a taste of what was available as a fully grown stallion, well, his body developed a bit of a craving.

He wasn't sure whether he should have asked the eldest pegasus in the building about it, whether it was just a part of growing up or not, but the guy rarely spoke nowadays. If he wanted an answer from him, he'd really just have to try and ask, but he was extremely hesitant to bring up the topic.

Now that he stood in front of the door to the building, he found that his worries over the issue resolved and faded behind the thoughts of spending the remainder of the day with Asta, her friends, and the rest of his family. With a large smile spreading across his face, he pushed the door open with a bit more force than he wanted and made a hasty entrance into the building, only to be tackled half a second later by a large brown filly, nearing the age to be a full-fledged mare.

"Blaze!" Several of the ponies in the community all called at once, only to find that the greeted pegasus was soon down on the ground, embraced in a fierce hugging war with his little sister. After a minute of fighting for control with her, he managed to roll on top and pinned her down before standing triumphantly, merrily pulling her onto her hooves while doing so.

"How did you do?!" Asta asked excitedly, beaming with joy as Blaze led her towards the central fire pit, the official meeting point for anything the ponies in the community needed to gather over. Most of the interested adults also made their way to hear what the most successful and influential ponies in the building had done. Blaze waited to explain until the assembled ponies had gotten themselves comfortable, and when they were settled, he cleared his throat so he could tell them the events.

"As you are all aware, I had my final exam today for Princess Celestia's tutoring program, and this was by no means an easy exam. Twilight, Cherry Orchard, Sage. . ." Blaze nodded to each unicorn/ magic expert in the gathered ponies. "I know you are all aware that most magic spells can be fairly complex, and understanding them is not an easy undertaking. But, through your assistance, and through a lot of hard work, I learned and memorized everything I could about spells most unicorns will use in our time. Thank you for helping me to understand how they work, so that Celestia could teach me how to counter and recognize them. I know that many of you doubted I could get anywhere near failing this most important test, and I am more than excited to inform you all that I am not going to disappoint you all today!"

Cheer erupted from the group at the tremendous news, and he received a great many praises from the assembled mass of ponies. Along with a few hugs from his closest friends or family, with Asta glued to his side the entire time, pride swelling from her next to him through the announcement.

"I also wanted to point out that now that I am no longer required to partake in those rather dull lessons, I am finally able to do what I had originally intended on doing, and that is completing the formal guard training." He continued once the murmurs and general hubbub of the excited ponies calmed down. "So Princess Celestia has given me the rest of the day off, so that we could properly enjoy this time together. One thing before we all split off; if any of you want to be able to speak with either Princess Celestia or Princess Lune tonight, you'll be able to join me when she hosts a bit of an informal Royal Celebration tonight. She really appreciated what I've been able to do, and she is willing to let us come by for some fun before the hard work begins. Just wanted to let you all know that."

That announcement got the entire crowd murmuring excitedly amongst each other as Blaze broke away from the group and went to the kitchen to get himself a snack. He was followed by Asta and Scaled Equilibrium, both of whom were very pleased that Blaze had taken to the tutoring so well.

"Sooo. . . " Asta began slowly, once the three of them had been seated at a table, Blaze quietly sipping at a mug of cider. He paused at waited patiently for the young mare to say her peace, smile happily as he rested in the fact that this was a very wonderful moment for him. The silence dragged on, however, as Asta seemed to hit a snag, and was extremely nervous about continuing, tapping her hooves together nervously as she stared off into space towards the corner of the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking. . . that maybe, just maybe. . ." She paused for a moment to inhale deeply before deciding to finally get it over with. "I was kind of thinking that now that this whole thing about your education finally being over, and now you have so much time to spend in flying practice and training to be a guard, and with all the time I've been spending flying at night with you, that maybe all those late night trips have maybe, just possibly, made it slightly, hopefully possible that I could also join with you?"

Blaze took another sip of his cider, trying to understand the nervous spillage of words coming from her mouth, but eventually decided that he must have misunderstood her. "Could you repeat that, just a little slower this time?"

"Fine." She sighed, her head and wings drooping as she prepared to get this over with as quickly as possible. "I was thinking that, well hoping really, that now that you are going into guard training, that I would be able to join you. Before you completely say no; please hear me out! I was thinking that since you have been taking me out on all those flights over the last couple of years, and with all the work I've been putting into living up to my cutie mare as an amazing flier, that I'd be able to try out for the guards with you."

"Absolutely not." Blaze didn't even hesitate, and he finished his cider with one final drought, dropping the mug on the wooden table slightly harder than he intended to.

"Blaze! Please? I know you want to do what you think is best, but I truly think that I'll be able to handle myself; it's not like I haven't been working my flank off to be the best flier I can be! Besides, Blaze, what else could my cutie mark even be for? It is literally a sword with a pair of wings attached; and that sounds pretty damned military to me, so why not just let me try to take on the challenge, like you've let me do with you every night?"

"Because, Asta: Princess Luna said that she was going to push me harder than she would push normal guards, and that it was going to be like flying through Tartarus. You know what Tartarus is, right? It's a place where the badest of the bad go, it's a place of fire and torment and pain, and what she wants to put me through, I don't know if I'll be able to handle it." Blaze explained with passion lining his voice. "Yes, your cutie mark is indeed a sword with a pair of wings, but that doesn't mean you have to go into the guard, you could very well just go into. . . into. . . give me a moment."

"See! It's clearly my destiny to be a guard, so just let me try it out, I know I could do really well!" Asta protested, standing from the table to try to do her best to get the image across that she was not some soft filly to be protected at all costs. She puffed out her chest to look as big and menacing as possible, and she put on her toughest, boldest face she could muster.

Unfortunately for her, Blaze saw her as a filly to be protected at all costs, and he wasn't going to back down from this argument easily.

"Asta, I said no, and that is final. You are not going to be joining the guard, that is it: end of discussion." Blaze said as he stood from the table as well, grabbing his mug and walking over to the sink, dropping the ceramic piece into the tub of dishes before turning to head back to the table, only to be greeted by the face of one stubborn young mare, with the look of pure determination set into her rigged eyebrows. "Asta, I've already made my decision, so there is no point in trying to argue your way out of this one."

"Blaze Burn, I understand where you are coming from in your concern, but I have already spoken with both Scaled Equilibrium and the Royal Sisters. The Sisters have agreed that should I choose to join the guards, which is a decision I can make on my own, then they will allow me to choose where I join, be it the city watch, the castle guard, or training with you. They have given me the freedom to choose what I want to do, seeing as how they received their advice from Scaled Equilibrium herself." Blaze turned to glare at the mentioned mare, who only nodded in agreement to the statements Asta was providing. Blaze was getting more and more dissatisfied with the direction Asta was heading, but he cared about her enough to let her finish before he made his final statement.

"I know how much you love us and you want to protect us; it was your driving reason behind allowing yourself to side with the Sisters in the first place. Be that as it may, I am a grown mare, and I am capable of making decisions for myself, and while I don't really care about the guard themselves, having the opportunity to protect and serve the city as a whole is something that greatly appeals to me. I want to do something with my life that makes life for other ponies easier, and if that means joining the city watch, then I'll join the city watch. If I have to break myself down and become a soldier to fight in the front lines, I will gladly do so.

"Blaze Burn, you have been my driving inspiration: your selfless attitude towards protecting those you love is what has shaped me into the mare I am today. I want to take what you have instilled in me, and use it to help Equestria into this new age where suffering and strife are not strong old friends to the common pony." Asta paused to place a comforting hoof on Blaze's shoulder, giving him a smile and letting him know that she was speaking from the deepest parts of her soul. "Blaze, I went to our amazing Sage to ask for advice, and during our conversation, those Spirits of hers asked her to give me a message."

Blaze held his breath for a moment, remembering when he received his message from those same Spirits; how it scared the living shit out of him.

"They said that I was destined to be by your side: helping Equestria become a strong and healthy nation. Like it or not, Blaze, I want to be there to help everypony, and I want you to be there so that I can prove to you that I have worked to be as amazing as you are. I have always aspired to be anything close to what you have been to these wonderful ponies we call a family, and now that I have a path in life that can lead me there, I am going to take it. All I wanted from you is to see that your actions have made us all want to be as significant in our communities as you have been in yours." Asta paused to take a deep breath and to wrap herself around Blaze's neck in another large hug.

"Asta. . ." Blaze wasn't quite ready to respond, but the named mare wasn't finished with her venting yet, either.

"I know I've said this like a million times already, Blaze, but you mean the world to us. Everything I have ever done, I have done it because I thought it was the right thing to do: I've done it because I thought that that was what you would have done. Those Spirits that Scaled talks to, that wanted to tell me that I was going to do what I've always wanted to do, they didn't tell me anything new. I always knew that I was going to follow in your hoofsteps, and I was going to follow your path to the end, whether or not you wanted me to." She backed away from him and led him back to the table, where a very please Sage sat with a cup of iced tea in her hooves as she admired to heartfelt moment between siblings.

"I'm going to join the guard, though not right now. I know how much you want to protect us, but at the same time, I don't think right now is the right time for me to pursue a career in the protection field. I am willing to do as you wish, and stay here, or at least stay out of the guard programs, at least until I am actually old enough to enlist by myself. It's what you've wanted from us, to stay safe, and I agree that maybe I'm not quite ready for it yet." She smiled warmly as she leaned back in her seat, letting the stunned face of Blaze settle in her mind for personal amusement. "I'm just letting you know now so that you can adjust to the idea that at some point, I'm going to join the guard, or the military, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

With that, she popped up from her seat, leaned over the table and pecked Blaze on the cheek, and merrily trotted out of the kitchen, leaving an extremely stunned Blaze blankly staring into space. There was also the sound of another mare laugher her flank off at the complete turn of events that had taken place under her watchful eye.

"Well, that just happened. And it seems that your confidence has been wearing off on the other ponies, Blaze; at this rate it'll be too difficult for anypony to even try to change our minds." Scaled Equilibrium chuckled as she too stood from the table, walking away from the table to set her cup in the sink. She returned to find that Blaze hadn't even shifted from his seat, and his eyes were glued to a point in the void where Asta was just sitting. She sighed and walked over to him, resting a hoof on his shoulder and offering her silent support.

After several seconds of sitting there trying to get his mind to function again, Blaze succeeded and managed to turn his head so he could look the mare behind him in the eye, flashing a brief smile. "Thanks for staying, Scale. I think I've made a few mistakes, though, and that this is going to blow up in our faces if all the youth are going to act like this. Maybe we should try to start a trend where all the foals are peaceful and passive, listening to their elders and not deciding that they need to endanger themselves for stupid reasons."

"Stupid like what you have always done? Or stupid like you never wanted us to believe you would be willing to do?" She asked with a grin, jokingly shoving him out of his chair and watching in amusement as he stumbled onto his hooves.

Blaze rolled his eyes as he stood as tall as he could, flaring his impressively large wings out in a vain attempt at intimidating her into submission. The act only won him ceasing giggles as the moment passed and she led him back into the main area, where the group of ponies were excitedly talking to each other about meeting the Princess. He sighed in resignation, expecting the entire community to be abuzz with energy at the prospect of improving their fortune through his arrangement with Princess Celestia. Much to his surprise, the few that did approach him were scared off by a stern-faced Sage beside him as they made their way to the center.

Once they had broken through the mass of bodies, Blaze took a seat next to the old pegasus near the empty firepit, while Scaled Equilibrium stood there a moment longer.

"Blaze, whenever you get the chance soon, do you mind coming by my room for a quick talk? I got a couple of things that we wanted to chat with you about." She asked suddenly, but the request didn't completely blindside him; as he was hoping for a chance to speak with those damned Spirits about whatever the buck it was that they wanted from him. He merely smiled and nodded, allowing the mare to head off to her room to prepare the potions that she needed for a communication session with the other side.

With one less pony in the area, the eldest pegasus in the building took the opportunity to pass on some wisdom from his age. He spoke quietly, and the conversating ponies around them either shut up to let him speak, or left the area to give them some privacy. "The kid finally decided to do something with his life; and he spends two Celestia-damned years studying. Typical kids these days; I remember when I was your age, I was put to work on the farms, hauling hay and carrots, moving massive barrels of either apples or pears. Now the kids get the luxury of sitting around all day reading about useless things."

"Okay, dude, first off: I never asked to get into this bucking school thing, I was kind of pulled into it so I could 'legally' train." Blaze responded with a smirk in his most sarcastic voice, holding up a hoof to mark that that was the first thing he had to say. "Secondly; I didn't just sit around for those two years, as you will clearly remember I worked my flank off every night practicing my flying skills. Well, you would remember if you weren't such an old fart."

"Ha ha. Old age brings wisdom, boy, something you won't have for a very long time." The elder retorted, a smirk slowly spreading across his face as he continued the banter. "Spending a little time in the air never counts as real work."

"Maybe not, old timer, but when I get to actual training as a guard, I'm sure Princess Luna is going to make me do things that would make farming look like a nice little nap." Blaze chuckled when some of the listening ponies gasped a little when he mentioned that, he suspected that they thought he was going to be trained as a normal guard, where the Princesses had no involvement. The elder seemed a little happy at the thought of Blaze suffering, playful happiness though, and Blaze only felt the need to increase the situation. "Yeah, I imagine I'm going to be about as beaten down as one can get without actually breaking. But once I'm done, old dude: I guarantee that you are going to be impressed by the work I've put in."

"I certainly hope so: wouldn't want the younger generations getting soft on us. That would only end in the downfall of Equestria, because us old ponies ain't going to stand up for fighting: not when perfectly capable stallions such as yourself are here to do that for us. We got more important things to be doing; like naps. Naps are very important." He joked.

"Whatever. You keep taking your naps, and maybe some day you just might find the energy to actually get out and do something. Eh, old guy?" Blaze retorted with a chuckle as he made his was passed the aging pegasus, but he turned back to face him before he got too far away. "How large do you think my wings are going to get, what with my magic blood or whatever? I hope they stop growing soon, else they are going to be too big to get any speed out of them, and then I'll be about as good at flying as you."

"What a shame that would be, but if you truly did want to be the best flier, then you would have to hope you were blessed with half the flying capabilities as me. Maybe then you could win the heart of Miss Twilight."

"You know, old man; there is a small amount of truth in there, because once I think that I might have seen you fly close to a block. Might be your record, and maybe one day I can hope to match your flying prowess. And as for Twilight, I think she is just in denial over our destiny to be together, and I am sure that one day she will give in to her inner desires and come running to me." Blaze nearly sang as he walked backwards towards the halls to meet with Scale, waving his farewells as he did so. "We'll talk later."

Blaze trotted through the bumble of ponies gathered around him, each engaged in a conversation about the coming celebration and their brief opportunity to talk to the Princess of the Sun. He nodded greetings to each pony that said his name but didn't waste any time in working his way through them until he found himself down the mouth of the dimly lit hallway. The lack of proper lighting reminded him to get the building some new windows once spring rolled around. No point in cutting holes in the walls during the middle of winter, especially since they had installed actual insulation a year or two back.

He trotted down the halls until he reached the door that would forever send shivers down his spine. He took a moment to settle his heart, taking a deep breath before knocking on the door. He waited for the earth pony to answer, but when the door remained shut, and there was only silence from the other side, he decided to take the risk. Holding his breath, Blaze gently placed a hoof on the door handle and turned the knob, the fresh wooden door silently swinging inward on the darkness beyond.

Waiting at the edge of the doorway, he waited patiently for the door to open fully so he could observe the room from a safe distance. The darkness, however, held strong and the only penetration came from the smoldering embers of the fire underneath the cauldron that Blaze was sure should have been fully lit.

Blaze, never really being superstitious, still hesitated at the doorway a moment longer before taking an easy step inside. The shadows of the room embraced the pegasus, and when he was fully engulfed in darkness, the door behind him snapped shut. Whipping around t face the entrance, Blaze tried the handle to the door, finding it tightly locked, only increasing the uneasiness he felt. He was just beginning to give up on the door when a sea green glow started overtaking the room. It started with a light hint just at the edge of his vision, but as it grew in strength, he quickly realized that its source was behind him, and before long, he could see his outline on the door as the glow brightened. He froze on the spot, hoof still wrapped around the handle as he realized that he was not alone, and that whatever was behind him was not a pony. Chills running down his spine and making his fur stick on end, he gently let his hoof fall to the ground before remembering to breath. He felt dread rising in his chest as he remembered his visit in the underground burrows just beneath the creed base.

Forcing his emotions down, Blaze took a shallow breath and ever so hesitantly turned around, being greeted by a large glowing blob of sea green and swirling tendrils of aqua. His breath hitched for a moment at the sight of another Spirit, but once he saw that it wasn't what he had already witnessed, he calmed down a bit. Obviously still nervous, Blaze glanced around the room with the new ambient lighting coming from the mystical orb of color and light. Unfortunately, Scale was nowhere in sight, and the orb was just starting to inch its way closer to him.

He gulped uneasily, taking a half step back before his flank hit the shut door, and he was stuck staring at this metaphysical blob that was closing in on him. He didn't have the best memories with Spirits, thus he was slightly uncomfortable with this one, if it was a Spirit at all. As it neared him, Blaze began to hear the slightest of noises, almost like a hum, or a buzz, but it was just at the edge of his hearing, so he missed it for a few seconds. Blaze felt his heartrate increase, and a nervous sweat broke out as the orb got closer, and then he really heard the humming, as the thing got closer and closer. He clung to the darkness around him, feeling that it was safer than being near whatever this orb was, but as it closed in on him, all the shadows around him faded under the lighting given off by the wisp-like tendrils. One tendril began to drift away from the orb, and reached out to Blaze, who panicked as it got within reaching distance, and his wings flared as he curled into the ceiling.

The orb seemed to pause when he had left the ground, but then the colors shifted together, mimicking a creature turning to face a different direction, and in this case: they shifted to look up at him.

"Alright, that's enough!" A voice called from the darkness hiding behind the orb, and all the normal lighting returned to the room, with the flames flickering back to life under the cauldron. With the shift into brightness, Blaze was momentarily blinded, and his attention shifted, letting him drop to the ground. "You've had your fun, Spirit."

Blaze blinked as rapidly as he could, hoping to see the owner of the voice, as he would recognize her voice anywhere. After a second of wiping at his face with his hooves, he managed to clear his eyesight enough to see again; and see he did.

Standing at full height, Blaze took a moment to appreciate Scale's appearance, but his smile vanished once he could see the thing that would now haunt his nightmares for a few nights now. In the light, this orb seemed significantly less intimidating, as the aqua tendrils around it were invisible, and the sea green glow was barely glowing. He glared at the Spirit before it drifted back behind Scale as she made her way forward to greet him.

"I'm sorry about that, I was busy discussing events with my own when this one must have snuck in here. It's harmless, don't you worry, the others assured me of that, but it is a little strange that it would go straight to you, in physical form, no less." She said as she turned to look at the green orb lazily floating around the room without any seemingly real interest in anything. Blaze had to take a moment to process that sight of a Spirit that wasn't like the one he had seen before. His critical eye was shut off however, due to his displeasure at the fright forced upon him by the thing. "Strange, though: they don't usually show themselves to others, especially not in ways that can interact with the physical plane."

As she explained this, the orb pulsed a bright green, then one aqua blue tendril appeared, reaching towards one of the various herbs that Scale had stored on the wall-shelves. The two ponies watched idly as the Spirit seemed to peer over the ingredient, which happened to be a root Blaze didn't remember the name of. It seemed interested for the whole of about five seconds before tossing the root back onto the shelf and continuing on its way around the room.

"While this is completely fascinating, Blaze: I must admit that I wasn't quite expecting you yet, and still need some time to completely prepare." Scale admitted as she walked towards the bubbling cauldron, reaching for some ingredients that were lying next to it. She crunched a plant up and tossed the chunks into the pot, a satisfying sizzling noise coming as the brew liquified the mysterious plant. Blaze nodded to her idly, but his attention was still focused on the Spirit just casually floating around the room. He had to admit, now that he wasn't being terrified out of his mind, that it was rather fascinating to watch how the orb moved around, and while he wasn't really sure what to think, all he could come up with was intrigue. "If you would just give me a moment to prepare; I should have the potion ready just like last time. Though I feel I must warn you; sometimes the Spirits aren't always the most cooperative when you would like them to be. So please don't be surprised if they feed you a bunch of random gibberish that will likely take inner discovery and years of meditation to decipher."

"It's fine; so long as I get some kind of answers for my questions, I think that I'll be more than fine." Blaze shrugged as he watched the Spirit a little closer.

The thing seemed to have inspected the room to its satisfaction, as it was now just floating there in a corner, and Blaze had the gut feeling that he was being studied. Unfortunately, the orb had no features about it whatsoever that he could try to read, and the ocean-themed orb merely sat there without moving much. Unreadable, unexplained, though not totally unwanted. Blaze did admit to himself that it was especially interesting that this Spirit's behavior was odd enough to warrant Scale's interest.

As Blaze and the Spirit sat there in silence, Scaled Equilibrium worked on the brew, mixing in various plants and ingredients, stirring them into one unidentifiable mess. And after a short wait, she had the final ingredients for the mixture ready to be added. She looked over to Blaze, nodding for him to prepare himself, before she dumped the final powders into the cauldron.

Blaze made note that just like last time, sparks flew up out of the mix, and smoke began to plume out as the liquids inside protested their very existence. He watched as the smoke seemed to expand at a rapid pace, but it halted just at the edge of the cauldron, nearly collapsing over the lip and spilling out, but handing there, tantalizingly. "Spirits: I call upon thee here today for this reunion of present and future! I request thine presence here at thine turning point in history!"

As if her beckoning was calling the actual Spirits from the other side, the smoke billowed forth from the cauldron, spilling into the room in a thick fog of green. The smoke condensed into a froth-like material, and began to wrap itself around Scale while whatever magic it was held by seeped into the very fabric of the world around them. Blaze noticed how things were different from the last time, but before he could decide what to do with the information, the air shifted strangely.

His eyes snapped to the orb of the previous Spirit, which shimmered slightly, as if its hold in reality was slipping and it was slowly fading away. He watched as it slipped from visibility, before pulling back into reality until it slipped again, repeating this over and over. He watched this go on, until his attention was directed back at Scale, or rather, the creature floating in front of her: yet another two-legged Spirit, this one was dramatically different than the ones he had seen before. Where the one under the creed was shackled and a sick green, this one was free, and a deep pink color, almost a shade of red. Despite the nausea-inducing pulsating of colors, Blaze maintained eye-contact as it came into focus, until he fully recognized the form of the creature.

His mind went back to the night he had run into those other creatures, though they seemed much more alive. He tried, and failed, to resist the smile coming to his lips as he looked upon another of these mysterious beings that eluded the ponies in the city.

"Gold Blood, it has been brought to our attention that you desire knowledge, despite having been warned beforehand that there are limitations to what you are allowed to know." The pink Spirit said, and while Blaze was excited to finally be speaking with one, he was greatly unnerved by the lack of a mouth on the pink Spirit. He recovered enough to try to form a response, but before he could, the Spirit's head turned, facing the green orb hiding in the corner of the room. The head cocked to the side, much like Blaze had seen ponies do, though it looked odd when this creature did it. "And you are. . ."

The orb didn't respond immediately, but slowly skulked out of the corner and towards the trio in the center of the room. As it grew steadily closer, the air around it began to sparkle, as if the very magic of Equus was influencing the Spirit. As the sparkles gained, the distortions around the orb became ever clearer, and the general shape of the Spirit's form slowly came into being.

Blaze was surprised when the distortions died down, and the big reveal finally came, showing to them all yet another two-legged creature standing easily twice the height of Blaze. What also surprised Blaze with this transformation was that the shade the Spirit was colored in had also changed, from the sea green of the orb to the light aqua of the tendrils around it. This bipedal Spirit looked different in Blaze's eyes as well; almost cloaked, literally. There were flowing trails of color behind it that seemed to emulate the movement of a cloak or cape in the wind, which peeked Blaze's interests slightly more than usual.

As the Spirit revealed its identity, Scale, whom had hidden behind her Spirit friend, gasped in surprise of seeing another human Spirit. She understood that those that weren't fixed to a particular spot tended to roam, but the Sage's had never told her that they revealed themselves to others often. She took a step from around her Spirit to get a better look at the new Human Spirit, her eyes aglow with keen interest as she studied it from afar.

"Ah, I should have know it was you, Jace." The pink Spirit started just after sparing a glance at Scale, it's attention returning to the blue one. "Though, I must wonder, as to just what you are doing here, I didn't think that you would be interested in the Gold Bloods. You never were before."

"You and I both know that this one is different, he has a gift granted to him by Him, and He desired that I maintain observations over His chosen."

"Oh, please, Jace. That old fool barely did anything in his time on this Plane, and the Multiverse was always kept in balance." The pink Spirit tilted its head, in a motion that Blaze figured was rolling its eyes, even if it didn't have any to roll. "I still don't see your reason for coming here, but it matters not; the Gold Blood desires information, and we are curious as to what it yearn to know."

"Oh, well if that is all you wanted to do with this entire show of yours, you know you could have just asked me right? I am one of the most powerful Mind Mages in the Multiverse, well I was at some point, probably still am, but I've been dead for so long that it is hard to tell sometimes." Jace replied with a shrug before floating over to where Blaze was, throwing an aethereal arm over the pegasus' shoulders. "And I have been missing being connected to a conduit, and the Blind Eternities are just so dull nowadays."

"I have no affairs with whom you take as a conduit, but do not force that upon the Gold Blood: he is destined for greatness."

"Mind Mage; remember. He won't have to worry."

"You wouldn't dare to interfere with the Hands of Fate, Jace; even you don't know everything, despite your power. You may know more than the others about some things in reality, but we still have to take the proper precautions when appropriating someone into the right causes." The pink said in a warning tone, raising a hand and using its magic to pull Jace away from Blaze, the two floating into the empty space just off to the side. Scale took the opportunity to sneak over to Jace, though her eyes never left the two conversing Spirits.

"You have no idea just how lucky you are right now, Blaze." She whispered into his ear. "In all my years training and studying under the Sage's, I have never heard of a creature learning a Spirit's name. Nor have I had the opportunity to see a Spirit take a conduit, heard stories; yes. But never actually seen a creature who had."

"What is a conduit, exactly?" Blaze asked, sparing a moment to glance at Scale, who was busy staring at this unheard of Spirit named Jace. Her eyes sparkled with interest and a furious curiosity that Blaze could only half-understand.

"A conduit is a creature that a Spirit has decided to take as a sort of host, someone that the Spirit can interact with the world through. Think of a conduit as a window for the Spirits: they can use the window to reach through a wall and interact with things on the other side." She explained without taking her eyes off of the Spirits conversing. "There are a few things you might want to know, however: such as most of the time, ponies, and creatures in general, are unaware they are conduits, and thus think that they are crazy. That is because a Spirit can speak to their conduit at any time, but said conduit will only hear it as a voice in their head. Also; it is fairly common for the Spirit to just force its way inside a conduit, even if the creature knows they have been chosen."

"Wonderful."

"It isn't all that bad, Blaze. Usually, the Spirit offers advice, general knowledge, or provides tailored skills to the conduit, and if you're lucky and don't go insane, you can develop a close bond with the Spirit. Close ties with powerful entities can bring bountiful rewards."

"So in order for me to get some bountiful rewards, I just have to let a voice stay inside my head without going crazy?"

"That sums it up, roughly, but it sums it up."

With some amazing timing, Blaze ran out of things to say just as the two Spirits finished conversing, and began floating over to where the two ponies stood. The pink one slowed to allow this Jace to speak freely. "Gold Blood, I have decided that this adventure you are about to embark on would benefit from my companionship; thus, I'll be accepting you as my conduit for the time being. I must warn you: life is going to get a lot more interesting in these next few years, so you better get ready for one hell of an adventure."

"Um. . ."

"Jace, be easy with it okay?" The pink Spirit requested from behind as the named Spirit raised a hand and a blue glow began to emit from his palm. Jace nodded before the glow brightened and a beam of ice-blue magic shot towards Blaze, who had just enough time to yelp before his senses were flooded with pain. The pegasus blacked out soon afterwards.

Blaze awoke moments later, his head pounding and his hears buzzing, though the rest of his felt relatively fine. As his mind registered what had happened, he bolted upright, only to find that a purple hoof held him back down. He looked around in wild confusion until he saw that Scale was right next to him, and he was lying on the floor in her room. The sight her reassuring smile calmed him down immensely, though he wasn't able to bring a smile to his face until he figure out what the buck had happened to him. He tried to sit up, but that purple limb continued to hold him down, only making his frown deepen as he tried to get back on his hooves.

"Calm down, Gold Blood. The process of connecting a Spirit and their conduit can be draining, and you experienced a difficult transition for our friend. He hasn't had a conduit in some time, and thus was a little harsh upon entry, but if you relax, he shall ease himself soon enough." A pink head appeared above his vision, and for a brief moment, he felt the sudden urge to flee overtake him.

Before Blaze could act upon that urge, it was gone, and a sense of relief flooded through him as the pounding in his skull subsided and he was free from the annoying buzzing in the back of his hearing. He sighed in relief and relaxed himself on the cold planks of the floor before remembering where he was and what he was supposed to be doing.

" _Your questions are no longer necessary for you to gain the information you seek, Gold Blood."_ Blaze yelped at the words he heard, though he couldn't identify the source, and he was up before either Scale nor the pink Spirit could stop him. He whipped his head side to side before memories resurfaced to the front of his brain and he could think once more.

"Indeed, Gold Blood. It would seem that the process of bonding a Spirit and his conduit is complete, and I am no longer needed. I apologize that you did not get the opportunity to ask the questions you desired, but with that Spirit in your head, you will not be in need of information for long." The pink human didn't even have the decency to bid farewells, and simply vanished within the creeping green smoke clinging to the floor. Scale and Blaze watched in awe and confusion, respectively, until the smoke began to dissipate.

"Blaze, I know that the process for becoming a conduit is never easy, and I won't blame you if you don't like it, but I am here if you need to talk. I know what it is like to take on a Spirit, though I did so willingly, and you didn't really have the choice, and I will be able to try to explain some things to you since that Spirit in your head apparently hasn't had a conduit in some time. If there are any questions you have that it can't answer, don't hesitate to come to me." She said as she stood and patted him on his shoulder to show her support. "For the meantime, I'm sure that you are going to want to get to know whoever is in your head, and you should probably get some food in you."

Blaze nodded distractedly as he let the purple mare lead him out of the room, the smoke all but gone from the air. The two made their way down the hallway in uninterrupted silence before they broke from the halls and appeared in the main area.

"So, what can I expect from having a voice in my head?" He asked as they trotted through the building and made their way towards the front of the main area. They stopped at the front door, Scale drawing a frown on her face as she thought about an answer that would satisfy him, though it was all for naught, as she truly had no idea as to what that was like.

"I would answer that question, if only I could, Blaze. As it is, I just have no clue what it is like, every interaction I have had with the Spirits has been through the potion, and it usually feels like a normal conversation. For all I know, it can be exactly like that, but I don't." Scale answered, shrugging and offering an apologetic smile before turning to the door, rolling her shoulders and arching her back. "I'm heading to a place to get some more stock of the herbs I need for these potions, then I'll be heading out into the Everfree to get what I can't from in the city. Unfortunately, that means that I won't be able to make it to that little party of yours tonight, and I'll be gone for a couple of days, maybe even three, so good luck with everything that is going to happen until then."

"See you later, then." Blaze offered as he pulled Scaled Equilibrium in for a brief hug. The purple Sage happily returned the hug, but quickly broke it off to head out on her adventures hunting for supplies. Blaze watched the door shut quietly behind her, but turned on his hooves soon after to finish the remaining part of the evening with his friends and family, spending the day with them before he had to drag them all to the party that Celestia had insisted on having. He did have a plan to deal with her, though; something that he had thought of when he saw how enthusiastic the others were with the opportunity of seeing their beloved Princess of the Sun. All he had to do was show her to them, and they would occupy her for the evening, and then he'd be free to relish in his freedom from the torturous studies.

He figured that the longer he could stall Celestia, the better, as there was this feeling in his gut that she wanted something from him that he wasn't sure whether he should give or not. If life had taught him one thing; it was better to be safe rather than sorry.

He trotted back into the group of gathered ponies, many of whom were discussing the upcoming visit to their Princess and the various items they wished to discuss with her about. He was surprised by how many of them wished for her to solve one problem of theirs or another, and how many of those problems seemed easily resolved. Still, the mass of ponies had made it their personal mission to ensure that they didn't trouble him with their problems, their excuse being that he had already done so much for them. Not that he was complaining, but even he still managed to sneak his way around them to offer assistance whenever he could.

One such problem that he had consistently offered his help in, which he was sure was greatly appreciated and encouraged, was with that little problem Twilight had during the most intense part of the year. Yeah, he was sure that his assistance was pretty much mandatory about that time of the year, and he _knew_ that it was greatly appreciated.

Speaking of the mare herself, she had just trotted into the room from the kitchen, and he couldn't stop the stupid smile from coming to his lips as he trotted over to her. She returned the sentiment with a small smile of her own, but when Blaze reached out to wrap his leg around her, she had to take a step back, and her smile dropped. Blaze mimicked the action, though confusion spread through his mind, and some seeped onto his features as his empty leg dropped to the ground, and he had to cock his head to the side.

Telling himself not to worry about it, his smile returned and he bowed his head in greeting before taking position beside the purple unicorn and leading her towards the group of ponies. "I hope everything has been well, Twilight? It has been a while since we've been able to have a good conversation."

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Everything has been going just fine, Blaze Burn, and with this wonderful news of yours, I think the whole community is going to be in a buzz for the next few hours. You sure do know how to stir things up and get some life into the monotonous lifestyle around here, so I guess I should thank you for that." Twilight said with a smirk while playfully nudging him in the side. "And yes, it has been far too long since we've talked, but I know that your studying has been of the utmost importance, and with all the work to do around here, I haven't really had much time either. Still, it's nice to have a break every now and then."

"Yeah, though I'm sure there will be some time before the group heads off to that celebration Celestia is holding for me at the castle. Maybe we could spend some time together, hang out for a little bit?" Blaze asked his tone full of hope at achieving that which she had been fully against for the longest time; some time together to evaluate where they stood together. His hopes were instantly dashed to the depths of despair, however, when Twilight simply sighed at his offered request.

"Blaze, look. You're a great kid and all, but you just aren't really the type I'm looking for, and while I really enjoy the time we spend with each other, and your efforts to ease my heat, I can't really see us being a thing. Why don't you try for a mare that would make you really happy? I hear that there are a few mares that have had their eyes on you for some time, and I know that you had been keeping an eye on them as well."

Blaze didn't entirely know what to follow up with, being shot down yet again, but he was going to do his best to keep on trying. At some point, she would have to realize that they had formed a bond, and she would accept that they were meant for each other. "I just don't know why you keep on denying the thing we already have, Twilight; it's right there, all you have to do is look at it."

"Blaze, allow me to help you understand: we may have had sex, but I was in heat, and you know that mares will buck anything with a penis during their heat. I enjoy spending that time with you, because you are willing to assist with any of my needs, but outside of that, do we really spend any time together? Do we have anything that we could build a relationship on? I don't think so, so why don't we just let this go, and let things stay the way they are between us?" Twilight stopped so she could look Blaze in the eye, though her stubborn gaze was met with fierce determination that surprised her.

"One day, Twilight. One day." Blaze mumbled as he backed away with a grin, turning to hide within the crowd as he made his way through the to the back end of the building. He knew that his attempt at fleeing was pretty pathetic and entirely unsuccessful, but he suddenly found himself in the mood to be a bit interesting before the day was at an end. He was met at the back door by Asta, whom he shared a brief hug with before the tow made their way into the backyard.

"Heard that little disagreement you had with Twilight." She said once they had settled in a sunlit spot with the snow around them, a slight shiver running through them while they enjoyed the cool air. Blaze was glad that he was blessed with a full coat of fur, as he had seen some poor souls who had started balding in the most unfortunate of areas. "Gotta say: you can do a lot better than her."

"Thanks." Blaze huffed while he rolled his eyes, the idea of his little sister offering dating advice becoming extremely amusing to him. "But I would have to beg to differ: we have a connection, she just doesn't realize it yet."

"Blaze, I know what happened between you two. . ." Blaze was sure that his heart skipped a beat, though he wasn't sure what the exact source was: his sister knowing the naughty things he'd been up to each summer, or that she knew what sex was in the first place. "And while I won't blame you for it, I don't like it and I think you should stop."

"Asta, just shut up now, please." Blaze said in a light-hearted manner, knocking her on the side with his wings, though he had to eep constant attention focused on his feathers not ruffling in embarrassment.

"Funny. Scaled Equilibrium said that this next summer is going to be difficult for me, apparently she thinks I might have my first heat then, so I guess I won't have a lot to complain about Twilight when that starts." Blaze stared at the ground, knowing full well this was a conversation he would have been very glad to avoid having all together. "Just figured that I should get this out of my system now and tell you that I think you should try to find a pony that actually cares about you, and not who you try to be."

"Hold on there," Blaze held a hoof up as he shook his head and worked his brain out of the shock of the conversation turns. "First off: Twilight does care about me, as do all the others here, but I know that she is just refusing to admit how she really feels towards me. She is just playing hard to get, and don't argue otherwise. Secondly: what the hay do you mean 'the pony I try to be?'"

"You put on this sort of, I don't know, mask? You pretend to be this strong, unfazed macho stallion that has his life in total control and has no problems to deal with. You make it seem like you are settled in and are more than able to help others because nothing happens in your life to require your attention. We all know that you hide your troubles from others, no matter how much you try to deny it, but others don't usually see it that way. When I first moved in here, I thought that because everypony here respected your decision, like you were one of the elders, I figured that you were the head of this community because you had nothing else that really required your attention. Scale told me that you were just hiding your pain from others."

"So?"

"Blaze, you want others to see you as in control of your life and stable, when in reality you are hurting, a lot. We want to be there for you, but you constantly deny that there are even any issues to be helped with, and you try so hard to make it seem like you are that image: that you are that macho stallion who had his life in order." Blaze sighed as she continued to explain, and he knew that he would have to address this issue with the others. "Blaze, it's alright to talk to others about your problems."

"I do talk about my problems, with those that are able to help." Blaze replied curtly.

"Who would they be?" Silence met her question, and when she chuckled and nuzzled Blaze's side, he mumbled to himself about being betrayed by those he trusted most, but stood up from their seats.

"I was planning on enjoying a leisure flight around the city before stopping by the Apple Family stall to get a slice of steaming apple pie, care to join me?" He offered his hoof for her to stand, which she gratefully accepted, brushing the light dusting of snow off her underbelly. The two took to the air, as they had done for every night the last two years, gaining altitude at a lazy pace, the cold temperatures making sudden altitude changes difficult. They were a good height above the rooftops before they levelled out and began flying in no particular direction. "So, how have things been going back home?"

"Eh, not much really to talk about, Scale started showing Sweet Flower around the cauldron, under supervision of course, but other than that; nothing really. Why?" Asta called from Blaze's right, doing slow periodical barrel rolls around him, while he stretched his wings, finally having that knot out of the muscles that had been bothering him for a couple days now.

"That sounds nice; nothing looming over you and reminding you that you got something to do." Blaze sighed as he pumped a little and rose above Asta as she did her loop underneath him, and with the change, she stopped doing the rolls. The two continued on in silence for another couple of minutes before Asta picked up the conversation.

"Blaze, what's wrong, normally you talk to me about what you were studying, or just asking me about the things going on at home. What's got your tongue?"

"That obvious, huh?" Blaze chuckled, a smile spreading over his muzzle as he filled his wings with air, briefly admiring the width that they had picked up over the last two years, the growth spurts had been painful, but these wings sure were nice. As he stalled, he put more effort into keeping himself stationary as Asta curved around him to face him head on, mimicking his efforts with her average, light brown sings. "It's nothing much, just got to thinking, is all."

"Well, don't let the suspense kill me."

"Funny." Blaze rolled his eyes, but seeing a clump of puffy white clouds floating nearby made him nod over tot hem and he began to drift his way there. He settled onto one cloud while Asta tore several bits off to adjust the size of hers. "It's just that I am worried about how my 'training' has been going so far; it's like Celesta has been teaching me to be some kind of lapdog, or something. She gave me extensive courses on the histories and mathematics, along with quite a few skill books on things like cooking and basic maintenance of weapons. But I only got to study a few subjects that interested me, and even then, she modified the lessons so that I didn't really have a use for them. When am I ever going to use just about all of those math lessons?"

"I don't know Blaze, but if Princess Celestia wanted you to learn them, I'm sure that she had her reasons for choosing what she did."

"Whatever. I just feel like she is going to try to keep me held up in the castle as much as possible, and I'm nervous. It feels like she forgot why I even accepted her offer in the first place." Blaze laid his head on the cloud, feeling the weak rays of the sun batting against his white coat, resting his eyes as he thought about his circumstance.

"I do. You accepted because we asked you to, because we thought that joining with the Princesses would bring you some form of happiness, because those thieves weren't doing it for you." Asta said as she nudged him up with her hoof. "Now come on, I don't care that you are going to be busting your flank tomorrow during training, we still fly today."

Without waiting for an answer, Asta leaned down the side of the cloud, falling with grace that Blaze was far too lazy to replicate, but as he spread his wings to take flight, the cloud beneath him evaporated under the pressure of Asta's hooves. Blaze let out a yelp as he suddenly found himself falling from where his cloud once floated, but he managed to recover before he dropped too far. As he floated back up to Asta, he glared at her laughing form, before lunging forward and grabbing her and tossing her down before flying after her. The two engaged in light aerial combat for the next ten minutes, just enjoying being in each other's company for the time being. As the sun began its descent, which was never high in the sky to begin with, the two succumbed to the hunger in their stomachs and glided from their domain in the air to the streets below. Blaze was surprise by how occupied the streets were, considering the temperature, but accepted the mass of ponies beneath them as they searched for a suitable landing spot before they hit the market.

One such opening occurred shortly after, as a break in the traffic on the ground led to a stretch of open road that the two utilized instantly. They landed at a swift pace, trotting to absorb their remaining momentum, and followed seamlessly by trotting into the crowd and made their way to the market stalls. The Apple Family farmer was there selling her goods, as always, and greeted the pair of regular customers as they made their way towards her stall.

"Here for another pie, Blaze Burn?" She asked as she began to reach for her mitts to pull a fresh one from the rack behind her.

"Not today, Apple Turnover. Asta and I would just like a slice of pie each, if it's not too much for you." Blaze said as he began to reach for some bits, but was beat to it by Asta, who had already grabbed several bits and dropped them on the counter for the purchase. He looked at her in confusion, and she met his gaze with a cheeky grin in silence as the vendor pulled out two slices of steaming apple pie. Blaze shook his head but accepted the slice of pie, inhaling its scent with a large whiff. "Thanks, and have a great day!"

"Ya take care, there partner!"

Walking back to their home, the two enjoyed slices of hot pie on a cold day, and the sheer happiness they felt at having some peace before shit got crazy again was more than enough to satisfy them. Blaze had started to forget what it was like t just relax, he had been spending so much time focusing on his studies that he may have gotten on edge a bit. Now that he had a chance to cool off, he found that this was exactly what he needed in his life; lots more family time.

And the rest of the day was spent with exactly that: an ass-ton of family bonding for the whole damn family. Blaze gathered as many of the ponies in the community together, and they all enjoyed the evening around the firepit telling stories and enjoying the day. Scale had cooked up chocolate cookies, and Muffin helped in the kitchen, living up to his namesake, and baked dozens of muffins for them all to enjoy. The peace that Blaze was feeling made him begin to question whether this training was really necessary: he knew that times had been rough before, but things were looking up from here on out, right? Was breaking himself down to become a soldier truly necessary? Did he really need to do this?

 **Only if you wish to become as great as you can be.**

'Great.' Blaze thought shallowly, remembering that he was now host, or conduit, to a voice in his head. 'What made you wake up now? I've been doing shit all day, so why now start talking?'

. . .

'No answer? Fine. Be like that.' Blaze wanted to growl at the voice, not really wanting to deal with this kind of shit, but he knew that a lot of ponies would be concerned if he started randomly growling and acting all pissy. And good luck to himself if he tried to explain that the voice in his head was refusing to talk to him; they'd think he was crazy. He decided that the best thing to do was move on, if he couldn't force this Spirit to talk, then he didn't really need to worry about it then.

Sparing a quick glance out the window, Blaze noticed that the sun was reaching the western mountains, and that the group should start getting ready to head to that celebration Celestia wanted them at. He was just about to mention it to them all when a loud pounding at the door shut the room up, and they all glanced between each other uncertainly. Asta shrugged to herself, being the closest to the door, and walked over to it, swinging it wide open.

The entire community gasped and shot down to the ground, bowing at the Princess of the Sun who stood just outside the door. Blaze trotted to the front of the group, offering a quick bow as Celestia slowly walked inside. He was about to ask her why she had come, but she answered it before he could breathe the words.

"Thou were of an untimely arrival, Blaze Burn. We thought it best that we come to thine dwelling to ensure that thee hath not chosen to avoid thine own Celebrations, and it doth seem thou hath intentions of ding such?" Her regal voice was doing its best to avoid spilling with emotion, but Blaze was able to detect just enough disappointment in it to have his feelings dashed a bit.

"Of course not, Princess. We were just about to come to the thing right now, but it was set to be later in the evening, continuing into the night, correct? The sun hasn't even started to touch the western horizon, yet, so we still have some time. You said evening and night." He explained as the group behind him stood up, though many on quivering hooves. Celestia stared him down for a few uncomfortable seconds, and while Blaze wanted to take a jab at seeing what she was feeling, he didn't really feel like looking her in the eyes; her aura felt a bit too upset for him to want to try anything. "If it is alright with you, I think we are pretty much ready to go, right guys?"

The mass of pastel ponies behind him nodded rapidly, their eyes never leaving the impassive Princess. Blaze spared a quick glance around the Day Princess to look hopefully at Asta, who only stared in bemusement as the events unfolded, offering him no help.

"That would be fantastic, Blaze." The shift brought his attention back to Celestia, who had a small smile on her lips as she stepped forward and brought her large, pearlescent wing over Blaze's shoulders. To her, it may have been an act of endearment, but Blaze only felt trapped, like she was silently telling him his fate was unavoidable. "Everypony, let us make our departure for the Castle posthaste!"

Leading Blaze out with her wing tightening around his barrel, Blaze was forced to slightly trot as he had to compete with Celestia's longer leg length and greater strides, but he made due the best he could. A large chunk of the warehouse community followed hesitantly after them, though the parade of guards that surrounded the Princess made it difficult for them to get close to Blaze. Still, as the enlarged group of ponies marched down the streets, a gathering of onlookers developed from the remaining citizens still out in the later hour.

The castle gates approached, and Blaze hoped that he would be released from his prison, only to find that whenever he tried to get some space, Celestia pulled him back to her side, her wing ever insistent upon his staying put right there. The parade passed under the stone archway, and as they emerged from the darkness within, Blaze made his final attempt at breaking free, with a polite tug away from her side. Her immediate response was to haul him back in tighter than before, and as they stepped fully into the dying daylight, he saw her glance down at him, a smug, victorious grin on her face. They marched further and further along the cobblestone path, and the closer they got to the castle, the more and more the crowd behind them got excited.

Blaze was about to make a hasty retreat, but the shuffling of feather on his back made him hesitate, and he looked up to Celestia, wondering what she was getting at. She was staring at him with a glint in her eyes that Blaze very much didn't like. "Blaze Burn, We must warn thee that thine celebrations at the castle art to continue past the formal party held in the entryway. Before thine celebrations end, we encourage thee to bid thine friends and family a restful night."

"Okay. . ." Blaze was slightly off put by the fact that Celestia was going to keep him here, but his worried were set aside as they entered the large, double oak doors that sealed the entryway into the Castle Proper, and the extravagant room that marked the entry to the throne room. The room that was normally reserved in decorations for the sake of enhancing the grandeur of the throne room itself was now decorated with a dozen or so tables all fitted with chairs aplenty to accompany the mass of ponies that would join. Streamers hung low from wall to wall, but what caught Blaze's attention the most was the large clearing set to the side where a small band set upon a stage, marking obvious the area that ponies could enjoy fine music and maybe partake in some light dancing as they pleased.

Blaze was surprised by the amount of decorations, but compared to the riches within the vaults, he had to express himself to Celestia before they got too far into the party. She led him along the central carpet to allow the other guests to enter the room and begin enjoying themselves, but once they had reached a clearing point where they would be uninterrupted, Blaze turned to her. "I got to say: while I am grateful this isn't an absolute over-the-top party, I was expecting something a little, I don't know, more."

"Oh, come on Blaze." Celestia sighed merrily as she pulled him along to one of the several refreshment tables lining the walls. She finally let him go, and his immediate reaction was to get some personal space between them, but he watched in amusement as she started to kick off her royal golden slippers. "This is an informal party, just between friends, family, and a student and his mentor enjoying the graduation of a student who outperformed many of the officially recognized students at the School for Gifted Unicorns."

A guard walked up from the side, a unicorn, and he used his magic to grab the royal slippers, as another appeared from the other side to take the chest-piece and tiara that Celestia had disrobed from. Blaze was slightly mortified that a Royal bucking Princess had just stripped her garments in front of him, and he was sure that nopony in all of Equestria would ever believe this group of ponies that a royal Sister had taken to act so casually around them. Unfortunately for him, Celestia seemed to take his surprise in a different direction, and she grinned madly as she stepped towards him, swerving her hips as she tauntingly inched her way closer to him. Blaze blinked the stupor from his head before she could reach him, and started to sidestep her.

The action made her grin something evil, and as he took another step, she used her striding capabilities to appear right next to him, her wing taking its place over him once more. She leaned her muzzle just next to his ear, which began to twitch like crazy from the contact. "And after the others have left, you and I are going to become very _familiar_ with each other."

The purring coming right into his ear was making Blaze shift nervously, but as he felt her tantalizing breath wash over his head with each word, he could only feel the shiver ransacking his whole body. That one shiver sent a multitude of messages throughout his whole body, and Celestia seemed to get, and misinterpret, each one. Her grin only grew wider as she felt his body reacting to her actions, and she leaned her neck around his, nuzzling his far cheek while she purred ever more seductively. "Doth thou truly wish to understand thine ruler?"

Blaze had to force a swallow down, as he felt uncertainty well within him, because a whole shit load of messages were coursing through his body right then. Fortunately for him, rescue came in the form of a guard bursting in from the front doors, charging through the gathered guests in his mad race to get to the Princess.

"Your Highness!" He called once he was in respectable speaking distance to the Princess of the Sun. "There is a problem that you have to see immediately!"

"What happened, our dutiful guard?" Celestia asked as she motioned with a back hoof to one of the guards to bring her garbs. The other guards in the area sprung into action, getting the civilians around to quietly make their way to the other side of the room, where they could enjoy the remainder of the party in peace. One guard trotted up from behind, holding the requested items, which flew onto the Princess in a glowing golden aura.

"Changelings, my lady. They say that their leader, Queen Chrysalis, seeks an audience with you and Princess Luna!" The guard burst out, still gasping from his mad charge from the edge of the city to get here. Celestia's face went from concerned to a mix of confusion and anger as she received the news, but she held her voice steady as she told the guard to bring them to the throne room. The guard bowed and took off again, bolting straight out and leaving a whole room of ponies confused and worried.

"Come with me, Blaze Burn. I think this will be the perfect opportunity for you to understand what it is that we seek to protect all of Equestria from." Celestia said as she took her wing back to herself and began to regally walk through the middle of the planned party and straight towards the throne room doors. The doors opened with a hushed whoosh of air as she pushed them with her magic, revealing a bored looking Princess Luna sitting upon her blue throne, staring out into the void. "Sister, we hath unexpected royal visitors who hath desired to speak with us. An old enemy hath come to our home with a parlay of diplomatic discussion."

"Dearest Sister, what?" Luna shot up from her slouching position, looking alert yet mildly confused at the situation as her elder sister marched along the pristine carpet to the throne dais.

"The Changeling Queen hath requested an audience." Celestia said curtly, stepping up onto her throne, turning and regally planting her flank onto the cushioned surface. Blaze followed until he got to the dais, but stopped and stood there looking really confused as to what was going on, until he heard some gasps and startled yelps coming from the other side of the now-shut doors, and his heartbeat quickened as his mind imagined the worst that could happen to his family. His first urge was to race out and see what he had to do to protect them, but that urge was destroyed when he was enveloped in a familiar golden aura and placed delicately to the side of the dais, not out of view, but in a noticeably inferior position. He didn't want to question what was going on, but he knew so little of what was actually happening that his mind was on panic mode once the shouting stopped.

He was just about to say something when a guard peeked his head through the doors and began to announce the arrival of Queen Chrysalis. He finished and instantly disappeared as the doors were wrapped in this sickly green aura, and burst open, revealing the strangest creature Blaze had ever seen.

Standing in the doorway was what appeared to be another Alicorn, only this was covered in this charred, green chitin, summing up what Blaze would assume come out of a pony/insect hybrid, and she was built similarly to Celestia; with lengthy legs and a slimmed torso. The Queen's mane was an sickly blueish green, and adorning the ends of her legs and mane were numerous _holes_ , as if she had chunks of flesh neatly removed from her body. Sprouting from the top of her head was a strangely curved horn, equal in length to that if Celestia's, but again, had numerous holes and curves in it that made it appear jagged, hollow, and vicious. The two Changelings with her were similar in shape and general appearance, but noticeably smaller, and these two bore midnight blue armor, though they had more unicorn-esque horns: straighter and lacking in the hole department.

Blaze watched in sick fascination as the Changelings all spread _insect_ wings and buzzed their way across the distance between the doors and the dais. As they approached, he noticed that the Queen had a small, really strange tiara on her head, hiding behind her horn, that sprouted four tiny orbs suspended by bars of black materials. He also noticed small fangs protruding from the Changelings' muzzles, marking them as dangerous predators that put him on edge.

"Apologies for arriving at this hour, Celestia, but an unexpected chaos storm suspended my arrival by a few hours." Chrysalis said in a condescending tone, sounding almost bored as she stepped in front of the obviously guard Changelings. She stared down the Princesses as she approached the steps of the dais, stopping at the two night guards holding crossing spears to block her entrance. "But I have come seeking your assistance, you must understand the dire situation we are in! Please listen to me this time! You know it is not easy for Changelings to ask for assistance, and we are facing times of great struggle!"

"Thou art not the only race who hath suffered from the tyranny of the fiend that is Discord, but we hath memories of thine refusal to assist in our resistance against that demon." Celestia said in a calm voice, with a tone so collected, it almost sounded cold and threatening.

"The Changelings could not come to your aid!" Chrysalis shouted, her voice rising as true emotions settled into the conversation on her side. "We were still recovering from the siege he had set upon us with those blasted Wurms! He had sent an army of the things to sack our citadel, and we didn't have the numbers to attack Him!"

"Queen Chrysalis," Princess Luna began in a slightly more irritated tone than Blaze would have expected coming from her. She also leaned forward in her throne, something he was barely able to see, but he noticed that the Changeling Queen backed off a bit from the thrones. "Doth thou truly think us ponies had the numbers to partake in open battle with the minions of that fiend? No! To protect our blessed ponies, mine dearest Sister and We sought battle with Him ourselves, dealing death and banishment to all His chaotic creatures! We fought against Him, and with our own power, we hath removed him from his throne, and claimed peace and Harmony across the land. All thou had to do to assist was grant us thine personal assistance, and we would hath more than necessary force to remove Him. Instead, thou chose to hideth away like the coward thine art!"

Chrysalis seemed to momentarily recoil at the words, until she gathered her bearings, placing a hoof on the ground to silence her growling guards. She glared at Luna before her attention suddenly diverted to Blaze, who felt his blood run cold when meeting her eye to eye, staring into those green orbs of fury, wisdom and hunger. Staring further, Blaze realized all he saw was hunger: all he could see was a hungry beast doing its best to avoid hunting every prey within its sight.

"Princesses, I could not come to your aid because I had to replenish our numbers, and to secure food for us to feed on. I come to you now, begging you to provide us with something, anything to feed our larvae, to feed the Hive! Or struggle is constant, dozens die daily to starvation! I come to you begging to give us something to eat!" Blaze, now aware of where that hunger was coming from, had enough sense of the circumstances to feel comfortable speaking up.

"What do you need to eat? We don't have much, but I'm sure we could provide a few barrels of apples, maybe creates of bread. It can't be much, but it should be something." He said as he stepped forward, taking a spot next to the guards, who didn't even flinch at his contribution to the conversation.

"Blaze Burn, stand off now!" Celestia said in a worried tone, though she was fighting the urge to stand up and drag him away from the Changeling Queen. Chrysalis seemed to notice the panic in Celestia's tone, however, and she flashed as gentle a smile as she could, and studied this strange pegasus before her. He looked like the other pegasi she had ever seen, but his wings looked larger than normal, and this pony himself felt, odd.

 **Blaze Burn, I suggest you stand down before you learn of information that may disturb you greatly.** Jace offered from out of nowhere, which concerned Blaze a little, but he pushed forward, knowing that information was better than ignorance, even if it was disturbing.

"I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting, my name is Chrysalis, and I am Queen of the Changelings." She offered out a hoof, which Blaze stared at for a second, curious about the behavior, but wary about her as a whole. Still, he figured he could be civil about this, and met her hoof, surprised to find that she didn't back down from a proper hoof-shake. "As for an answer to your question; I'm afraid that Changelings cannot eat food that you ponies eat. You see, as a Changeling, I have a diet of-"

"That is enough, Chrysalis!" Celestia shouted as she stood from her seat, hurrying down to stand protectively in front of Blaze, throwing a wing between the two. "He doesn't need to be a part of this, so leave him be. You came to us asking for assistance, well: no. You never helped us, so we cannot help you. Leave us now, or we will forcibly remove you from our territory."

Chrysalis seemed to pick up on the rage hiding just behind her clenched teeth, and she backed away from the pegasus. She sighed, but looked back to her guards to reassure them that things would be alright, and just as she did so, one of their stomachs began to growl, protesting the lack of food. She slowly turned back to Celestia, her appearance more pleading and sorrowful this time.

"Celestia, I beg of you: help my Hive survive. You have no idea what it is like to watch your only surviving members of your race starve out around you. It is not my fault that we are this way, but we beg of you; don't allow us to die needlessly, help us overcome these difficult times. And I can offer assistance in return: there are rogue groups of Changelings, defectors that sought to find sources of food on their own, they abandoned the Hive in search of survival. If you help us, we can help you root them out, ewe can help you rid them from your cities and restore the peace that your cities have. We just need some source of food to allow us to survive!"

"Get. Out." Celestia said through bared teeth, her anger now really coming through, and as she slowly inched towards the Changeling, they were forced back by the raw emotion coming from her. Blaze started to get worried that this might end badly, but he held onto hope that this would take a turn for the better. It didn't.

Celestia's horn flashed in light, and Chrysalis turned and led her escort out in maximum regal retreat, disappearing from sight as the guards quickly slammed the door behind them. Once they were gone, Celestia sighed, and returned to her throne, almost sulking, falling heavily into her seat, while Luna sighed in relief and leaned back, the two relaxing after diffusing a stressful situation. "Well. The result of thine interaction could hath resulted in promising returns, but alas; they shalt not."

"So, uh, Princesses?" Blaze said as he walked to the front of the two guards, looking at the two a bit nervously, hoping that he wasn't going to be punished for his intrusion. "I'm just going to take everypony home, so we can all have a nice night to recover. I thank you both most graciously for allowing us to come here for this wonderful occasion, and I am deeply saddened that it had to end. I shall be here at sunrise tomorrow morning for my training evaluation, Princess Luna."

"Blaze Burn." Celestia said in a tired voice, her mind obviously elsewhere. "Would thou kindly tell thine guests that they shalt hath permission to return to their lodgings, then return here? We hath to speak with thee."

Blaze locked up for a moment, but eventually let loose and nodded, turning to the doors and making the shortest trip he could to the room of confused and startled ponies. Sighing he let them all swarm around him, each asking about fifteen questions and not letting him answer a single one before they moved onto the next. He waited until the group calmed down before he inhaled to deliver the news. "First of all: that was Queen Chrysalis and her escort. She is the leader of the race of Changelings, and they were here for a diplomatic meeting, which did not end as anticipated. That means that the Princesses wish for you all to head on home, as the party spirit has been killed. Unfortunately, they want me to remain here to speak with them, presumably about what happened and what they want to see from me tomorrow. I'll get back to you all as soon as I can."

The protests began immediately, but Blaze just ignored them as he marched his way through the crowd and led them to the grand doorway. They argued amongst each other for a few minutes, until the group finally decided to just leave it until the next day, when they had had a chance to sleep it over. Blaze sighed in relief as they began to filter out, until it was just him, Asta, and the guards.

"Just to put it out there; Blaze, I think that this is probably going to become something bigger in the future. I just hope that whatever happens between you and the Princess, it ends up being worth it." She winked at him slyly, which caught him off guard, but before he could reply, she flew out the doors and left him standing there alone. He couldn't really focus on it for long, as the doors shut rather loudly, and he was reminded that the Princesses were waiting on him. Sucking it up for later, he trudged his way back down the entryway and walked through the doors to the throne room. He was surprised to see the two Princesses standing at one of the windows facing the west, both horns aglow. He trotted over to them, but stopped when he saw the sun dip below the horizon, which made him look to the east, where he could barely see the moonlight glowing from the tree line.

'Moving the sun and the moon. Got it.' He muttered in his head as he waited for them to do their thing.

Their duties finishing faster than he expected he watched as they finished in synchronization, and then he saw the total effect the last interaction had on the pair. Luna looked a lot more stressed and irritated already, but Celestia looked this odd mix of both exhaustion, guilt, and anger. Blaze decided to only discuss it if they brought it up. He stood before them as they made their way back to the dais, though he was surprised when Celestia merely kept walking while her sister sat upon her blue throne. "Follow me."

Celestia's simple command reminded Blaze that this was now Luna's time to rule, and that Celestia was no longer in charge of the guard or any royal duties. Not one with a wish to test the patience of an upset Princess, Blaze dutifully followed the Princess of the Sun as she led him down the halls, heading to a region that Blaze had once again, never been to. She led him down a lengthy set of corridors until she came to a section of the castle that opened to a small enclosed garden, one that simply held a small fountain surrounded by benches and rose bushes covered in snow. The fountain was maintained by magic, as the water was splashing fluidly and the colors of the rainbow, mixing in consistent patterns too. She led him out onto the covered patio enclosing the area and started to walk through the light layer of snow over the ground. Blaze followed her, watching with curious eyes as she used her magic to clear off a bench, and she sat down on it, patting the seat next to her.

Blaze halted at the bench, unsure whether or not he should partake in whatever she wanted, but decided that now wasn't the best time to disobey. He plopped down next to her, only to immediately find himself wrapped in warmth, though to his surprise it wasn't her wing. Her horn was aglow and the air around them seemed to radiate with heat, the spell she was casting ringing to the front of his mind.

"Climatic Preference. Didn't think you would be the kind of pony to enjoy just a touch of warmth." She smiled when he referenced the spell, glad that he had truly retained the information about spells. Then she did something that Blaze figured would happen, but didn't really expect: she leaned up against his, her flowing mane starting to slow down as she felt her power draining due to the time. "Uh. . ."

"Luna and I use to come out here every winter day, when we were fillies: just to play in the snow, and see what kinds of crazy snow-figures we could make when we combined the snowfall with the rainbow water. It was nice back then: no real worries, not when we were too young to know what it was that Discord was doing, when we thought that we were all here in the castle because it was a nice castle to live in. Sometimes I wish we could go back to those times, just when things were simpler." She sighed as she relived the happy days, her mind drifting to when she could be happy without stress hiding just around the corner.

"Yeah. When you could be a foal, and get away with doing stupid things, just because you thought they were fun and nopony tried to stop you." Blaze added, allowing her to relish in the euphoria of the good ol' days.

Celestia did another thing that Blaze wasn't expecting, though he knew that he should have seen it coming: she leaned down, entwining her neck around his, and placed the sweetest of kisses on his neck, before leaning back just slightly and nibbling ever so softly on his ear. The shock he felt at the sudden transition made his lock up, and he wasn't able to think for a few seconds. Seconds that the Princess utilized fully.

Before Blaze could react, Celestia had wrapped her hooves around his torso and had him laying on his back, with her leaning over him with a fire in her eyes and a loving smile on her lips.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Super sorry about the delay, but I'm sure you all know how life can be sometimes. As it is: I'll be busting my ass off to get the next chapter out as soon as possible. It'll probably be the last chapter I post for this story, unless something crazy comes up that prevents that from happening. I am really sorry about this, but life just gets in the way sometimes, and unfortunately for me, that means that I just can't devote time to writing much anymore. Like I said, though, I am going to absolute beat the living shit out of my ass, until it's red and puffy, to get this next chapter out. Too far? Probably, but I want to get this as far as I can before I stop: I have loved working on this, as it is a project that I have been wanting to do for something like 6 or 7 years, but only recently had the inspiration and means to actually write it._

 _I've had so many ideas for how I could progress this story, and I have a bit of a confession to make. For most of these past few years, I've had the story all worked out in my head, but once I started writing it; I just had so many improvements I could make to it. For instance, I was going to have it take place 500 years before the events in the show, but this felt like a better way to get the character development I wanted. Asta was never going to exist, and neither were the Spirits. All of those were last minute changes that I added because I felt like this world was lacking in some department or another._

 _Anyways, I'll shut the fuck up and get to busting my ass on the next chapter._

 _-Seer, out._


	17. 17 Ice Blazer IV: Altered Remedies

Chapter 17: Ice Blazer IV: Altered Remedies

 _(Oral Sex incoming)_

Celestia leaned over Blaze, locking their lips together with a fevered passion that left him in total shock. He was struggling to get his bearings under him; this wasn't like whenever he lost his senses during a mare's heat, no, this was just the shock of being completely unprepared for the situation at hoof. While he worked on getting his brain to function again, Celestia moved to strike at him again, breaking apart for a short gasping breath with wild abandon in her eyes then diving back onto him. Blaze was starting to resist, but the surprise came back in full force as he felt an invading presence in his mouth, with warmth rivalling the sun itself, the presence worked its way around his maw, exploring, familiarizing itself with the texture.

Blaze finally had control of his senses, though as he grabbed Celestia to push her off of him, his eyes shot as wide as saucers when he felt the Princess start to rotate her hips, rubbing herself against him in an effort to gain a reaction. As much as he was trying to fight it, he started to feel the blood leaving his limbs and skull, flooding towards a region that he had a preference for remaining out of this situation right then.

When Celestia took a pause to break apart, her muzzle split with a wide grin, Blaze used his only opportunity to push her up, though he soon found that she was holding onto his legs. He stared her down, though her desire never diminished as she watched him catch his breath. "Celestia-"

He couldn't get another word out before she bore down upon him again, smashing her face against his own while she collapsed her boy down on him. He shuddered at the pressure now being applied to his entire nether regions, and he had to suppress the yelp of surprise as he felt a surge of moisture coming from her as she arched her back. Due to her riding dangerously close to the point of no return, Blaze had to pry her away from his face so he could get some words out. As he worked her lips away from his, her head nearly instantly latched itself to his neck, sucking and nibbling wildly. A groan of pleasure erupted from him muzzle while he tried to keep himself under control, but Celestia was doing her best to keep him distracted.

"Celestia. . ." He grunted when she responded to her name with a gentle nip along his neck, the pleasure he felt causing an involuntary buck of his hips. "You need to stop."

Celestia didn't stop, though she moved her head to look him in the eyes briefly, but she moved to nibble his ears while she planted her legs to either side if him, and her wings began to massage his sides. Their feather brushed, and Celestia allowed her wings to follow the path of Blaze's own, sending shivers of pleasure through his body.

Gritting his teeth together, he pulled every ounce of self-control he still had into getting his legs under Celestia, and forcing her away from him. "Celestia, stop! Neither of us really wants this: you're just stressed from doing your Princess duties. This is a mistake."

The Princess of the Sun's single response was a short giggle as she slowly backed away from Blaze, giving him room to breathe. He was about to relax when he realized his mistake, and the telltale sign was that Celestia was now staring lustfully at his enlarged member, which pulsed with each heartbeat, ready for action. Blaze mumbled to himself worriedly as he tried to pull himself into a sitting position, but Celestia's hooves on his hips forced him to stay where he was. She leaned down, and as her hot breath washed over him, his wings shot out, denting the backing to the bench, and had it not been for the mare holding him down, he would have fallen off the bench. While parts of Blaze were not complaining at current circumstances, the logical parts of him wished for the alternative, as the snowy ground seemed a much better place to be than where he was.

Celestia whispered to herself as she inhaled his natural scent with as much force as her lungs could provide. And as she held it in, she admired the way the light coming from inside the castle glistened on her fluids slowly sliding down his member. This close to a potential release, and her marehood was nearly dripping with anticipation, and with a rapid exhale to dispel her lungs, she ran her snout along his length, taking deep whiffs as she went along. Her eyes were rolling into the back of her skull, but she wasn't one to complain, this was what she had been waiting a long time for.

"Celestia." Blaze's weakening words were having less and less of an effect on her as she reached his tip, but then it all broke through, clear as day. "Celestia, you have to stop now. We don't want this."

"Oh, my dear Blaze Burn. I know that I can speak for the both of us when I say that we both desperately want this, because while your mouth says 'no,' your body is _screaming_ 'yes!' And it would be so nice to finally embrace that we are destined to be together, Blaze." She mumbled as she leaned away from him, meeting his gaze with lust clouding her vision, and a hoof slowly working its way from the end of the bench to Blaze's thigh. The last motion from her mane came in a flicker of the rainbow before settling to the nightly pink curls that she bore when her power was at its weakest. She didn't need power for this, just some endurance. "Just relax and allow this to happen. Embrace the primal feelings coursing through your veins, accept what will be."

She wrapped her hoof around him, feeling a twitch from his hips as her grip settled, though Blaze seemed to be resistant to it to the end. She felt him sliding away from her as he started to sit up, and she had to force her grin down as she moved with him, her maw just inches from his tip as he tried to escape. "Blaze Burn. There is nothing to worry about: I realize that I will be your first, but you can trust that I will take good care of you, and that this will be an experience you will never forget."

Her words did stop him in his tracks, which made her smile victoriously as she began to move in for the final push. He started to speak, and she maintained eye contact as she inhaled the arousing scent of his member, her tongue reaching forward to contain the throbbing beast. "Celestia, you are not my first."

It was her turn to stop dead in her tracks, and she had to look up at him in confusion, her tongue a hair's breath from touching him, and her saliva was beginning to pool on the edge of her tongue. She pulled her head up to stare at him, wondering if she had heard him right, and hoping to everything she could that she hadn't. blinking as much of her confusion away as she could, she closed her mouth and opened it several times over. "What?"

"I am committed to another, Celestia." He sighed as she backed off of him, giving him room and, more importantly, time to clear his head and get himself under control. She looked at him in confusion for a moment longer, until her face lit with understanding and morphed into one of horror as she fully grasped what he was getting at.

"Blaze! There is no way that you have already had sex with anypony else! You've been too young to engage in such activities, why would you ever think that trying something like that before now would be okay?!" She gasped as she crawled forward to look him straight in the eyes, desperation knowing at her stomach to confirm that he was spinning a fable. His jaw seemed to harden, however, as she tried to get him to admit that he had lied, and he let out an irritated puff of air as she held onto both sides of his face. "Blaze, there is just no way!"

"I'm sorry, Princess, but I already have pledged myself to somepony else, and yes: she has already claimed my virginity." He declared the words with an air of finality to them that Celestia had difficulty accepting, but as she looked into his eyes, she found in hard to deny it any longer.

Accepting that she had lost one of the opportunities she had sought from him, she sighed and dropped her legs around his neck, pulling him into a hug as she forced her emotions down before she broke then and there. A few tears still escaped from her shut eyes, but she managed to hold the rest of them back as she focused on preventing her own loss from overtaking her. "Would you at least tell me who it was, and what happened?"

"What? Why would you want to know what happened: that is my personal business?" Blaze sounded affronted, and Celestia backed up a step as she realized what she had said.

"No, I mean: did you consent to it? Did she force you to do anything that you didn't want to do?" She hastily explained, doing her best to diffuse the situation before it got out of hoof. Blaze sighed, inwardly closing in on himself as he remembered his first interaction with Twilight, a small smile forming on his lips as he remembered how good it felt. "I think I'll take that as a no, then."

The giggle brought him back to reality, where Celestia had shifted herself so that his member was in a more comfortable position, which just so happened to be peeking out from under her right flank, appearing between her leg and her body. She pulled her leg around it, and as she shifted a bit, Blaze had to bite his cheek from giving her the satisfaction of arousing him further. "So, Blaze: who was it?"

"I'll tell you if you stop doing that." It came out through clenched teeth, but even that didn't seem to deter the Princess from enjoying herself a little bit more as she swapped between watching Blaze's face contort with the mental battle he was having and his throbbing member that was thoroughly basking in the attention. After a few more seconds of teasing him, she relented, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief. "I don't know if you would know who she is, but her name is Twilight Startwinkle."

"Purple unicorn, purple and pink mane with a stripe running down the side?"

". . .Yeah, do you really know her?" Blaze asked nervously, really hoping this wouldn't end up getting somepony in trouble, though his concern showed through so badly that Celestia struggled to stifle her laughter. While she giggled into her hoof, Blaze tried to pry himself away from her, only to find that whenever he moved, she always seemed to be in a position to stunt his progress. Her leg and wing trapped him firmly in place, and unless he was going to fight his way out, he knew that he was trapped.

"Not personally, no. But her and her family do have a bit of a reputation amongst the guards, as some of her closer relatives work in an establishment that is, oh; unfit for younger audiences. The guards speak of their family frequently, as the mares tend to have difficult heats." Celestia said as she started using her magic to play with Blaze's mane, though that only entertained her for a few moments before her attention was directed to a diminishing partner nearby. She put on her best pouting face as she rubbed his chest in an effort to get him to stop.

"Celestia, we shouldn't do this, and for a multitude of reasons that I don't feel like listing right now. How about you let me go, and we can return to our previous interactions and forget this ever happened?" Blaze offered as he tried to swipe her hooves away, but the limbs were persistent, and he had to engage in a staring contest with her. One side was approaching the annoyed face, while the other sat in smug humor, though her hooves never stopped working the tension out of his chest. "Fine. You want me to give you some reasons? Let's start with that I am supposed to be one of the city guards, and it would be improper for you to engage in any relations with me because of that. You were just complaining that I was too young to be participating in sexual acts, as that was what started your interrogation over Twilight. And I'll throw in that Twilight is the only mare I've ever considered being with."

"Blaze, I want you to know that I respect your desire to be with Twilight, and it is that kind of loyalty that will get you far within the guard training, but I have several points of my own that I would like you to consider." Celestia countered with her smirk as she leaned forward and gave him a brief peck on the cheek, her hips twisting to allow her to sit on top of the stallion. She started gently grinding on him, making him scowl, though she could feel the reward for her efforts returning. "First off: why would you want somepony like Twilight, who is a simple unicorn that comes from a troubled family, when you could have the likes of me? I think you are just clouded by lust for your first mare, and such a lucky mare she is, that you are tunnel visioning for her flank alone."

She paused when she felt him back to his former glory, and her smirk grew when she saw him glance to where she sat on him with nervous eyes. She knew she had him this time around. "Secondly: you aren't technically a guard just yet, as you have just graduated from a mentorship. Therefore, you are free game for anypony who wants to try their luck."

Using a light bit of magic, she pulled his head up to look at her. "Eyes up here sweetie. Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise, now would we? Anyways, as for what I said about you being too young: what I said was that you were, I repeat, _were_ too young. You crossed that threshold after graduation, as you now have enough knowledge to understand what is happening, and I instilled enough common sense in you to know what you want to engage in.

"Thirdly: I am Princess Celestia, and if I wanted to offer my bed, mouth, flank, or hoof to a stallion who has caught my eye, then I am more than welcome to do so. You see: being an Equestrian Princess does have its advantages sometimes, so just imagine what kinds of advantages you could earn for choosing me." She winked slowly, her body slowly backing away from Blaze, luring him into a false sense of security. As before, when he had started to hope that she had finally given some ground, she did something that he had not expected. This time, it had been to take him with both hooves, leaving him startled but unwilling to move: she had frozen him with the simplest of motion. She stared up at him as he calmly shook his head, trying to convince her to stop whatever she was planning on doing.

Naturally, Celestia was far too stressed, and was already too hot to stop now, and all she could do was nod once before looking down at the pulsing penis in her grip, a smile upon her lips as a massive blush spread across her cheeks. Inhaling deeply, her mouth split and she proceeded to drop her head, enveloping Blaze within the inferno of soaking pleasure that was her mouth. Blaze could only shout in shock as she began her work, priming him for what she had been waiting for, and she had been waiting for a while now. "Celestia!"

Blaze threw his head back unsure what he should do now, though he doubted there was much he could do. Throwing a leg up to his muzzle, he bit down as hard as he could trying to gather enough brain power to do something. With Celestia paying a large amount of attention to his tip, he found it difficult to get working brain cells. Another involuntary buck racked his body, sending himself deeper into her maw, and then the tongue started work.

Celestia had been watching him struggle, but she knew that he would come around eventually, she just had to convince him. That was until he bucked, and she got a mouthful of him, forcing her eyes shut as she wondered whether she would be able to fit all of him down her throat. She shrugged, cracking open her eyes briefly to see what he was doing, and when she had confirmed that he was still staring at the night sky, she shut her pink eyes once more. She let him out long enough to get a fresh lungful of air, then immediately dived down again, taking as much of him in as she could. She felt him throbbing in the back of her throat, and the pounding of blood flowing through him motivated her to keep going.

Blaze was really struggling here: Celestia was definitely doing what she could to keep his brain shut down, and she was succeeding to an alarming degree. He was wondering whether this was really worth what he was going to get out of it, but then that part of him that functioned the best during situations like this started to talk. Unfortunately for that part, Celestia had paused for air, and given Blaze a chance to try something, anything to get out of this. He was about to move to get her attention, but then she jumped right back on him, and this time she didn't just stop with his head, and as he felt himself disappearing down her throat, he worried whether he would last long enough to come up with a plan. "Celestia. . . please. Just stop now before. . . before we do something we'll regret."

It appeared to him that she wasn't even listening, but the work she was putting in made repeating himself difficult. As she worked him more and more, he began to truly question if there was any hope for him, and he fell further into despair as she took a slow pull out, sucking hard and getting as much out of him as she could, before suddenly going all the way down to the base. He let out a grunt of pleasure, unable to contain himself as she took his full length down her throat, and that was before she started to twist.

Feeling the tipping point coming soon, Blaze had given up to this, if she wanted to give him this kind of attention, he really had no choice but to go along with it. An idle hoof went to the back of Celestia's head, helping her work a rhythm, while he settled into a more comfortable position on the bench. Between her tongue squirming and pumping around him, and the force she was putting into this, Blaze felt his climax approaching very rapidly. Taking matters into his own hooves, with the end nigh upon him, he planted a firm hoof onto the back of Celestia's head, through her solid pink mane, holding her in place. With her position secured, he bucked with wild abandon, as he felt himself slipping past the point of no return. Celestia had cracked her eyes open, but with the pressure building in Blaze, and the rapid pounding he was giving her throat, her eyes had rolled into her skull.

Then came Blaze's sweet, sweet release, and in a multitude of steamy white bursts of semen, Blaze allowed himself to cum with his member buried as deep down her throat as he could fit. He noticed as he started to pull out that there were a few tears running down her cheeks, and as the sex high faded passed him, he immediately felt regret welling within him. "Oh, shit! Celestia, are you okay?!"

 _(Sex is over)_

His question came out in a jumble of words as he shot back to give her room while she coughed to get some proper air back in her. The Princess lay hunched over the side of the bench, coughing her lungs clear, until she finally calmed down, and she sat up chuckling to herself. She wiped a single tear from each eye while cleaning her mouth of any remaining cum Blaze had given her. While Blaze sat there with every ounce of his terror visible, she simply leaned against him, sighing as she straightened her mane and rubbed her neck with a hoof.

"Yes, Blaze I am fine; I simply did not expect you to take control like that, stressed my throat a little is all. While that was certainly a relieving experience, I think it would be best if you began to make your way home. You have a busy day tomorrow, and I do wish we had time to finish what we started." She sighed as she stood from the bench, her horn dying down and the cold air from around them rushing to fill the area that was maintaining a cozy temperature. "However, I feel like this was a mistake that we shall not make again, and the next time we engage in any act of this nature, it shall be upon your request. I apologize for making you got through this, Blaze Burn, as it was most inappropriate of me to encourage your participation."

"Uhh. . ." Blaze stopped to try to process what she was saying, and while his brain was relieved that it was no longer under attack, his body was telling him he needed to get some rest. He stared at her for a few more moments, wondering if she was going to say anything, or if there was anything that he wanted to say to her, sure he had a lot of things that he really needed to talk to her about, but he was feeling pretty tired all of a sudden.

"Please, Blaze Burn. Just go home. You were right when you said that we would do something that we regret, because I am starting to really regret following through with this." She sighed again, turning away from Blaze and walking over to the fountain, where she stared into the rainbow water illuminated by the overhead stars and the torchlight coming from inside the castle. "Dammit Celestia! What the buck is wrong with you?! You couldn't even wait just a little bit longer? You just had to go ahead and force him into something he wasn't comfortable with yet, didn't you? For buck's sake, you bucking idiot?!"

Blaze was tempted to stay, but once he stepped forward to try to console the Princess, she snapped at him, commanding him to leave the premises. He remained for a moment longer, and as Celestia turned to yell at him one final time, he decided that he had better do as she wished and so he took off.

That cold winter night, Blaze opted to walk home instead of flying, as he felt too numb from his interaction with the Princess to try flight. He was very confused, and a little off put by the fact that she had seemed so determined to get him to go along with her, yet at the same time, there was this small part of him that was truly happy. He didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that this was the kind of shit that he would have to try and find time to process whenever he could, because his body was pretty bucking tired after a long day. He arrived home later than he would have liked, but the cool air was particularly refreshing for him, so he didn't mind too much, and it helped him immensely that he no longer had to worry about his studies anymore.

Walking in through the front door, he was greeted by numerous ponies waiting for more detailed answers as to what had happened at the party. Blaze sighed but trudged through them until he came face to face with Scaled Equilibrium, where he offered a weak smile. "Would you mind watching Asta tomorrow? I'm worried she is going to try to sneak on over to the castle while I get my evaluation done with the pony Luna has taking her place. It's bad enough that she is determined to try to join the guard, but I don't need her actually putting in the effort while I am busy and unable to stop her."

When she nodded, he sighed and bowed his head in thanks before turning to the assembled ponies waiting for their questions to be answered. "Alright everypony. I wish I could answer your questions tonight, but that meeting between the Changeling Queen and the Royal Sisters has worn me out considerably. Remember your questions, and I'll try to answer them as soon as possible, but right now: I've got to get some sleep. Busy day for me tomorrow. Goodnight."

Without missing a beat, Blaze turned around and walked down the hall to his room, despite the rising arguments coming from the assemblage of ponies. He got to his room uninterrupted, however, and the relief he felt from having the day finally being over was overwhelming. Shutting the door with a lazy hind leg push, he marched to the sole bed in the room, an ever-constant reminder of the missing half of his family. He fell into his bed as gracelessly as was possible, and the covers seemed to magically envelope his body as he rapidly drifted to sleep.

He could have had a full night's rest, had his stress and worried mind not woken him several times. He wasn't even certain he had dreamed that night, as he had been interrupted from slumber so often. Though, despite having a broken night, Blaze awoke with a boost in energy at the prospect of the first day of training. The sun had yet to rise, but the sky was slowly accepting the coming rays of light, and Blaze was sure that it was to be a fine day. He left his room without another moment wasted, and made his way down the halls and into the main area, where he was greeted by a sound so familiar, yet so alien, he was both horrified and welcoming of its presence: silence. He inhaled deeply, hoping that this feeling of unbroken peace, of total perfection would last for an eternity.

 **Be careful what you wish for, Gold Blood.**

'Finally back, huh?' Blaze asked as he trotted into the kitchen, opening the cabinet and reaching for the first thing to grab his attention. He walked over to the counter with a jar of mixed fruit, carefully preserved for the winter they were getting through. At the counter, he tipped the jar lid against the lip of the counter, gently hitting down with his hoof, and the jar opened with a satisfying pop. Leaning against the counter, he opted to just slurp the contents straight from the jar instead of grabbing a utensil. Try as he might, some of the crisp fruit juice escaped fate from entering his gullet, running down his cheeks while his head was drawn back to gulp the fruit itself. He ate in silence, planning to finish his breakfast while his amazing, super-helpful Spirit carried the conversation.

He had to wipe his face clean in silence, however, when Jace refused to answer, and as he gently put the jar in the sink, he frowned. "Going to be that way, huh? Fine: I didn't want to talk to you anyway."

Arching his back to get rid of as many remnants of sleep as he could, Blaze couldn't stifle the tired yawn from erupting from his maw. He really wished he had gotten more sleep, but he was certain that the trip to the castle grounds from the warehouse would be sufficient to renew his energy and keep him awake for whatever exam he had to do. His morning stretches finished, Blaze trotted out of the kitchen, into the stillness of the predawn building, where everypony else was still gently slumbering in their own rooms.

Nodding his approval of the peace he felt suffocating any stress out of the body, he walked over to the winter coat rack they had set up. He reached up and took the custom fitted white and red cloak that Scaled Equilibrium and Asta had gotten him the summer before. He didn't mind the cloak, though the white was a pain to keep that way, though he thought the red highlights adorning the edges of the cloak to be nice. He also thoroughly enjoyed the red and yellow fire stitched into the back, just above the two holes his enlarged wings fit through perfectly. Sliding on the cloak, he had to shift his wings around, rolling his shoulders in the process, to get it to settle just right, but it felt so much better once he had done so.

Taking a final moment to appreciate the silence and the dark of the building, he turned to the front door and slipped into the early morning chill.

The snow was knee deep, making Blaze note that the rebuilding weather team must have had a late-night shift bring in a bunch more snow. As he trudged through the snow, his breath hanging in the air with each breath in a trail behind him, he was grateful for the cloak all the more. He might have enjoyed the snow, and the colder weather in general, than most other ponies, but this was getting a bit nippy even for him.

As he made his way through the snow, his mind drifted to what the first day of training was going to be like. Then it didn't take long for him to wonder if he was going t be training outside the whole winter, or if he would catch a lucky break. His mind wasn't able to get very far, as he noticed that he was getting close to the gates marking the castle, and he had to get ready for whatever it was that this guy standing in for Luna was going to put him through. He approached the gate, almost immediately recognizing the two guards standing before it, spears held aloft as they huddled against the wall to avoid the snow as much as possible. He'd seen them around the castle a few times.

"Guys." He nodded as he walked up to the closed gates, which were slowly being opened from the inside of the gatehouse nearby. Neither guard made to move, and the game that had been playing every week or so began, with Blaze staring them down, whilst they continued to glare into the distance, eyes vigilant for trouble, yet body unmoving. He stared at them for the next thirty seconds, until the gate had opened to welcome him within the grounds, where he stood in front of the entrance, eyes glued to the guard on the left. "I'll catch you guys one day. That's a promise."

Without needing to check whether they moved or not, he confidently marched through the large gates, until he was on the other side of the large wooden doors. He waited half a second before he lunged back through to try to catch either guard moving, which they had not done. Sighing, he finally retreated behind the doors, and watched as the portcullis behind the wooden doors slowly slid down on oiled chains and into the stone on the path. The doors shut in front of it, leaving Blaze to wander through the grounds until he stumbled upon the barracks, which wasn't that hard of an achievement. As he marched through the trampled snow that marked the passageway from the castle to the main gates, he kept a watchful eye for the building he needed. He found it a fairly short distance from the entryway of the castle itself, though the determining feature he figured was the stallion clad in golden armor standing at attention in front of the building.

He approached the stallion, who seemed to come to life as he came nearer, and the two met near the beginning of the building. The two observed each other in silence as they met, silently sizing the other, determining legitimacy on the part of the guard, and trying to figure out the likelihood of being a proper trainer on the part of Blaze.

"Glad to see you finally made it, kid. You had me worried that I'd have to go to your house and drag you here through the snow." The guard greeted, flashing the smallest of smiles while holding a hoof out in greeting. "Name's Scarlet Cloud, but you're going to only call me by 'Sir' or 'Captain' whenever you are addressed, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir." Blaze said with a notable lack of enthusiasm, which made Scarlet Cloud's ears perk up as he dropped the formal greeting.

"What was that, cadet? I can't hear you!"

"Yes, sir!" Blaze repeated, significantly louder this time around, pleasing the Captain enough that he decided to move on.

"Good. Now, as you are most likely aware, the Sisters asked that I personally tutor you. What that means is that I have as much freedom to deviate from ordinary training as I see fit, and thanks to the briefing I received, I know what to expect from a pony such as yourself. Princess Celestia asked me to train you, but Princess Luna wants me to turn you into a soldier, so let's get this show on the road so I can see what you are going to be." He said in a commanding tone as he marched to the front door to one of the many buildings that marked out the inner courtyard of the barracks. "You're more than welcome to take a bunk in the barracks with the rest of the guards, but don't expect them to treat you differently than a normal guard. They have their own training programs to follow, but don't get in their way; they have the right to be here more than you, unless you decide to bunk here.

"Other rules you need to know for now: be here every morning, at the start of dawn, and ready for training. If neither I nor a replacement are here, and you have no orders from the Princesses, head to the castle and speak with whichever one is available. Follow every order given to you by the other Captain and any senior soldiers, basic military guidelines. And by the love of the Princesses, keep your bucking gear in good condition! If I have to file another request to the Sisters for more gear, they are going to string me out and let the buzzards feast on my innards!"

"Umm. . . Very well, sir. But, why would I need any replacement things?" The honesty of the question got Scarlet Cloud to sigh, rubbing his red hoof through his graying mane.

"Kid, you have no idea how guys can get when they try to impress the ladies, and when two of the ladies some of those idiots are trying to impress happen to be one of the Princesses themselves; well they get pretty bucking stupid. Don't try to be like them, kid, and we will all get along just fine."

"No worries there, I'm afraid, sir. The Princesses seemed to already wish me in their company, Princess Celestia more so than her sister." Blaze kicked at the ground when he noticed that the Captain was staring at him incredulously, eyes unblinking as he worked his soldier brain to process the information.

"Keep that information to yourself, else somepony gets jealous and does something stupid, and you just might be able to get somewhere with your life." He said as he turned and led Blaze back into the snow, the dull crunch of walking on relatively untouched snow cancelling out just about every other sound. "Enough chitchat. I got an evaluation to run on you, and I don't have all day: so let's start going down the list, and finding out what you need to work on, and what I should just expect from you in general. Hope you got your wings ready for flying."

Without waiting to see if Blaze had, indeed, gotten his wings ready for flying, Scarlet Cloud took off into the air, leaving a small cloud of snow flurrying in circles as he left the area. Blaze blinked but almost instinctively took to the skies as well. The two circled through the brisk morning air, rising high enough above the trees to allow the early winter sun to gently begin warming them.

"We'll start with something to warm you up, get you ready for the rest of the tests!" Scarlet Cloud called over the gentle wind flowing around them, pointing a hoof towards the outer city walls. "We'll take a few laps around the city, so keep up!"

Blaze dutifully followed as they flew to the wall and began a navigation that he was quite familiar with, and as they flew, the silence of their exercise allowed Blaze to think. The first thought to spring to his mind was a dry comment about the temperature, but then one that followed remarked on the ease and silence of the flight. Aside from the wind flowing past them, the only sounds were of their wings beating softly and the calm breathing emanating from Blaze's muzzle.

Two laps filled with nothing but silence, and the pair no longer felt the nipping of the cold breeze at their height. Blaze was about to comment that he was warmed enough to begin their tests, when the Captain suddenly picked up his pace, gaining a slight lead on the younger pegasus. Blaze was slightly confused, but he picked up his speed as well, meeting with Scarlet Cloud and he did his best to match their wing beats. Unfortunately for the younger pegasus, he was closing in on the same size as the Captain, but his wings were already comparable to Luna's in size. Thus: he needed much slower wings to maintain the same flying pace.

Twenty-five minutes, and another two laps completed, and the Captain picked up his pace yet again, only serving to confuse Blaze more, as he was now comfortably warm, and was beginning to consider tossing his cloak down at the barracks the next pass near the castle. While his curiosity was burning on the inside to know what the goal of this was, Blaze kept his mouth shut, knowing that this was just some part of some routine that Scarlet Cloud wanted to put him through.

He did use that time to think, and the opportunity to consider his life path was fruitful for him, as he felt the clarity of mind come from being so high in the sky, where his only obligation was to follow this pegasus in front of him. With the emptiness of the morning skies during the winter, Blaze had some serious retrospection, and considering what had happened to him the night before, he was in desperate need of time to think. Accompanied by the gentle whistling of the wind in his ears, he tried his best to understand how he felt about the situation, and to his surprise, he found that while he would have preferred it to have not happened, he didn't feel particularly upset. The numbing realization came when he found that he still had the remnants of the urge to ask Celestia how she felt about it; and that he was holding an infinitesimal amount of hope that she would be wishing to continue what they had started.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, he did his best to focus on the future within the household, and what he was going to do to ensure that the family didn't fall apart if he was elsewhere. His trust in Scale was more than enough to calm his fears, but he still held a bit of worry over Asta's desire to join the guard herself.

"Nice to be able to think up here, isn't it?" Scarlet Cloud asked as they rounded the fourth lap, introducing another bump in pace, and the two were now comfortably racing over the walls, the wind just beginning to whip at their manes. Blaze had to blink his head clear before he registered what the question was, though he quickly nodded his agreement. "Princess Celestia asked that I try to get you to do some mental exercises while we do these longer flights, though I see that the request was unnecessary. Thanks for saving us the time of getting you into the rhythm of doing something in the air to sharpen that head of yours."

"Not a problem, sir!" Blaze called back as he finally cleared his head of the last thoughts over the future, offering a weak smile as he carried himself closer to the elder. "There just isn't a better time for a pegasus to practice some mindfulness than when they are in the skies, where we rule over Equestria. Where our kind belongs."

"True!" Scarlet offered before the two resumed the silent flying around the city, and as the sun slowly rose above the city, Blaze could see the extending blankets of snow that latched to the canopy of the Everfree, and with the undisturbed white cotton covering, things didn't look so terrible. He held onto that impression as they finished the last hour of their flight, resulting in another six laps and Blaze's wings buzzing with renewed energy that he would have never noticed he was lacking. The landed in the courtyard of the barracks, where Scarlet made a quick trip inside one of the smaller buildings, and came out carrying a clipboard under his wing, as well as a whistle strapped around his neck. "Your endurance levels are up to satisfaction, so we can get away with just a couple hours of morning laps every day, glad to have gotten that one out of the way early."

Checking a box off on his clipboard, the scarlet pegasus motioned with his head to follow, and started walking down the length of the barracks towards a large building that Blaze was unsure the purpose of. Walking in said building, Blaze discovered a full rec room, weights lined one of the walls, simple weight-training machines, such as a few benches wing presses and squat racks, lined two of the others. All the weight machines revolved around a central sand pit, with pillars supporting a second floor, and a glass roof showed a blanket of pristine white snow.

Blaze took a moment to admire the sand pit in the middle, as it seemed to double as a wrestling pit and a training course for pegasi. He also noted that the back wall, which had been bare to this point, was scorched the entire stone surface, suggesting a spell training area. Scarlet led him to a row of logs embedded upright in the pit, resting upon which were a number of metallic rings.

The realization of where he was brought a grin to his face as he deftly removed his cloak and stretched his wings, allowing the feathers to climatize to the damp room. Scarlet Cloud seemed to pick up on his enthusiasm, and couldn't resist his own smile at the display of youthful joy.

"Next up: to test how much control you have, as well as your general spatial awareness and ability to adapt to situations while flying. Take your position at the starting line on the other side of the pit." Blaze happily did so, finding a line carved into the wooden beam separating the sand from the straw flooring and settling into a crouching position. When I give the signal, I want you to fly through the rings, then circle around the wooden pillars, and take on the course above the second level. Ready? Get set. Go!"

Blaze launched from his crouching position, flying right towards the first iron ring, and as he got close to it, he realized that his wingspan was just a bit too large to easily fit through the ring. He was getting close fast, so he did what he thought would be best, folding his wings as he went through it, flaring them in time to grind he momentum down so he could dive through the next ring. The third ring was easier, as he had to get a bit of height, but went straight for it, only to find that as he neared it, a log swung out of the wall, blocking his path and threatening to send him crashing to the ground.

Improvising the best he could, Blaze pumped his wings a bit harder, sending him higher and above the log, where he could see that his next goal was just there in front of him. He spent the split second going through the ring to find the next one, which happened to be awkwardly located a bit to the right, and dangerously close to the ground. He pulled his chest up as he turned onto his right side, before leaning his head downwards to drop lower to the ground.

Knowing that he didn't have a lot of space to work with, he had to spin around the log he had just gone above and got some space to go through the ring. As he passed this one, yet another wooden pole came flying to obstruct his path, this one swinging up from underneath the sand, and nearly slamming into his face. To prevent a colossal failure and a lot of pain, Blaze had to flare his wings to their fullest, and he threw his legs in front of him, landing on the pole while bending his knees to absorb as much of the impact as possible. Before gravity had time to kick in, he launched himself backwards, careening around the shortest log, just under the ring while he glided just above the sand to the next one.

Leaving a trail of flowing sand in his wake, Blaze encircled each of the four logs before pulling into a steep climb trying to find what the next obstacle was going to be. Seeing it almost immediately, he could only sigh inwardly as he stared at a series of tight-knit rings and several sharp turns, along with a cylinder that he was afraid of needing to fly through. Still, he pulled himself together and embraced the challenge before him, flying straight for the first ring, taking a small amount of space to reset his approach path, giving him the smoothest transition he could hope for. After the first dozen or so rings, he was starting to really wish he had spent just a little more time examining the course before he had dived right in: it would have made this entire process that much easier.

'Just another few rings, then that bucking tunnel.' He thought to himself with as much motivation and positivity that he could muster.

Feeling like things were going smoother than he had expected, his doubt let him in on a little secret, for as he came into the last trio of rings, all of which were aligned, he came to realize what was in that terrifying cylinder. He most definitely did not like the prospect of trying to dodge around what had to be at least a dozen wooden poles, all stretching across the diameter of the cylinder at different angles. The way there were arranged, it made it so that Blaze could not see through the entire thing, and all he was able to look at as he zoomed in closer was a mass of wood that he had to somehow pass through. And his speed certainly didn't help, but there was no time to adjust, as he was already at the mouth of the tunnel of terror, and he had better use everything he had ever learned about flying to get him through this alive.

As he ducked under the first beam, he realized that he was going to need his speed, because the next beam was at an angle that prevented him from being able to flap his wings. So he just kept them out as far as he could get them, using his dwindling momentum to carrying him across the pattern of wooden beams. Though, as he got deeper into the tunnel, he realized just what kind of a pattern it was, which happened to be an inconsistent spiral. The realization made things a lot easier when he learned how he could drift through the last of the wooden beams. His reward as he glided out of the tunnel was yet another beam flying into existence, and thankfully, all he had to do was flare his wings fully and drop below the extending wooden beam.

As he glided down to the floor, he heard a soft whistling coming from the Captain himself, and as he landed, he saw the stallion drop his clipboard and applaud him. Blaze had a confused look on his face until Scarlet Cloud explained why. "Why, color me impressed there, lad! That tunnel wasn't necessarily a part of your training, as you were kind of supposed to see it and fly around it, where the beams were less of a threat. But: damn! I've only seen a couple of fellows actually complete that thing, as it is just so damned hard for some of us to maintain our speed and work around the beams. Your control and awareness are impeccable, my friend. Impeccable."

"Thank you, sir." Blaze said with a slight pause for breath in between his sentences. "That means a lot, I guess. As soon as I catch my breath, what's next on the list of things?"

"Hmm? Next up is probably going to be the City Sprint; just a quick trip around the city walls, like we did earlier, but you are going as fast as you can, just so we can test your mid-distance sprinting capabilities. Then we'll test your short-range sprints, and finish back in here with the strength tests. You know, for your age, you have some of the best spatial awareness I've seen in new recruits, and most of them are usually a bit older than yourself."

"I've gotten a lot of practice." Blaze muttered as he was led out of the building by the elder pegasus, the two walking through the ever more trampled snow outside. Blaze was considering taking his cloak off of his back and slipping it on, but with all the work he has been doing, he didn't really need it, so he just dropped it on the snow when they stopped by the main street leading between the castle and the gate. "So, just a single lap around the city, as fast as I can go?"

"Yeah. Get ready and go whenever you feel ready." Scarlet Cloud said as he pulled out a stopwatch from under his wing, nodding to Blaze that he was ready to start timing.

"Just a quick question: how long does it normally take to complete a single lap like this?"

"For the more experienced pegasi: about five minutes. For the newer recruits: somewhere around seven, maybe eight." Scarlet replied with a shrug. Blaze hummed in thought, thinking that if they had already done an hour and a half of flying, and had completed a lap in ten minutes, then five shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Then, with a single motion, Blaze ducked into a crouch, his wings rising to accept the gentle breeze that was threatening to carry another rush of snow with it, especially since the weather ponies had been carrying in extra clouds throughout the morning. Blaze took a moment to get his breathing settled, and as he cleared his mind, he felt his inner peace for the race ahead. Then his eyes snapped open and he burst into the air, pumping his wings as he fought gravity for the open air.

With wind snapping his mane out of his eyes, Blaze was able to appreciate the city sprawling before him as he raced along the outer wall, the border between the city outskirts and the forest being this wall of snow that was lined with darkness. He felt his wings surge with energy as he flew by, hoping that he was going to keep this speed as the lap went on.

Halfway through the lap, and he suddenly realized his mistake, and by then, he was already feeling the effects from the two-hour flying session, as well as the control and awareness inspection earlier. His wings were starting to burn just a little, the muscles feeling cramped from having been in near constant use for a while, and the lack of sleep was starting to come and bite his flank. Still he wasn't giving in, and he decided to slow just a touch, until he could see the last stretch of wall before him, and it happened to be the bit that would go behind the castle. The fact that the wind was now getting rough meant he had to slow down further, an unfortunate side effect of having larger wings. Still, as he approached the castle, he put on a burst of energy as he kicked into overdrive and sought to improve his times by just a little bit. He raced around the corner, flying past the final towers of the castle, and locked his wings as he drifted down to the ground, panting for breath the entire time.

"Hmm. Interesting." Scarlet said as he wrote something down with his quill on the clipboard, eyes scanning over notes behind his record sheet from what Blaze guessed was notes on his personal abilities. "It would seem that your larger wings provide better ability to maintain flight for longer, at the cost of speeds, or at least, that is what the Princesses explained to me. I was expecting you to be a bit slower than some others, considering their training and better speed-oriented wings. However, it would appear that you have chosen control and agility over raw speed. Something you need to work on then."

"What?"

"You are excellent in control and awareness, and you are able to keep up with distance flight no problem, but your speed is definitely lacking, and something to be improved upon. I may assume that your strength tests are going to show similar results, though I have been surprised before." Scarlet clarified as he offered Blaze his cloak back. "Come with me, you can catch your breath during the walk."

"Yes, sir." Blaze mumbled while he trotted slowly after the elder pegasus, his mind whirring as he tried to figure out what he had done wrong, and how he was going to improve it. At the moment, all he could guess was that he simply had to work harder, get faster, and prove that this was just a fluke. The pair walked into the gym, and they went over to one of the various weight machines, testing each one to allow Scarlet Cloud to record the results of the various maxes that Blaze could achieve. After a grueling half hour of testing the machines, getting his maxes under different reps, and having short breaks in between to rebuild a bit of energy, Scarlet seemed satisfied with the efforts of the day.

"I want you take one last flight around the city, and give me about fifteen laps, then when you finish, return here, and talk to me in my office. It's the room I went into to get this shit. Hopefully by then, we will have a schedule set up for you to do so you can start to work on those things that you need to, like general strength, and speed. It was painfully obvious you've never worked out on a bench press, nor have you ever done wing presses on the machine over there. So, just have an easy flight around the city, and I'll go deal with this." And with that, Scarlet walked out of the gym, leaving Blaze standing there, staring into space as he accepted the fact that he was completely out of his comfort zone in here.

Finally stirring after what felt like an hour, but was mere moments, Blaze left the building, his cloak draped tiredly across his back as he walked towards the main road. The sun finally coming out over the entire city made the reflections from the snow nearly blinding, yet Blaze continued to walk on his way, eyes squinted tight while he walked through the melting snow. Enough hoof traffic between himself and the patrolling guards had flattened the snow and left clear paths that were commonly taken.

Clearing his mind of his troubles, he shifted his cloak back over his shoulders, feeling the cloth settled into position without much hassle. Loosely pulling the string around his neck, he closed the clasp with an idle hoof before taking to the air, leaving a small cloud of dust where he took off from. Gently easing his way to the outer wall, he began the arduous journey of covering fifteen laps around the city, all with tired wings and a draining will.

As he completed his fifth lap, something sprung to mind, stirring his desire to complete this and improve: he remembered in flashed how each and every pony that lived under their roof had taken to look to himself as a source of inspiration. He remembered how they were counting on him to lead them all through his examples, and with that fueling his mind, he felt the desire to succeed overwhelm his distraught at having felt like he failed at his most valuable skill. Increasing the tempo that he beat his wings to, Blaze felt the remaining laps race by as he grew more and more confident in his abilities.

This was what he was training for, this was why he was here in the first place: to become better, to improve. He wasn't going to let anything stand in his way any longer.

And it was that very same attitude that finished every lap after that, and when he returned for his schedule, he was met with a pleased Scarlet Cloud, who had noticed his change in attitude. The elder had remarked that this was the kind of spirit that got ponies far in the guard, though Blaze cared about that as little as he could, because then he had taken to pouring over his training regime.

Blaze nodded his thanks with the stoic silence he had taken and set upon fulfilling the goals on the sheet of paper for that day. He was a little dismayed when all he had scheduled for the rest of the day was an easy flight from one end of the city to the other, then a couple of laps around the walls again. He left the building and proceeded to fly the short burst that was the sprint, and then burned his way through the laps.

Returning home, he proudly presented his schedule to the ponies there, explaining what he had learned, and the excitement that they shared grew immeasurably. Scale congratulated him, while the eldest pegasus in the building, that cranky old stallion, simply complained jokingly about the lack of work he had to do. Despite having a momentous occasion, Blaze felt the days slip by, and as he set out each and every morning, meeting with Scarlet Cloud, or an assistant when he was otherwise occupied, he steadily grew accustomed to the life of training. The transition between his life behind books to this was seamless, though, fueled by his complete desire to become the best that he could. He worked his ass off, and the gains he made were evidence of his effort. Near the end of every week, Luna would spend an hour or two supervising his workouts, and once she had silently accompanied him along his longer flights. It pleased Blaze when he started to notice that his wings were growing, and with the enhanced diet that Scale had insisted he eat, he also grew.

Two months into his training, and with the winter snow finally coming to a close, Blaze felt stronger, faster, and simply better than before. He was now the tallest stallion in the community, the entire family accepting him as the head of the household ever more, and even the other young stallions had fallen into step behind him. With his height, Blaze also noticed how other ponies outside of his family began treating him with sudden respect, as if he was finally being noticed as more than just a helping hoof for somepony who needs it. But the single thing that made him most proud was the growth his wings had received; as he was nearing his full height, his wings had grown a bit larger than scale. The growing pains sucked to no end, but now that his wings were more comparable to Luna's and Celestia's he felt like he was becoming more of a notable figure overall.

Ever more, the city was flourishing, the abandoned regions had been torn down to either be used for future development or turned into gathering parks where ponies could rest and enjoy the scenery.

Four months passed that, and Blaze was hitting the last of his growth spurts, and his full height was now a head above the other ponies, and his wings were equal in size to Celestia's. His legs had thickened and his barrel had bulked more than he had ever hoped for, the result of rigorous workouts every other day, split by consistently increasing endurance flights that started sprawling out passed the city. At some point, he had realized that it was difficult for him to focus on the flights when he was doing twenty, thirty laps around the city. Now he would venture over the Everfree, never terribly far and always keeping the city within sight, but he did expand his range and started to explore the forest that stood for the very definition of the unknown.

He had just finished one such flight, taking a good three hours to complete, and was landing in the barracks to finish with a few reps on the wing press, when he was intercepted on the road by Scarlet Cloud himself. "Blaze Burn, got a message from the Princesses for you; they said that there was some trouble in to the north that they wanted to talk to you about. Said they wanted to see you right away."

"Yes, sir." Blaze turned to the Captain, curiosity coming forth as he wondered what would be happening that would get the Princesses to ask for him.

Deciding that it would be best to just get it over with, Blaze started trotting down the dusty road, letting the sun soak into his fur as he accepted the mid-summer heat. He entered the castle through the large, beckoning doors and quickly crossed the entryway, though as he neared the doors that separated the throne room from the foyer, he thought he heard shouting. He approached the doors and was greeted by two dutiful day guards staring into the void, unblinking as they moved in unison to open the doors.

Blaze had his suspicions confirmed as the doors parted, revealing the two Sisters standing in front of their dais', in the middle of an intense discussion.

"He isn't ready for that yet!" Celestia said in exasperation as she threw her hoof in the general direction of where Blaze stood, though she didn't seem to notice that he had entered yet. Luna rolled her eyes at the display.

"Sister, Blaze Burn is our only opportunity to stop this foul force: Princess Amore said with her own words that she hath lost three of her search parties to this entities' forces. We hath not the capabilities of traveling there ourselves, and our guards are of similar quality to hers, so who else shalt we send to assist? We cannot lose our alliance with the Crystal Empire."

"But Blaze Burn hath not even been trained in the art of war, and we shalt not allow thee to turn him into some uncivilized brute!" The passion was coming out of Celestia's mouth faster than her words, though Blaze was greatly amused by the exchange, he doubted that Luna was going to let this down. "And besides, 'tis the day, Sister, and while we hath taken great value in thine input, this matter hath been decided: Blaze Burn is not to leave the city until his formal training is complete."

"So, doth thou truly wish to end the reign of Princess Amore, and allow her city to perish to whatever malevolent forces seek to topple her throne?" Luna questioned, poking a hoof into Celestia's golden breastplate, her own tone threatening to dip into anger. "We hath held this alliance, nay, this friendship with the Crystal Empire for as long as Discord hath been brought down. Why hath thee decided that thine friends to the north art undeserving of assistance? Hath thou truly become so disturbed by the invasion of Changelings that thou would wish to become what Chrysalis hath been to us during the War on Chaos?"

"Don't you dare compare me to that abomination!" Celestia's voice dripped with venom as she glared down at her younger sister, using her height to lean over the Princess of the Night. "Amore is in need of out help, for the simple reason of she wished to know what happened to her patrols, but I will not lose what we have been waiting decades for, just because she is incapable of leading a proper military."

"Then thou shalt allow me to train Blaze Burn. Give the Gold Blood enough combat practice to ensure that he shalt not be lost to us." Luna offered in a calmed tone, the change being enough to get Celestia to settle back down and resume their civilized conversation. Blaze cleared his throat as he approached the two, having slowly made his way closer to them during their exchange.

"So, is this a bad time, or what? I know you asked, but if you two need to work something out, I can wait in the other room." His voice made the Sisters flinch, though the startled look on Celestia's face was replaced with feigning pleasantry as she turned to face him.

"Ah, Blaze Burn! We art pleased thou arrived here on such short beckoning!" She said in a slightly less forced peaceful tone, though Blaze was able to clearly detect the worry and doubt behind it. "And no: we hath everything under control, is that not correct, dear sister?"

"Indeed." Luna mumbled, her ears falling against her head in irritation as she walked around Celestia and took her position beside Blaze. "Blaze Burn, we hath called upon thee here today under an alarming distress signal sent by Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire. She hath called upon our aid, requesting assistance in discovering what hath been assaulting her city's borders."

"Princess Luna hath called thee here to send thee there, as thine first formal assignment as a Gold Blood, though we hath strongly disagreed with her sentiment." Celestia spoke up, interrupting her sister in a vain attempt to get her opinion out before anything escalated beyond what she could control. "We thought that under thine circumstances, and how far thou hath progressed in thine training, that it shalt be inappropriate to send thee unto this mission. Thou hath no formal combat training, and thee hath little knowledge of the Crystal Empire, or its customs. This threat to the Empire hath yet to be identified, so we hath not a way to form proper judgement upon its difficulty."

"And as such," Luna cut back in, glaring her sister into silence. "We propose that thou give us time to train Blaze Burn, and prepare him for this trial, but way of combat practice under our personal supervision. What say you, Blaze Burn? Doth thou wish to test thine mettle against an adversary within our allied nation, and to restore peace, harmony, and order to a city of ponies struggling most dearly?"

"Umm. . ." Blaze had to pause so he could think about it, and as he took the moment to think, Celestia took the moment to interject her fierce opposition.

"He shalt not go, Sister! It shalt be too dangerous!" She shouted, stomping her hoof to the ground as her Royal Voice shone through, the sound waves forcing Blaze's mane back while he rushed to cover his ears. Unfortunately, he could hear the rest of the conversation, as his ears were ringing, and he thought he felt blood coming out of one of them. As he pulled his hooves away, he felt one damp, and upon looking down, he saw that his left ear was indeed bleeding. For a few seconds he panicked, until a white hoof on his shoulder caught his attention, and when he looked up, he saw Celestia's worried face looking over him, her horn already aglow. There was an intense itching sensation within his ear, but eventually it died down and he was able to hear again. "I'm sorry Blaze, I didn't mean for you to get in the crossfire like that, you can hear me, right?"

He nodded rubbing his ear to get rid of the memories of the itching before he stepped away to see a much calmer looking pair of Alicorn Princesses.

"Good. Sister, thou hath four weeks to train Blaze Burn in as much combat as you can, to ensure that he can fulfill his duties as Gold Blood and serve the Princesses of Equestria and their allies." She declared regally, her gaze falling down upon him with worried eyes, though he could see a tear trying to form in her eye. "Make sure he can come home to us."

"Of course, sister." Luna replied softly, flashing a brief smile before turning to him and taking an air of authority as she put her serious face on. "Come now, Blaze Burn: we hath much work to do, and so very little time to accomplish it in. To the armory!"

The amount of enthusiasm that she had when she said that made him a little uneasy, as she had mentioned that she was going to put him through Tartarus, and yet the workouts until now had been relatively passive. She hadn't gone too hard on him as of yet, but that grin that he could see was wanting to break through her impassive face made him believe that that was about to change. Still, he followed the Princess nonetheless, and the pair made their way down one of the castle hallways. Blaze had assumed that the armory would be outside, somewhere near the blacksmith, but he wasn't complaining.

The two walked down a hallway that Blaze hadn't spent a lot of time down, and after a couple of turns, they approached a door that faced the outer wall of the castle. Luna led him inside, where he was greeted with rows upon rows of weapon racks, each separated into sections dedicated to a specific weapon or piece of armor. They walked further inside, where they were able to look over racks full of spears, swords, and a single rack burdened with large maces and flails.

"In tradition with Gold Blood training, thou shalt be tutored to properly swing a sword, wield a spear, and use a Morningstar." Luna gestured to each weapon in question, until she leaned against the rack holding the maces. "Among our personal favorites are the latter, as there are truly few soldiers capable of utilizing such an entertaining weapon: the Morningstar. So much power.

"But we digress, as our dearest sister desires to witness thou returning to her hooves in a single piece, preferably with thine heart still beating and all internal organs intact, we shalt begin thine training with the sword. It is a tragedy that Princess Celestia desires thee to train for such a short time, as a month is nothing in time to learn to use a weapon properly, still: we make do with what we hath to. Here." She used her magic to toss him a standard-length wooden practice sword, her own appearing within the deep blue aura of her magic. "Let us hath a sparing session to see what thou art capable of doing!"

Blaze felt a small amount of dread fill in the pit of his stomach, knowing that this was going to hurt, and hurt a lot. Slowly following her out the side door that led to a small training pit outside the armory, Blaze let her start by showing him a proper stance with three legs holding him up, the fourth keeping the blade straight out.

"Remember: the most important lesson about the art of sword fighting is the pointy end goes towards the enemy. Of thou taketh nothing out of this session, it shalt be that. Loosen thine legs, bend thine knees, if thou art as stiff as a board, then thou shalt fall to the ground like one!" She emphasized her words by whacking the insides of his knees with her sword, using it like a training stick. Hissing with pain, he did so, allowing his knees to bend and trying to get his legs to feel as light as he could. He understood the reasoning behind it, and but still went along with letting her teach him. "Now, when thou swings a sword, thine limbs must not be too tight. . ."

And thus, another productive training session with the Princess of the night continued, with Blaze earning a number of new bruises and an entire body that was sore, just after the first day. There were a few hours left in the day, Luna called off the training, saying that he would need some rest, and that he should return to the castle at noon, forgoing his other training in favor of learning as much as he could. The two went back to the armory, Luna feeling quite pleased with the thrashing she gave this young student, while Blaze knew that he was going to be very sore in the morning. Resting inside for a moment, the two took the moment to enjoy the refreshing cooler air inside the castle, as they had both worked up a sweat. Blaze was more of dripping with it, while Luna had enjoyed a slight glistening that barely showed through her coat, the results of pushing the stallion to his limits, whilst enjoying beating him with a stick.

"Remember, Blaze Burn: midday, tomorrow. Meet us here, and we shalt continue improving thine form with the blade." Luna said as she tossed both practice blades onto the stack that was heaped in a corner. Blaze simply nodded and followed her out of the armory, the two making their way back to the throne room, and as they made their way, Luna let out several yawns, and with the excitement of working in the sun behind them, he got to see exactly how exhausted she looked. To him, she looked like how he felt, and that was a little concerning, yet before he could ask her about her health, she commented her answer. "We think it shalt be in our best interest to gather an hour or two of rest before we take on our nightly duties."

Blaze wanted to say something, but he felt like the comment was more meant for her to remember instead of him actually needing to respond. Thus, he kept his mouth shut, and as they approached the main corridors, he split at left the castle entirely, taking a side door and out the castle that way.

As much as he wanted to relax the trip back home, he knew that his muscles would not last the trip, so he gently eased himself into the air, and flew home on stiff and sore wings. Finally catching a break and getting home uninterrupted, he passed through to door to be greeted by a few of the other ponies, as most were probably out doing whatever job they had to do. He did see Scale sitting by the empty firepit, reading a book, and as he walked in, she greeted him with a smile and a quick nod before returning to her book. Yet, as he approached, she sniffed twice before she had to place down the book and divert her attention to the pearl-white pony drenched in sweat and smelling of rotten hay stewing in sewage.

She said as much to him.

"Thanks, Scale. Means a lot to me that you care so deeply about me that you go straight to complaining about my hygiene when I spent the day getting my ass served to me on a silver bucking platter. Seriously: I'm going to take a bath, then I'm calling it a day, I am fully exhausted. Do we have any ice in the freezer, or do I just have to suffer with lukewarm water?"

"We should have some, but I have to ask: just what the hay did you do that is making you limp that badly? I have a few speculations, but I would rather just know the truth, as I feel that it would be a lot more interesting than what I had in mind." Scale asked as she sucked it up and walked alongside Blaze to the kitchen door, where he paused at her hoof while she went inside. She returned a moment later with a small bucket of ice, and the two went down the halls towards the bathroom.

"In short: Luna beat the buck out of me because the Sisters want me to get started training to fight with a sword, and I got a month to become proficient enough to survive actual combat. But I did also spend the first half of the day training like I normally do, with today being an endurance flight out around the city. That was before they decided to beat the living shit out of me." He answered callously as they turned the final corner before hitting the bathrooms.

As they turned the corner, they almost ran directly into Asta, who had her head hung low as she trotted the opposite way, the two pegasi being able to jump back to avoid a collision. "Hey Asta, having a nice day?"

Blaze dropped the bucket he had just started carrying in his mouth to avoid using too many of his muscles. The question was met with fierce silence as Asta tried to look up at him, her eyes only shifting up briefly to meet his own before she shuffled on her hooves and then darted around the two, her wings fluttering a bit as she tried to hurry past them. To Blaze, it looked like she had been doing her best to appear as small as possible, she had even tucked her head down and her tail hid between her legs like a startled dog.

He had just enough time to appreciate her new haircut she had tried on: brushed straight back with a small amount of curling at the end. Unfortunately, she was gone before he could try to call her name, so he looked to Scale, who had a slightly less confused expression on her face, the two trying to figure out what that was all about. "So. . . you have any idea what that was all about, or am I suffering from heat stroke and seeing things? Because it looked a lot like she was acting scared. Now, I know that I haven't seen her in a couple of days, but I didn't think that this was the kind of behavioral changes that would happen overnight."

"It's because you reek!" Scaled said with a smirk, doing her best to shove him along towards the bathroom doors. "Get in there and take care of it before the entire city flees in terror of the disgusting monster that smells like death!"

"Fine! Fine, thought you mares liked the smell of a masculine guy who works hard all day, but I guess your nose is just to snooty to care about a working stallion. I'm sure the other mares would love to just get a whiff." Blaze called as he shut the door, he heard Scale laughing him off from the other side of the door, but by now the temptation to bathe and clean himself was far too strong to resist. He walked over to the first tub he came across, and just dumped the bucket of ice into the tub, before he pulled the lever and started to fill the tub.

Once the water had reached an acceptable level, he stopped pumping the lever, and let the tap drizzle to a stop, then he eased himself into the ice-water. The coldness was one the best things he had felt in a long time, and as he lowered himself to a laying position, his muscles released a bunch of tension from a busy day of getting his flank whipped and his legs beaten.

Breathing his welcoming relief, he let his mind reflect on where he had come, and how far he still had to go; in a month no less. He wasn't displeased with the pleasure, though he knew that he would forever hurt from losing everything that he had, then working tooth and hoof to get some back. Still; he found that accepting life as it was and welcoming the chance to improve was the best choice, and he had found more fulfillment out of that than lying in misery.

He let his body soak in the icy water until his legs felt numb and he was mildly concerned over the difficulty he was having breathing, though as he stood up and let the water drain from his coat and out of his feathers, he felt immensely satisfied with that bath. He looked down at the water, seeing it laden with body oils and tainted with dirt and sweat, and while he knew a secondary bath would be beneficial, he was far too tired to care, and so he kicked the drain plug open. He stood in the air as the tub drained, his weary mind finding the whirlpool of water utterly fascinating, but before long the water had all drained away, and the stirring air reminded him to dry off. He walked to the towel rack, grabbing one of the fresh ones and aggressively attacking his soaking mane, knowing that the length was getting out of hoof.

'I've got to get Scale or somepony to cut it shorter, this length is just a hassle to maintain.' He thought to himself whilst attacking the damp clot of hair that was going to be tangled like no other. Sighing to himself, he realized that he had made a fatal mistake, and that he didn't have a brush on hoof to take care of the problem. He shook his head as he finished drying himself off, and then walked out of the room, meeting few other ponies as he marched to his room.

The first thing he did as he got to his sanctuary of solitude was to grab a brush and work the knots out of his mane, a task that took him another ten minutes to complete. His small desk mirror allowed him to frown at his mane, because had he not combed it to the side, it could easily have been covering his eyes. Nodding his agreement, he left the room and searched out Scale, to ask her to cut his mane, or at least trim it. Unfortunately, Scale wasn't around right then to do it, as somepony told him that she had just left to get something for a project or whatever.

Sighing, Blaze returned to his bed to relax.

Half an hour later, and he heard a knock on his door, and with vicious grumbling under his breath, he lurched out of bed and hobbled to the door. When he opened it, he found a smiling Sage standing with a bottle in her hoof. "Sorry about bailing, just had to go get some supplies from the gardens so I could cook this up for you: it should take most of the edge off your body, ease the soreness. And I heard you wanted a trim on that forest of a mane."

"Thanks, and yes, I do." He replied as he took the bottle of a strange blue liquid and stared at it, noticing an unusual lack of swirling colors within the brew itself. "What, no crazy effects that make it look like a cursed beverage to be taken at your own risk? I'm starting to think you're losing your touch, missy."

"Funny, but no; this is just an herbal painkiller. Simple tonic to make, really: Sweet Flower could make one of these at the fire, as long as she had the ingredients. Now take that and follow me so we can try to tame that thing atop your head." Blaze sighed and shrugged, knowing that everything 'herbal' that Scale made tasted like tree bark, but he grew a pair and pried the cork off the top. Without missing a beat, he put the tonic to his lips and tipped the bottom up, downing the drink before the taste or smell kicked in and made him gag. In two gulps it was gone, and not wanting to make the suffering last any longer than necessary, he gave the bottle back.

The two walked back down the hall, Blaze taking it as slowly as possible before the drink kicked in, and they eventually made their way to the main area again. Scale materialized a pair of hedge clippers from out of nowhere, and it instilled a moment of panic from Blaze until he saw the grin on her face.

"What? We were going to do some yardwork, right?" He deadpanned at her, and she chuckled and tossed the clippers on the ground and grabbed sat him down on one of the seats around the firepit, several of the younger foals staring at him in wonder as he waited. A moment later, Scale returned with a pair of shears and with a brief word of warning, she started to trim down his mane, cutting it in the traditional style of the guards, a simple straight mohawk-like cut.

He nodded his approval when she had finished her work and offered a hoof mirror for him to inspect the work. "Astounding, as always, Scale. You truly are a gift to this family."

"Eh, not as much as some ponies around here." She replied with a wave of her hoof, taking the mirror back and letting him up. As Blaze made his way back to his room, she went to the kitchen and returned with a broom, and started sweeping up the red and white tufts of hair that had been removed from his head. "Have a good day, Blaze!"

"Thanks." And he did, a day of napping and enjoying the opportunity to relax, though after an hour, and the tonic Scale had made had kicked in, he started getting restless. He waited a bit, but eventually he left his room and looked around for Asta, hoping to ask her to head out on a flight with him, as they hadn't really been able to do any flying together since he started this training with the guards. He was hoping to be able to spend some more quality time with her, maybe figure out what the buck what that scene was earlier. However, it seemed that she really didn't want to be found, and as he looked, she had just vanished, and nopony knew where she was or might be.

He had to give up after a length search, and while he was thrilled that things were getting a move on in his life, it did upset him a little that his little sister was hiding out from him for whatever reason. The flight he had alone was no different than his normal endurance ones, but he did feel that it sucked more so than usual just because this was a casual flight, and he had gotten his hopes up that he could spend some family bonding time with Asta. Still, flying was still flying, and just being in the air, with a wonderful breeze flowing through his freshly cut mane lifted his spirits high.

He had finished two hours' worth of laps around the city when the sun had started to finally settle behind the trees, and the sky started turning and amazing shade of orange, with the few clouds drifting around being lit bright pink and red underneath. He hesitated above his home, wishing this kind of peace could last forever, where things were at their most beautiful. But, like his life now, he had to get moving and head back inside, hopefully getting some rest.

Blaze fell from the skies and landed on the ground in front of the door, entering and making a beeline for his room, though he bade the other ponies that were home a good night. As he collapsed into his bed, he briefly contemplated pulling his covers up, but then he remembered how hot it had been the night before, and simply decided his fur was enough. While the tonic had done an amazing job at removing the aches from his body, he still felt thoroughly exhausted, and his body craved sleep so badly that he was out before he could have taken more than a dozen breaths.

" _Blaze Burn, you have to stop, now!" Celestia called as she threw herself over the battered body of Luna, who was lying unconscious on the ground, dust and blood littered her blue coat and her tiara lay strewn across the collapsed throne room._

" _Right before your eyes.' Blaze said slowly, inhaling as the dark magic gripped him, flowing through his body and contorting the very fabric of reality around him. "Witness the travesty: for Blaze Burn is long gone, Princess Celestia. Witness the rise, of Inferno!"_

" _What?!" Twilight screamed, the terror in her eyes were clear even to this evil foe who had been given control by the distraught pegasus. "What did you do to Blaze Burn?!"_

" _Stay out of this, little Princess: the defenders of justice just keep failing again, and again, and again." Inferno spat, his eye glaring at the hunched forms of Celestia and Luna, the magic that had granted him a horn of fire atop his head swelled as the room engulfed itself in a raging inferno of fire, sprouting from the walls, and licking at anypony who got too close. "The horrors of our age, the puppets' intricate lies will never wash them away._

" _Celestia, you stand by that pathetic whelp of a pony. Well: I have an opinion. And her lies are not worth believing in, I must show I'm done giving in! Who will disguise her motives?"_

" _She had her reasons, Blaze!"_

" _BLAZE BURN IS GONE!" Inferno shouted, a wave of fire bursting out from him in a ball, scorching everything around him as he unleashed all of his hate and pain. But just as fast as things had gone wrong, they went black, and Blaze found himself sitting in darkness. Darkness in this Tartarus of a dream, the darkness like before._

 _A maniacal laughing filled the air, this one nowhere near the same as what he had heard when Al had taken Star; no. This was far more hating, far more terrifying to Blaze. He tried to move, to look around and find the source of this maddening laughter, but all around him was darkness. After some time, there came a slight spark of light, though the grey that separated itself from the black void was nearly invisible, and Blaze had no idea what is was nor what its source was. Then there was an intense burning coming from behind him, and he heard the laughter much louder this time around. It also sounded significantly closer to him, as if the burning on his back was the breath of whatever mocked his slumber._

 _Hesitantly, Blaze turned around, to be greeted with the face of whom he could only assume was Inferno, the face resembled his own, cloaked in white fur, with burning blue eyes that held living flames inside the iris', only instead of Blaze's normal red and white mane, this thing had a mane of actual fire. His eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets as he set them upon this creature of pure malic, and as the thing's maw opened to continue its demonic chuckle, he saw row upon row of serrated teeth._

" _Yes, Blaze Burn. Accept me as your ruler, accept me as your kind, your one and only_ God _, and all your innermost desires shall come true!" The monster grinned at Blaze, who shuddered in fear at the sight of such a creature, that not even his will to leave could get him away. "There is always a reason, and their lies are not worth believing, we have to show we're not giving in! Well, I have an opinion, oh Blaze do I have an opinion. Give in to me, and allow us to grow stronger together and avenge those who have been wronged by those perpetrators of the crimes that simply walk away."_

" _STOP!" There came a crashing sounds, and then there was a burst of pure magic that slammed into Inferno's face, shattering the image, only for the pieces to reform as the entirety of Inferno: a massive stallion as large as Celestia, with a similar wingspan of pure white wings tipped in crimson. His mane and tail were living fire, and his hooves were encased in golden boots that sprouted fire from the back. Over his chest was a golden breastplate in the same style, with fire wrapped everywhere this thing could fit it. He snarled as Luna came into view, snarling herself as she stepped in between him and a terrified looking Blaze Burn. "Thou shalt not desolate our Gold Blood. We banish thee to the void, where only darkness and despair shalt accompany thee!"_

 _She began to charge her horn, but she stopped when she heard the maniacal laughter emanating from this creature of fire and malice. "Doth thou truly believe thou hath thine ability to remove us? We shalt disagree, traitorous bitch!"_

 _Before anypony could react, he engulfed himself in fire and vanished into a pile of ash, leaving with his insane laughter echoing through the emptiness. Blaze sighed, collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion, not entirely sure what to make of this one, though Luna soon joined him in the void of darkness illuminated by her horn. With a flash, the two of them were sitting in the training yard of the castle, wooden swords in hoof like they had that day._

" _We knoweth not what that was, but it appears to hath fled, so shalt we accept the dream for what it was, and move forward?" She suggested, pulling him to his hooves while he stared at the sword._

" _Luna, there are a few things that terrify me to this day, but nothing has ever had that kind of effect on me: it felt like I couldn't move, and that I was helpless to stop it." He said as he tossed the sword to the ground. "What the buck was that?!"_

" _Blaze," Luna said in a softer tone, walking up to him and placing a hoof on his shoulder. She looked him in the eye until he relented and returned the attention, where she offered a brief smile and patted his shoulder. "it is perfectly acceptable to admit fear, for instance: thou hath been given the gift of foresight, and being witness to our body being mangled on the ground in such a manner terrifies us to no end. If what we hath seen is to come to pass, we must pray that there shalt be something that we art able to do to mitigate it now, and prevent such an occurrence from coming to pass. One thing we know for certain is that whatever happened there, it is not for a very long time, because there was a Princess by the name of Twilight, and our dearest Sister an we hath no intention of crowning another Princess. The few we hath art enough to manage Equestria."_

" _Okay? I'll try."_

" _Excellent, now take thine sword in hoof, and let us begin thine dream training!" She said with a smirk as she backed away and settled into a ready stance, leaving Blaze shaking his head and grabbing his sword. The two settled and eyed each other, then Luna leaped forward, her sword flying high, leaving Blaze scrambling back as he swung his sword around in a wide ark hoping to hit the blade. She countered by twisting the blade mid-swing and landing a quick uppercut slash across his chest and throat. "Thine reactions were far too clumsy and slow, thou must react faster if thine wish is to survive, again."_

 _Luna continued to get Blaze to react faster and faster, not bothering to go into form as she tried to get his speed up. The two were working for a brief moment when Blaze felt something sort of_ shift _in the dream world. Luna noticed it too, and they paused the training to evaluate what it was, though neither could identify the source at first. When nothing appeared, they uneasily returned to the training, only for the temperature in the dream to rise dramatically. Both Luna and Blaze tried to force cooler weather, but to no avail, and this perturbed Luna to no end, forcing her to end the session until they figured out what was happening._

 _The next major even to happen was that other ponies started to appear, a few mares that lived in the community, some random ponies from around the city. Blaze had to gape when he saw that Celestia had appeared in the dream, only to glance at Luna, who was snarling as her horn lit up, though nothing seemed to be changing. To his surprise, Luna stopped whatever she was trying to do and walked over to him, her scowl never leaving her face._

" _Doth thou contain knowledge of what is occurring?" The answer was a firm shake of the head, making her frown fall deeper on her face, when something caught Blaze's attention. That thing made his face turn scarlet red, and as he stared blankly at it, the reaction made Luna turn around to see what the distraction was, only to result in her face turning an equally bight shade of red, and her wings shot right out, slamming into Blaze and knocking him off of his hooves. The contact was enough to break the hold on Blaze, and as he stumbled back onto his hooves, he had a very anxious Luna helping him up, and she was doing her best not to look at the dream version of her sister laying rather seductively on a large, heart-shaped bed, her tail flowing just out of the way of hiding the Sister's crown secret. "Um. . ."_

 _Blaze was equally speechless, and as hard as he tried to keep his eyes away, they drifted to where they most definitely should not have multiple times. It took Luna slapping him with a wing until he was finally able to snap out of it._

" _What the hay is going on, Luna? I'm not controlling. . .any. . . of this. Oh dear, I don't really feel so well." His head was starting to hurt, and he felt like he was losing control over his vision, yet just before things went out completely, he heard Luna jump back, yelping in surprise._

Then everything went dark, and his body regrew accustomed to the waking world, only, things were not as he had left them to dream. The first thing that came to his mind was how bucked up things had gone from in his dreams, from the strange vision to the sparring with Luna to that really sexualized image that he had a lack of control over.

The next thing that came to mind was how things were different in the waking world: namely, that he was pretty sure he found the source of the last part of his dream. It definitely felt like Twilight had gotten the idea to service them both over the night, as he could feel her riding on top of him forehooves planted firmly on his chest, forcing him down on the bed while she went to town on his member. If it wasn't the middle of the night, he might have been able to see, but as it was, his open eyes offered little in the way of visual stimulation. Still, he groaned as she picked up the pace.

"Didn't realize you were in the mood for a little late-night fun, Twilight. You could have at least woken me up if you wanted to. . .oh yeah." He groaned a bit as she responded not in words, but by picking up her tempo a bit, and he had a single involuntary buck, causing just the smallest of moans to escape her lips. "Nor did I think you would have wanted to try the backway, not that I'm complaining, just feels like this might be the first time for both of us."

"It is." That voice was definitely not Twilight's, and the moans coming from her were most definitely not the kinds that Twilight had made. He held his breath as he wiped his eyes with a hoof, hoping that his ears were playing tricks on his and waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. As he did so, he felt this mare that he figured sounded unsettlingly familiar shift her position, and a wave of pleasure washed over him, and he had to do everything in his power to not respond to it, including biting the shit out of his tongue. He bit so hard that he tasted blood. "Oh, yes. Yes. Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes."

His eyes finally adjusted, but that didn't do him any good, as suddenly, the mare atop him came with the force of a moving train, and as her insides clenched down around him, he felt the immense pressure of what had to be a vagina too small to have easily fit himself in. He was greeted by those forehooves wrapped around his shoulders, just under his own, and a head buried inside of his neck, blinding him with her mane. The pressure was enough that he didn't immediately jump to where he knew he should and get to the confrontation as soon as possible, as he was unfortunately battling his more primal self, and struggling very badly to keep himself from reaching the same conclusion as she had.

After a solid minute of battling with himself over control, the intelligent side of him won out, and as the mare slowly inched herself off of him, he got his hooves under her and pushed her up and onto the bed beside him. With her mane no longer in his eyes and a bit clearer of a head to think on, he was mostly free from what could have been an enjoyable experience, had the mare riding him not been this one. His eyes came into focus, confirming that which he was desperately trying to avoid coming true.

"Asta, WHAT THE BUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" He shouted as he leapt out of bed, slamming the door open to get some light from the candles burning in the halls. More to his despair, Asta lay on his bed, a somewhat guilty yet satisfied smile spread across her lips as she lay across the blankets, spreading herself for all to see. He growled in frustration as he tried to make up his mind about what he should do, but he wasn't really able to focus, as his mind was just stuck repeating what had just happened, over and over. His shouting seemed to have one effect, as some of the other residents had gotten out of their beds to see what was happening.

As they piled around the door to see what the problem was, Blaze only growled deeper, walking over to the bed and wrapping her in a blanket, the only functioning part of his brain telling him to spare her some dignity and cover her before the others see something they should not see.

With that one action complete, his brain decided that fighting wasn't an option, and his adrenaline was pumping, so he took to plowing through the completely confused crowd, marching his way through the building and leaving through the front door. Pumping his wings as fast as he could, he just flew, in no particular direction, until he hit the city wall, where he stopped and landed on the walkway, staring out over the forest. His mind wasn't able to stop repeating what he woke up to, and it utterly terrified him, as well as making him all the more confused about what the buck he was supposed to react to these kinds of things.

He had no clue how long he stayed there, but the moon was starting to descend by the time he starting to nod off, and he eventually fell asleep right there on the wall. And an indeterminable about of time later, Blaze was awakened again by the rapid shaking on his shoulder, which slowly pulled him out of his restless slumber. He opened bleary eyes to see Scarlet Cloud standing over him, a concerned frown upon his face.

"You okay, kid? Guards tell me they found you sleeping like this, don't know how long you've been here."

Blaze blinked as he stood up, stretching his wings and trying to get his brain back up to full capacity, as he was recovering from whatever it was that happened last night. The details were a bit fuzzy, but he did remember waking up in a fit of rage and flying here, so in answer to the question, he simply shrugged and stood up, feeling his muscles burn just a slight amount, and most of the soreness being gone made his mood go up quite a bit. "Yeah, woke up for some reason last night and just had to get some air, must've fallen asleep out here when I was too tired to go back to bed."

"Well, I'd advise not doing that in the future, it's just not a good idea to be sleeping around out in public. Who knows what could happen?"

"I'll make a note to only sleep in designated sleeping spots then." Blaze added with a yawn as he turned his attention to the skies, which showed that he had about an hour before he would have to go and meet with Luna for their now daily punishment session. He thanked the Captain for checking on him, then took off and started to head back to his home when the memories of what happened the night before slammed into him like a falling dragon weighed down with its entire horde of gems. The memories came back so fast that he lost complete control of his wings and plummeted to the ground, slamming into a wagon and scattering its contents all over the road.

The owner of the wagon was about to start shouting at him, until they realized what had happened, and they jumped to see if Blaze needed help. Right as the guy got close, Blaze jumped up from the wreckage, untouched for the most part, aside from a couple of small scratches that came from the wood. "I'm good! I totally meant to do that! Did you know that hay is an excellent way to stop sudden downward speed spikes? Now you do."

Without waiting to see if his attempt worked, he took to the air again, this time going considerably slower as he thought about what he should be feeling right then. As he floated above the city, he tried to think of an appropriate way to respond to what Asta had done, but nothing really sprung to mind.

He had reached the building before he realized he was there, and as he stepped through the door, he was greeted with a wall of stiff silence. He stepped fully into the main area, and upon seeing the mass of various ponies inside, was half tempted to just step back outside and begin his training a little early. However, his decision was made when Scaled Equilibrium stepped forward from the crown and motioned for him to actually enter. The look on her face said that she wasn't in the mood to mess around.

He stepped in, unsure about the wisdom of such and his own uncertainty of how things could go, allowing Scale to lead him towards the familiar spot away from the group in the corner. They sat down, Blaze appearing as unsure as he could, while Scale shifted from a stern face to one of exhaustion.

"Blaze, I don't blame you for what happened last night, but I feel like things need to be discussed in relation to the event. After you started shouting, and the majority of us came to see what was going on, well: needless to say that it did come as a bit of a surprise. That said, it is necessary that you know what happened, because you fled before anything could be explained, and this is the kind of event that needs to be talked about."

"What is there to talk about? My own sister decided to buck me in my sleep." Blaze retorted testily, his uncertainty morphing into frustration as he glared at the purple earth pony sitting across from him.

"Blaze, you should know by now that mares can do strange things during their heat: so while Asta did attempt to mate with you, her actions were somewhat excusable. It is also a bit of my fault, as she had come to me sometime the night before last asking a few questions. Blaze, her heat started that night, and she was struggling to contain herself for that entire day. Look, you can't know what it's like for a young mare to go through her first heat, so have a little empathy here, and don't cast blame on her." Scale explained in a gentle voice, leaning forward and putting a comforting hoof on his side. He stopped glaring at her, but the distrust he was feeling at the betrayal was showing clearly through his eyes. "I don't expect complete forgiveness, but I hope that you can at least forgive her intentions.

"My first mistake was when I assumed that when I explained how things worked, that she wouldn't just up and try to deal with her heat. I should have told her that she shouldn't try anything until she was older, and I must apologize to you for that. I guess that she trusted you enough to try what she did, though I cannot justify what happened when you slept. If she wanted to relieve herself that badly, then she should have woken you and asked; but again, Blaze, we cannot blame her entirely, as it was her first heat."

"Yeah." Blaze sighed, leaning back in the chair and staring at the ceiling, feeling less betrayed and suddenly more worried. "I get it: she wasn't thinking about it. I know what it's like to get caught up in the moment like that. I'll try to move passed it, and I'll talk to her as soon as possible. Maybe tonight, after dinner? I got to head to practice: I'm sure Princess Luna is just dying to beat my ass with a wooden stick today."

Scale chuckled as the pair sat up. "I'm sorry what happened had to happen, but I think that this may actually turn out better than you think. Asta seems like the kind of mare to only engage in something like that if she really trusted he partner. Perhaps when you two speak, it'll reveal just how much you two trust each other."

"If trust leads to sex, especially with my own sister: then I think we are all better off waiting to be betrayed, Scale. I love Asta, more than a lot of things in this city, but I do not love her in that way, nor will I ever be capable of wanting to do that again. Whenever she needs to do what she needs to do, I hope she is able to handle it herself."

"That's very generous." Scale muttered as they approached the group again. "I doubt she's going to try anything like it again, and even if she were, you two have a whole year before she goes into heat. Plenty of time to go over exactly what boundaries and expectations you two need to have."

"Not a conversation I ever thought I'd have to have with my little sister." Blaze stated in a defeated tone as he slowly pulled her towards the kitchen, where the two grabbed an early lunch, each taking a bowl of the simmering soup left on the stove. They ate in silence as he refilled his energy.

After they had finished, Scale escorted Blaze to the front door, and as he opened it, they were blasted by a wave of heat. "I'll see you all later, though before I leave: Scale, thanks for that drink yesterday. It helped so much."

"Anytime Blaze. I think I'll get another one ready for when you return, if you so desire."

"That would be fantastic." And with nothing else to say, Blaze left the building, heading directly to the castle, flying quickly to avoid being out in the city whenever possible. The summer was really getting out of hoof, and he was thinking a nice cover of clouds, just for an hour or two would help immensely.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Should be able to get one last chapter out, and I have to say that I am really sorry this Ice Blazer mini-series has gone on for as long as it has: never really intended for it to turn out the way it has. Anyways, the next chapter shall be the finale to Ice Blaze, with a particular villain to the north._


	18. 18 Ice Blazer V: Frozen Fate

_Just going to put this out there from the start: really sorry about what you're about to endure, even after I've had to cut this damned chapter in half, the finale for Ice Blazer stretched farther than anticipated, and there was a lot that I felt needed to be told. If I'm honest, though, I think that the finale here will be worth it, I hope!_

Chapter 18: Ice Blazer V: Frozen Fate

Gliding over the walls instead of taking the gate this time, Blaze went directly over the main road as it shot straight to the castle. He landed lightly in front of the doors, pushing one aside as he made his way through to the entryway barren of any guards. He glanced from side to side, trying to find a servant or a guard while he went through the room. There weren't even any guards posted at the doors to the throne room doors, so he made his way through, only to find that room empty of either Princess. There were a couple of guards standing at attention at the base of the thrones, looking bored out of their minds just standing there with nothing to do.

As he trotted up to then, they straightened their stances and stood more formally at attention, until they noticed who he was, then they relaxed ever slightly. Blaze wanted to chuckled at the slacking guards, but his mind was occupied with trying to come up with a way to avoid the inevitable conversation he was going to have to have with Princess Luna when they met.

"Would either of you fine gentlecolts mind offering me directions to where Princess Celestia or Princess Luna are? I've got a meeting with Princess Luna very soon, and I kind of need to talk to Princess Celestia about the upcoming deal she had for me." He asked with a smile, waiting patiently for directions.

Directions that seemed to hesitatingly creep out of the nervous guard's mouth after the two stood their looking to the other for advice. "Princess Celestia is in her dining hall, and she asked to not be disturbed, but Princess Luna should be resting right now. Sorry kid, but you might want to try back another time."

"Yeah, not to be rude or anything, but Princess Luna kind of asked for me to be here today, so I'll just be following her orders."

"Then I hope you're willing to wait outside the castle grounds, because neither Princess will be disturbed while they have requested peace."

"Whatever." Blaze threw up a hoof in mock irritation, turning around and heading towards the front door. "I'll just stand in front of the gates screaming about how the Princesses' guards are worthless loads of griffon-dung who don't even know when to follow orders!"

His attempt got no reaction out of them, but he felt better just saying the words, and right as the throne room door shut behind him, he turned off of the carpet and made his way to one of the servant entrances. Humming to himself as he made the way down the halls he barely remembered going down, he managed to get to the door he was fairly certain was the Princesses' personal dining hall without being caught. He stopped at the door to listen for any patrols, then he pressed his ear to the door to listen in for whatever was inside.

Hearing Celestia talking gave him pause as he debated to himself whether or not this was the best time to make an appearance. His fear of being caught snooping in the halls won out when the talking ceased, and he made his decision to slowly creep in through the doors. He slowly turned the handle, the mechanism not making a peep as he slipped through the door, only to be met with a glow of gold surrounding him.

"Who doth think they shalt attempt to disturb our. . . Oh, 'tis simply you, Blaze Burn. Why doth thee just not walk in as a normal pony would, instead choosing to creep in like a burglar?" Celestia said while she resumed her seated position, nibbling on some cake for her early lunch, dropping Blaze and allowing him to close the door. He turned and faced the Princess to answer her question, though his eyes turned to see that Luna was downing what appeared to be a fifth drink of her choice.

"Princesses." He bowed formally, taking quick note of how tired Luna looked, with her mane in total disarray and her eyes had bags that he could see from the distance clearly. "I simply did not wish to interrupt your lunch, as I was told to find you in here, and I heard conversation. I thought it best if I entered as inconspicuously as possible."

"Well, you failed, completely and utterly. Luna, dear sister: would you mind adding 'stealth' to the list of things to train our dear friend in at some point. Do not fret of making it a priority, but being able to enter rooms without drawing attention is something that can be useful on occasion. Sister?"

Luna snorted, snapping her head up and looking around wildly before remembering where she was. She registered the question after a moment to think about the very fabric of existence itself. "Of course, dearest sister, we shalt make note of it posthaste!"

"So, how was your training session, yesterday, Blaze Burn? Luna was only able to spare me a few details so far, as she has clearly had a rough night." The mention of the night brought a deep blush to Luna's cheeks as she nervously dropped the cup she was holding, spilling tea over the table. A servant practically leaped out from behind a door with a towel in hoof, starting to clean the mess.

"It was alright. Luna thoroughly enjoyed herself, 'teaching' me how to stand with a sword." Blaze put a little more emphasis on that particular use of training, as he learned how much Luna enjoyed seeing him in pain. "Other than that; the night training she tried to have us do was, rough, at best."

"Rough?"

That time Luna started coughing on the piece of bagel she had tried to eat, dropping it while she recovered, earning a curious look from her sister. Celestia turned to Blaze, who had realized what she was thinking about, but when he only shook his head at the memories, she was left looking between the two of them completely confused.

"'Rough' is one option thine hath when discussing the. . . occurrence of that distinct event." Luna said after she had recovered, sipping on some water as she did her best not to look at her sister, else the image from that dream reappear in her mind.

"Luna, so much more happened after you left: you have no idea just how bad things went after I woke up. Suffice to say: I very quickly found out the source of those figures appearing like they did, and I awoke to a less than stellar surprise." By now Celestia's curiosity was burning at her stomach with desire to know just what these two were talking about. Something to do with his dream surely.

"We hath no desire to know what occurs during thine time away from the castle!" Luna jumped from her seat, her face burning as she stomped towards the door, leaving her unfinished bagel sitting on the edge of the table. "Meet us at the armory in five minutes."

She stormed out before Blaze could respond, so he simply looked to Celestia, who was equally confused, though she smirked at the idea of getting some kind of information. "So, would you care to explain what it was exactly that happened in your dream to cause my sister such distress?"

"That depends entirely upon what you want to know: the part with the flaming demon thing or the part where I was rudely interrupted from our training session?"

"Hmm. What is this about the demon?"

"Apparently, I had another one of those creepy dream things again, this time I was possessed by some. . . thing that called itself 'Inferno' and it really hated you two. Like, wow, I thought I hated you before, but this guy made it seem like I was deeply in love with you and would die protecting you."

"And you wouldn't die for me now?"

"The only reason I am here is because my family wanted me to give you and Luna a chance: so if dying to save you helped them, then yes. Otherwise, expect me to choose protecting them over you." The truthful words did hurt her a little, though she did her best to find some solace when he said there was a chance he would die for her. She knew that it was something she could hold onto.

"And the interruption?"

The question made him stumbled as he recalled events of the night before, and while he wanted to believe that sharing that information would help stop things, he knew otherwise. She finds out what he dreamed of, things would get weird between them real fast, well, weirder than they already were with her constant ogling eyes and hungry stares. He took a single glance at her, despite having a burning face when the sight of her brought back memories of that dream, and then he had to look at the door while thinking about the pain he was about to receive.

"Would you look at the time, I got to go and meet with Luna, so she can beat the shit out of me. Well, have a great day, Celestia!"

He hurried out of the room as fast as he could, fearing that she would pressure him for an answer. Trotting down the hall, and just doing the best he could to avoid that confrontation with Celestia, as he really didn't want to even try to explain that sight. Putting it out of his mind for the time being, he turned another couple of corners before he came upon the armory door and pushed through it.

Luna was already holding the practice blades in her magic grip, and the moment Blaze entered the room, the threw the blade at him. "Blaze!"

He ducked down, allowing the blade to go flying through the door and clattering harmlessly against the stone floor. He glared at Luna as he stood up, her brow curving in a slight furrow at his instinct. "We art to work upon improving thine reaction speed, as our session through the night hath been interrupted. Grab thine blade and follow us to the gymnasium used for physical training."

Luna didn't even wait for him to respond as she walked outside, leaving Blaze to grumble and sulkily stomp to grab his sword. Upon retrieving the wooden blade and entering the training gym, Blaze was greeted by a ring of guards grouped around the sand pit, some were working on the machines, but a lot of them were standing around as Luna used her magic to move the upright logs around. He hadn't known that they could do that, but he guessed he couldn't be too surprised, as she was one of the two Alicorns in existence. He slowly walked into the sand pit, greeted by silence as the guards all simultaneously stopped what they were doing to watch what was about to occur.

For Blaze, that ended up being a very nerve-racking sight, seeing at least two dozen guards all standing around, watching expectantly, some more anxious than others. Once Luna had moved all the logs out of the center area, she turned to Blaze, her sword now mysteriously gone.

"To improve thine reaction times, we hath decided that thou shalt train in here. Come and stand here." She explained, standing aside so he could take the spot in the center of the sand pit, which he did so nervously. "Good. We art to cast a number of spells at thee, and thou shalt use thine sword to react and block the spells from hitting thee."

"Okay. . ." Blaze said as Luna backed away, allowing him to settle into one of the stances she had him practicing the day before. He raised his sword in hoof, though he felt weirded out by the large group of guards grinning at seeing Princess Luna training a pony.

The first bolt came out of nowhere, and the only indication he had that it was coming at all was the brief flash of light from Luna's horn. He swung the blade up in front of him, hoping to intersect the blade before it hit, only to have it slam into his side. He was knocked back a bit, and his balance was tested, but the bolt itself didn't actually hurt.

"Be prepared for anything." Blaze shook his head to think, only to find another bolt coming straight for his face. He tried to duck under the bolt, but there was another one following this one, and it was right behind the first. Blaze hit the sand, raising his legs in defense of the bolts, which struck much harder this time.

Sand covered his stomach as he slid backwards in circles, making his dizzy while he recovered from the blast. His legs hurt considerably more as he stood up, and when he cast a worried eye for the next bolt, he found the wooden sword thrust in his face. "We art to train thee to use a sword, not to wrestle in the sane like foals playing a game. Stand you ground and use the blade to defend yourself: we art being kind by not engaging with more force, else thee would surely have failed to escape the first blast. Again."

He stood his ground this time, though the anxiety of having a group of guards watching him get his flank pounded was starting to get to him. His attention was brought to the blue bolt flying towards him, this time straight from Luna's horn, and he did his best to raise his sword. The bolt hit the very edge of the blade, sliding passed it easily and ramming home, knocking him back into the sand and leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. He spat out a bit of blood, but before he had time to worry about it, he was wrapped in a blue aura and put back on his hooves, sword wrenched into his grip. "Again."

He blinked as he tried to process what had happened, and once again found a bolt flying towards him. This time, he made sure to put the blade between himself and the magic, and right before there was contact, the bolt teleported up a foot, clearing the blade completely and making contact with the top of his mane. He tried to look up to investigate the damage but was interrupted from doing so by a bolt coming in from the side, and as he swung on his hooves, the sword already flying to intercept the bolt, a flash of light from above caught his attention. Sparing a brief glance up, his eyes were met by a bolt smacking him in the face again, and as he recoiled away, the first bolt struck his chest.

Wheezing from the dual impact, he tried to get his brain up to speed, only to have three bolts hit his right side in quick succession, knocking him to the floor. "Faster, and do not be distracted. Pay attention to what is around you."

"I thought you said that this was just to test my reaction speed, and to work on improving it?"

"That shalt be but one simply task for today, Blaze Burn. We simply hath not the time to take the proper approach to training, as this threat needs to be dealt with as soon as it can be. Get up and prepare thine's self!"

Blaze sighed as he was forced back up, and this time he didn't even question the force used to practically glue his sword to his hoof. The first bolt came at him from straight on again, this time Blaze swung the blade in an upward arch, hoping to catch the bolt, when he noticed the blue tint of another coming from the left this time. He waited until the blade had made contact with the first bolt before he tried his luck at stepping forward and out of the path of the second.

Unfortunately for him, the blade merely glanced the first bolt, knocking it in a new path, and as he stepped forward, it hit his mane, glancing across one of his ears, causing him to flinch and stand still. The second bolt hit his flank, nearly knocking his off balance again, yet before he could recover another one hit his planted leg. That one got his leg folded beneath him, putting him in a sitting position. "Again."

This time, Blaze stood with renewed energy, a small snarl on his lips as he faced Luna, who's horn was glowing. This time, he spared a glance to the left as he saw the blue tint of a bolt, and as he saw it, he carefully stepped towards it, swinging his sword right at it. As the bolt teleported to the right of where he had aimed to go, Blaze tugged the blade up, hoping to hit the bolt with its new direction. What Blaze hadn't expected was his lack of control over the sword to force the blade to slip downwards with the sudden change in direction.

Needless to say, he got a face-full of that bolt, and as he backed up from the failed attempt, his rage only fueled by the snickers of the guards, he saw heard another bolt coming forwards. He spun around, his leg bringing the sword up just in time to collide with the incoming bolt before it could hit him. His rage vanished in an instant as he stood there in shock. A grin worked its way onto his face, and he had just enough time to celebrate with a whoop of success before another bolt followed the first, knocking him back while two more hit him down to the ground.

"Thou should not celebrate prematurely. Savor thine success, but do not forgo the fight simply over a single victory, continue until thou hath won." Blaze grumbled to himself bitterly this time, knowing that this was more than a fair assessment, but his pride took a hit as he was knocked down in his moment of triumph. For him, the worst part about this was not that he was being beaten down by magic, but that the guards were never going to let him live this down while he was here.

Standing and facing Luna, he sighed and let the anger simmer into a cold fire, knowing that getting angry here would only make the situation, and his performance worse. He waited patiently for the next bolt to come, which it did, from behind him, and the next followed shortly from his left, while the third hesitated a second at his right.

Spinning wildly, he swung the blade in his hoof at the first bolt, and as it teleported above the blade, he tried his best to counteract it by bringing the blade around and up, only to be half a second slow. Instead of accepting defeat as he had done before, he rolled with the blow, using the momentum to turn towards the third, which was dangerously close to him by now. Still carrying a bit of speed from the bolt, he swung the blade widely, finally getting a successful interception as the bolt vanished behind a rough cut.

Actually learning from his mistakes, he followed his swing as he turned to greet the third, which was higher than the other two. He knew that trying to adjust his swing again would only result in failure, he brought the hilt of the sword in close, and used the flat of the blade to parry off the bolt, and having a much wider area to use, was mostly successful.

Crouching as he was unsure of where the next bolt was coming from, he slowly did a twirl while his ears tuned in for the sounds of more bolts. The next three were in a straight line going for Blaze from a slight angle above Luna. He noticed them immediately, and he lowered the sword before swinging it wide, hoping to catch all three with a single swoop, only to have the first teleport right, the second to the left, and the third went up. He knew that his swing would probably hit the first two, but he wasn't sure what to do about the third. Yet, without time to properly form a plan, he just let the first two get sliced by his sword before he rolled to the right, allowing the final bolt to pass harmlessly into the sand.

As he popped back up, he was greeted by another bolt coming at him from behind, and in response he ducked low and threw his sword-leg behind him, catching the bolt just in time on the sword.

For Blaze, the next fifteen minutes were torture, as he did his best to avoid being slammed by bolts of magic, and it seemed that Luna was doing her best to keep him on the tips of his hooves. He had ducked, dived, and swiped at everything, and as his muscles grew more and more exhausted from the work, his reactions grew slower and slower. And every time that he slowed down, he was punished relentlessly.

By the time that Luna had called for a break, he was near collapsing, and his entire body ached from the beating he had suffered. He managed to stay up, though, and barely limped his way to the edge, where many of the guards had left to resume their own workouts. He slumped down once he had found a corner to himself, keeping the wooden sword resting just beside him while he glared at it in disdain. He had been resting there for a moment before Luna walked up to him, her frown evidence to the disappointment she was feeling.

Without saying a word, though, she sat down next to him and leaned down with her horn aglow, touching him gently on the side. Almost immediately, the pain and stiffness in his body ceased, allowing him to sit up. "Thank you, Princess."

"'Tis not an issue, Blaze Burn. We might desire thee to become a suitable fighter, but we art not incapable of compassion, and whilst we hath little time to train thee into a soldier, we see no reason to allow thee to suffer. Also, it shalt allow us to train thee more if thine energy is fully restored."

"Ah, there's the catch."

"We must admit that we were hoping thee would hath obtained a small amount of fighting skill from thine time employed as a thief, but alas, it seems thee might hath been fleeing from trouble rather than confronting it." Luna said with a smirk, she summoned a small cabbage sandwich for him to eat, which he graciously accepted and began munching down on.

"So, how long are we going to keep this up, because that session was brutal on my legs and face?" Blaze asked as he tried to stretch his limbs and prevent them from locking up on him, his attention being focused on keeping his wings from being too sore after this.

"We hath been thinking that after another hour, perhaps two, we shalt move onto the next point in thine training, and practice proper sword forms. We hath begun work upon thine stance, but for one to truly know how to stand, they must hath proper knowledge of how to wield a sword. It shall also be necessary for when thee begins to practice using a legitimate sword, and not these pathetic instruments used to train new recruits." Luna frowned at the sword lying by Blaze's side, to which he could only sigh as he pulled the thing closer to himself.

"Princess Luna, I do not mean to offend, but had we not been training with these swords, I think you might have actually cut off my legs before we had even gotten to today." He replied nervously.

"Nonsense! We would hath found a proper training stick to beat thee with, instead of a ready weapon: 'tis much safer to enforce ideas with wooden sticks. But should thee truly train with a sword, then thee would hath been preparing that much sooner to wielding the weapon properly." Luna retorted as she stood up. "Now rise. 'Tis time to begin training once more!"

Blaze obliged reluctantly, and his torture began anew, and while he didn't fare much better this round, Luna did go a bit easier now that a bunch of the onlooking guards had left, leaving the two to train in relative peace. Even the prospect of watching the Princess of the Night herself training a pony was not enough to make them stray from their routines. Every half an hour, Luna would ease back enough for him to catch small breaks, and they spent the better part of two hours going back and forth. At the end of said two hours, Luna had grown tired of watching Blaze flail around like a fish out of water and decided to end the reaction training before things ended up causing serious harm to him.

When she announced that they had finished with this part of the training for the day, Blaze collapsed in a heap in the sand his sword disappearing from sight as he uncomfortably fell onto it. By that point, though, he was far too tired to care.

And things did cease a small portion when Luna hauled his tired body back to the training courtyard beside the armory. She healed his pains and refueled a bit of his energy through her magic, and the two entered the armory. Luna tossed the practice swords on the rack, and Blaze was sort of glad to be rid of them, as they were getting to something that he was slightly interested in: the obtaining of a weapon that he was to use when the time finally came for whatever he was being sent to the north to do.

"Thou shalt pick a sword to train with, though we must warn thee to choose wisely, as it may be the weapon thou shalt be mastering the use of. We would recommend a simple arming sword, as they tend to be easier to learn to use, and their size makes them particularly deft when swung. However, they art known to be lighter in weight, and may lack the energy thou wishes to have in a weapon. We shalt not order a weapon, but Celestia shalt: pick a sword, Blaze Burn." Luna said as she led him to where rack upon rack rested with enough swords to field an army. Blaze was genuinely shocked there were this many of them: he hadn't seen the entire room because of the various obstructions, but the number of sword varieties, and the sheer volume of the weapons was a little imposing.

"Arming swords, you say?" He asked as he walked up to the first rack of blades he figured would be classified as arming swords. He walked up to them, but a blade of the rack just to the right of him caught his eye. He stopped walking towards the shorter swords and stood in front of a weapon that had to be his body length, but the handle was about a hoof-and-a-half in length. The blade was forged from blackened metal, and the handle seemed to be wrapped in brown leather, which he felt should have caused some reaction out of him.

He wrapped a hoof around the handle, and with a small grunt, he lifted the blade clear of the rack, admiring as the blade seemed to absorb the light coming from the torches lining the walls where sunlight couldn't break through the windows. The glints revealed a single bevel running down the spine, and as he stared at the blade, his eyes wandered down to the hilt. The cross guard was made of polished steel, and as he took in the blade, he noticed that the pommel carried a blood sapphire. Overall, his impressions were that this was a blade that he could use to keep his enemies at a slight distance, yet allow himself to swing pretty fast and as need be. Luna was curious about his deviation from the racks of arming swords. And as she trotted nearer, she smiled.

"Doth thou desire to master the art of sword fighting with a bastard sword?"

"Is this a bastard sword? Never heard of that name before." He asked as he gently put the sword back on the rack to turn to the Princess and hear her answer, also using the opportunity to stop staring at the weapon.

"'Tis a loose name. Truly, that weapon hath too short a blade to be classified as a longsword, yet it is far too cumbersome and length to be a proper arming sword. 'Bastard sword' is just a name for those weapons that cannot be classified easily, with a small extra bit of handle that can allow for two-hoofed strikes, and a longer blade to carry the weight, but not being able to cover the distance or carry the power of a proper two-hoofed sword." Luna explained as she used her magic to pull the sword back out and admire the blade herself. "We hath used a weapon rather similar to this one ourselves when we hath no mauling weapon to crush our opposition with. 'Tis a reliable and sturdy weapon, should thee choose to bear it, if not. . ."

As she started to put the blade back, Blaze almost felt something akin to sorrow growing inside of him as he watched the sword being left to gather dust from a nation that probably hadn't been to war in decades. He reached a hoof and grabbed the sword's handle before Luna could put it back. "I'd like to try this one."

Luna's smile grew much wider as he accepted the blade, and her horn lit brighter as the weapon was deposited in his hooves and a scabbard slowly revealed itself from behind the rack slot where the blade had rested just before.

"Very well. Though this weapon does have more weight to it than a standard arming sword, 'tis still light and nimble when thou hath enough practice. Come! Let us begin training anew: for today shalt be the day that you and the blade become one. Yet another warrior hath found their weapon, and may this be celebrated by the breaking of sweat, the spilling of blood, and the shedding of tears!"

Blaze was not afraid to admit that the enthusiasm Luna had towards his selection unnerved him a great deal. Still, he followed her out, making sure that he didn't accidentally cut himself with the sword while he tried to manage to also hold onto the scabbard himself. He exited the room and found Luna was nearly prancing with excitement, and his dread only worried as he trotted out to the center of the training area. He set the scabbard down on the ground, only to have Luna's attention snap right to him. "Thou art to carry thine weapon at all times, including the sheath in which it shall rest when not in use."

"Okay?" He picked up the scabbard and tried to find a place where he could attach it to his body, though the belt loop for it had no purpose on him, as he had no belt to hook it too. Luna solved that problem immediately by popping into existence a belt that he could strap on.

"When not wielding the sword, thou hath two options of carrying the sheathed blade: on thine hip, where thou may hath a non-interfering blade that remains easy to draw, or across thine back, where thou shalt be fastest to free thine blade, but at the cost of a small nuisance in mobility. The choice is yours." Blaze thought about it for all of half a minute, where he decided that if he ever got into the situation where he needed his sword, it would be better to just have it out as fast as possible.

"I'll just strap it across my back; it won't be in the way that badly, will it?"

"Of course not. Just a mild inconvenience that will hardly be noticed outside of battle." Luna shrugged as her horn lit up and the belt tailored itself to wrap around Blaze's shoulders, allowing the scabbard to strap to his back in a perfect fit.

"And when I'm in battle?"

"Thou shalt be focused so intensely on battle, that thou shalt not notice the belt."

"I guess. . ." He had little time to think, as the blade he held was righted in his grasp, and suddenly Luna was up close and personal, explaining to him the proper way to hold a blade and she went on to explain the intricacies of stance with the weight of the real blade finally hampering Blaze's progress. He found that it was significantly harder to hold steel than it was to hold a wooden stick, though the newer techniques that Luna showed him help to reduce the burning sensation in his legs.

She spent the entire remainder of the day showing him how to bear the sword, as well as teach him the basics of swinging a sword like a fighter, and not flailing like a lunatic. Once she had tended to her royal duties, which had left him standing in the courtyard like an idiot, she returned to instruct him on taking care of the blade. She only spent an hour doing that, but she felt that it was important information for him to know.

That night, he flew home burdened with a brand-new blade, and as he entered his home, he wondered how he was going to explain things to them all. Luckily, he was saved the interaction because most everypony had gone to bed, and the few that weren't in their rooms had fallen asleep in the main area. Quietly making his way to his room, he set his sword on the nightstand, unsure as to what he was supposed to do with it while he was here. Worried that he would have a repeat of the night before, he took a spare chair that rested in his room and put it against the door, under the handle to prevent others from entering the room.

Finally climbing in bed for a good night's sleep, he was out right as he shut his eyes. He was then greeted in what felt like half a second by Luna standing in the training yard with his sword pulled into the dream by her magic.

"Art thou ready to continue work on thine form tonight, now that thine body requires rest?" She asked as she floated his blade over to him, causing him to sigh as he registered that he was now in a dream training session. Still, he nodded, glad that this was going to be a relatively easy training session.

"Before we do, though Princess: don't you have other duties to attend to? I know that I am not the only other pony in this entire city that dreams, so why are you here already?"

"We hath already taken care of those who slumber for the night, 'tis a simpler job sometimes than thou would believe. Especially when thou hath training to do, and a Gold Blood to bring to their full potential!" She grinned at him, and if he didn't already know what they were training for tonight, he would have been terrified of that grin.

That said, though, Blaze had his ass handed to him whenever he bucked something up, as Luna was not holding back on perfecting his form as much as possible overnight. He felt like even without these time constraints, that Luna would have preferred to do this in the dream world they were in. He noticed that she had seemed genuinely happy to teach him the art of war, but now that they were isolated and away from potential onlookers, she seemed a lot more relaxed. He wasn't sure what to do with that information, so he decided that he would store it away for later.

And one very long night later, Blaze awoke to a pounding on his door, and a concerned sounding Scaled Equilibrium shouting for him from the other side. He groggily got out of bed, calling for her to quiet down, and stumbled over to the door: he may have been sleeping all night, but it felt like he hadn't. Grumbling to himself, he slid the chair from under the doorknob, and opened the door, only to find the Sage had rushed through the opening door and slammed into him. The two fell over until Blaze managed to roll away from her.

Standing up, she seemed to relax considerably after she saw that he was okay. "Sorry about that, just kind of thought that I should wake you up and get you going for the day, but the door was locked, and when I called you weren't really responding. I guess I got a little carried away there."

"A little? I was just sleeping. Had a long night. But I'm up now, so might as well get the day going."

"Actually, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you. . ." Blaze cocked his head at her, curious but worried about the tone of her voice. "Asta wanted to talk to you when you got back, but you stayed out late, and she's been worried about you. We found out you got home just this morning, and she really wanted to talk, but I think that it would be best if you went to her on your time."

"I'll think about it when I can. I've been a little busy with what Luna's been putting me through, and I'd like to just get over there and finish this. Apparently this issue has gotten so bad that the Sisters both want to send me up to the north to try to take care of some problem." Blaze said, casting a glance back at the bastard sword still resting on his nightstand. Scale followed his gaze, gasping when she saw the sword, and she had to take a step forward to put a hoof on Blaze's side.

"Blaze, wow. I truly had no idea that they were trying to turn you into a soldier like, well like that! I thought they just wanted you to be some sort of guard; you know, stand around and look tough or something. I guess it really must be bad then, because Celestia hasn't even told me anything yet."

"It's a recent occurrence." Blaze sighed as he trotted over to the blade, and grabbing the belt, strapping it around his chest. Though he had worn it all day yesterday, he still felt strange putting the thing on him, and the weight of the blade was still unfamiliar to him. "But I promise that I will get to talking to Asta as soon as this thing blows over, and we can have a serious conversation about what she did. I know she was in heat, but she shouldn't have just tried to so something like that."

"Blaze. . . never mind. It's not important, but what is, is that you try to find the time to talk, I think she really needs it. Would it be so bad if she were to apologize?"

"There really isn't anything that she can apologize for, Scale." Blaze sighed as he hung his head. "Look, I'm sorry. I know that she wasn't really able to control herself, and that she was obviously not thinking when it happened, but I still just feel betrayed. She shouldn't apologize for what she can't control. I just wanted to talk with her so we can set up a few preventative measures so that we don't repeat what happened then."

"Glad to hear you think so, Blaze." She sighed, leaning against the door post.

"But as I said; it's definitely going to have to wait until this is over. Honestly, are you absolutely sure that this is a conversation that I should be having with her? I know she needs to talk to somepony, but I just have a hard time believing that I'm the pony for the job, can't you talk to her about it?" Blaze asked while they stepped out of his room, with Scale trotting next to him down the hall.

"Yes, Blaze. You need to talk to her about what happened, and you two really need to get this out of the way. I understand your hesitation, but I doubt you need to worry about it: you both needed this conversation, and the progress you two have made needs to be addressed. I can help by explaining some things to her, like what exactly was wrong about what she did, but the real talk needs to be between you two. I'll be there to supervise if you want, but you will be talking to her yourself." She rolled her eyes as she answered, a smile replacing the concern she had worn earlier.

"Whatever. I'm going to go and get something to eat from the market, and then I'll be heading to the gym to get in some strength workouts before training today."

"Haven't you been busting your flank all day, every day for like the last several months?" The question came out as they stood at the entrance to the hallway, Blaze stepping quickly while he flashed her a quick grin.

"Yep! And I'm going to keep on training until I've reached my maximum potential. But I really don't fancy being beaten down so badly in front of everypony again: the last time ended with me be extremely sore." He replied with a turn so he could walk backwards and lead her to the door. "Now, if you will excuse me; I've got some food to devour and a press machine with my name on it!"

He stood in front of the door, about to leave before he remembered that bits were an important necessity if one desired to obtain food items. He did a quick step to the coat rack, grabbing the replacement coat that had been gifted to him during the loosely celebrated Hearth's Warming. He smiled warmly as he remembered the day, as most of the time, he hadn't really taken part in the celebrations. Finding out that the entire community was gathering to rekindle the event was a pleasant surprise, though he was a tad ashamed to admit that he had entirely forgotten the traditions within.

He threw the coat over his shoulders, not bothering with putting the entire thing on, especially since he was going to be working out, though the sword on his back did make the coat sit a bit uncomfortably. He checked the pockets for bits as he exited the building, glad to have found a few remaining gold pieces clinking in the white fabric.

As he trotted down the streets, his mind turned to the events of the day before, and his heart beat a little faster as he realized just how much things were about to change for him. He was excited for what to come, but then the dread started to settle in, and he had to wonder just what was happening to this supposed Princess of the Crystal Empire that both Celestia and Luna were sending him there. He was certain that a number of other guards, nearly all of them, were more capable than he, and he knew that this was going to be dangerous. Hearing that the Crystal Empire lost several patrols of guards made his stomach a bit queasy, but he held firm in that he was going to be fine: he had a reason to come back home.

Reaching the market with little delay, he thought about what he wanted to eat for breakfast, and his stomach answered the internal question as his gaze rested upon the hay burger joint. Smiling hungrily, he entered the building, and a hasty three minutes later, he had a bag with a burger and fries hanging in his mouth as he thought of where to eat.

Spotting a relatively empty park, he trotted to the first bench he came across, and began to dig into the food, his stomach reminding him of each passing minute that it ran empty. As he munched on the burger, he used his wings to settle the coat across the back of the bench, and he tried to use a hoof to unbuckle the sword belt. He unfortunately discovered that hooves were not really meant for removing belt buckles by themselves, and he began to struggle in earnest with the clasp. After a minute of awkwardly fiddling with it, he finally got it to spring loose, allowing the belt to slide free, and the sword that was stuck to his back hit the bench with a thud.

Finally free and with a gentle breeze flowing across his back, Blaze relaxed deeper in the bench, enjoying the last few savory bites of his burger before he eradicated the fries' from existence.

The fries never even knew what hit them.

While he was munching down on some quality food, Blaze did his best to observe the crowds, wondering if anything of interest was going to happen. Though it was late in the morning, with noon two hours away, traffic was still strangely slow, and Blaze had to guess that the other districts were probably suffering then. That or ponies were just taking the day off to relax indoors. With the summer sun bearing down on them in the afternoon, Blaze couldn't really fault them, as his time outside had made him resistant to the heat: he still longed for colder weather.

Standing from the bench with a bag of trash, Blaze sighed to himself as he reattached his sword belt, once more throwing the cloak lazily over it. He began trotting towards the castle, hoping to be able to get in some reps on the wing press before Luna beat the ever-loving shit out of him again. He had a feeling that with the late-night sessions training with form, she was itching for some time to just swing her stick at him.

While he trotted down the streets, he tossed the trash in a dumpster, not rushing as he waited for the food to settle.

The guards at the gate offered him no entertainment as he passed through, which did not come as a surprise for him, but he still would have liked to see them break for just a moment. Anything that made them not look like the stone-faced soldiers they tried to be.

The gym was surprisingly empty as he opened the door, which prompted him to pause at the door, having expected at least a couple of guys to be working out. He scanned the room once but gave up and just went to a wing press, putting a couple of lead plates on the bars. Knowing that he shouldn't exert himself too badly, he decided to just do a dozen reps on the machine, three or four sets. After that he figured he could go over to the dumbbells and get some work on his forelegs before he had to head out, though he was wondering whether he would really need to, as Luna was going to have him busting his ass with the sword. Once he had three plates on each side, he settled onto the bench, but he jumped up once he felt the jab of the sword on his back.

Grumbling to himself, he undid the belt and let both blade and cloak fall to the floor right next to the machine. He rolled his shoulders out and sat back down, finally getting to placing his wings on the bars. He took a couple of short breaths before heaving and shoving the bar into the air. He lowered it until it touched his chest, and the feeling of cold metal on pushing through his fur onto his skin felt amazing.

He pushed up before he got comfortable, and proceeded to easily lower the bar down again, working the weight without any trouble. By the time he had finished the first set, there was another pair of guards within the gym, both going straight to the back wall. He was racking the bar as the thunderous sound of large blasts of magic hit the reinforced stone wall.

Sitting up, he watched what they were doing for a total of five seconds before nodding to himself and leaning back under the bar. He finished his sets in peace, and as he was racking the weights, the two guards walked over to the bench press. He paid them no mind while walking over to the dumbbells at the end of the press rows, grabbing a pair of the thirty-fives and sitting at the unweighted bench. He did a few reps with the lighter weights, at this point he felt like killing time before he had to kill himself with Luna.

He was paying a lot of attention to the clock above the door, hoping to get half an hour to himself to shower and just get prepared for his beat down. He sullenly finished his curls and racked the dumbbells, before grabbing his gear and leaving the building. He tossed his belt and cloak over his back, trotting to the barracks to try and find a shower to clean himself, but ended up getting lost in the halls.

Twenty minutes of searching had him finally stumble into a locker room, and he couldn't help but sigh in relief. He dropped his stuff in a locker before pumping a shower up to full power, the icy water slamming against his back in one of the most relieving sensations he had had in a while. He let the water run down his sides while he scrubbed at his sweaty mane, attacking his body with the gritty soap offered by the barrel to the guards. It did the job, along with tearing out a bunch of fur with it, but he supposed it was a moot point.

Shaking himself as dry as he could, he stopped the shower and stood there for a moment, enjoying the sweet feeling of a cold shower on a rather hot day. He savored the coolness as much as he could before he would have to be out in the heat, busting his ass with Luna to be whatever kind of soldier they wanted him to be. His mood did dampen a bit, but his rational thinking reminded himself that this was all for a good reason, and that his family would be pretty upset if he quit on the guard now.

Toweling himself completely dry, he dropped the used towel in the hamper beside the tiled flooring, then retrieved his stuff from his locker. He sat down and took his sweet time buckling the belt back over his shoulder, trying to find a sweet spot to where the blade where it would be the least irritating possible. He found it quickly, as so far his experience with it hadn't been that bad, mostly when sitting down, but he figured it could be worse. Before he threw his cloak on, he drew his sword, staring at the beveled blade in wonder; his mind racing over the prospect of him ever needing to use it. He didn't know how long he sat there staring into the blackness of the blade, but after a time, he finally snapped out of it and sheathed the weapon before it distracted him further. He tossed his cloak around himself and trotted out of the locker room, barely managing to leave the barracks compound that day.

He got to the castle entryway, and was greeted by a group of guards coming out of the throne room doors, revealing both Princess standing just behind them. He bowed as they approached. "Princesses."

"Ah, Blaze Burn. We were just about to find you!" Celestia said in a chirpy voice, trotting forward to greet him, only to find him hesitantly backing away. The frown that controlled her face did little to deter him as he stared at her in confusion and distrust, even if he was clearly able to see the hurt in her eyes. "My apologies."

Luna stepped forward before things got out of control, clearing her throat and stepping between them. "We see thou hath brought thine blade, come along Blaze Burn. We hath much training to do."

She started walking down the halls, leaving the others standing in the entryway in awkward silence, with Celestia watching him carefully. She stopped when she realized that he wasn't following and as she turned to face him, she was torn between intervening or allowing this to play out. Eventually, her curiosity overcame her and she paused at the doorway to see how things went between her sister and the Gold Blood.

"Princess Celestia. . . I won't cast blame upon you for what you did. . ." He began slowly, his gaze falling on the ground as he thought about what he wanted to say exactly. "I've seen some things and participated in events that I can agreed I probably shouldn't have. That said, I think it would be best if you had some more time to think about what happened, because the last six months have obviously not been enough. I doubt I'll ever be able to understand why you did what you did, but it's in the past; so can we please just move on, and accept that things will never be whatever it is that you wanted them to be?"

"Blaze Burn: thou shalt not forget that we art limited on time to train thee, and we shalt not allow thine personal affairs to interrupt that training." Luna said in a cautioned tone, her gaze resting on her wounded sister. "Sister, 'tis not our place to ask, but we hope thee understands our intrusion upon thine conversation."

"No. . ." Celestia responded after a moment to collect herself, standing a bit taller as she flashed a weak smile at the younger Alicorn. "We understand that thee wishes to speed this process along. We shalt not interfere during the remainder of this hurried program thine settled with this Gold Blood of mine."

Blaze was starting to feel a little more uncomfortable with every passing second, so the moment Celestia started talking to Luna, he made his way closer to the Princess of the Night. After that little skit of drama had finished unfolding, both Luna and Blaze arrived at the armory at a hurried pace.

"Doth thee truly wish to end thine own life? 'Tis an idiotic scheme to try to goad our sister in such a way; thou knoweth the regard she holds thee in." Luna sighed as she pushed him through the armory and quickly getting him settled in his position in the center of the training area. Her wooden sword appeared with a blue pop.

"Of course not; I was just trying to get out of that situation. Princess, we both know that she's been trying her luck for what feels like forever now, and I really didn't want things to escalate back up to where they got to then. Especially not when I have so much shit I have to get done."

"If thine intention was to diffuse the situation, then thou truly and magnificently failed." She said as her sword unexpectedly flashed towards him before he had even dropped his coat. He yelped as the wood slapped his neck, and as he rolled with the blow, he did his best to draw his sword. He came up with the blade nearly out, but he was in no position to fix it, as the Luna's wooden beat stick was flying towards him again. "We art settled upon a tight schedule, and thine progress hath been lackluster."

"Damn, Luna! Ease off me a bit!" He shouted as he rolled back away from the sword, only to find it keeping up with him while he moved. He had to shove his weapon back away as he dived forward, hoping to get some space while his training partner flew overhead. Luna smirked but allowed the sword to keep going until he pulled up with sword in hoof. "Thank y-"

The sword disappeared at the wall and reappeared right beside him, nearly cutting into his exposed flesh. He had enough reaction to bring the noticeably heavier sword up to block the incoming blade, though the secondary strike she swung from around his guard caught him under his raised foreleg, hitting a rib. He grunted as the wooden sword backed off, slowly retracting as Luna stepped closer to him, her sword settling into an on-guard position just above her head.

He crouched low, holding his sword pointing out at her, watching her with a careful eye as he tried to figure out what her next move was. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't really tell what she was going to do, because magic holding a sword was impossible to predict. Still, he did his best to watch where her eyes went, as he was hoping that that was his best chance at following her movements.

The wooden sword struck high, and as he leaned back and raised his hoof, he kept an eye on Luna, though the speed was impossible for him to determine anything useful. Just before the blades closed, the sword twisted and flew in to strike his exposed ribs again. He pulled in his leg and twisted himself to catch the incoming blade on his cross guard, but as he did so, Luna's blade seemed to lean around his defense, and he was forced ever more to the side as he tied to compensate the twisting. There was a snap and a crumble, and Blaze realized his mistake: as Luna pushed his defense, he had forgotten to move his hooves, which were firmly planted in the ground. As he tried to avoid the blade, he had dug in, then suddenly the sandy ground gave way, and he tumbled down.

Refusing to give in that easily, he rolled to the side, doing his best to not stab himself as he rolled over the blade. When he had gotten mostly free, he used a wing to launch himself back onto his hooves, swiping at Luna's sword while he recovered. One thing that he did notice was that he was now between the sword and its controller, and he had to force his grin down as he thought of an improvisation that would be interesting. He began to back up as Luna pressed him front his front, doing his best to defend while he inched ever closer to her.

He found out far too late that she had read right through his plan from the moment he started to move closer, and as he just stepped within striking distance, her sword flashed up then down and jabbed forward in a repeating flurry of blows. His reaction time was forced to the max as he tried to get his blade to stop the barrage of strikes she sent at him. It was all for naught, as he was soon thrashed thoroughly by her stick of doom.

She let off when she hit his leg and his blade dropped to the ground, though as she did so, she saw just how much she had gotten through his defense. She sighed her head disappointedly but walked up to him as he lurched to his hooves, grunting as he pulled his sword from the ground. She leaned her head down and touched his own with her horn, sending pulses of painkilling magic through his body. Once he had been restored from his beating, she stood straight and walked across the yard. "Again."

He grunted as the wooden sword came flying at him, and mentally prepared for a long, very painful day. He brought his sword up to defend, and after a short three-minute bout, where Luna was obviously simply testing his agility, she called him off. His heart was racing at the sensation of being beaten again and again by a vicious little stick, and he had to force his trembling hooves down while he stuck the tip of his sword in the ground. "We shalt review thine form."

And they did: for two hours Blaze was reminded of the various methods of properly deflecting blows and how to redirect incoming blades. He was frustrated by the defensive methods that she was going over, but he didn't voice his thoughts, as she was clearly the better soldier. She was put off when he showed little better than half memory of the things they had gone over previously, and she made it known by pushing him to perfect the forms to her satisfaction. And after two hours of standing in the increasingly hot summer sun, she felt ready to have him demonstrate what they had just gone over.

She slid back, holding her sword at the ready, and allowing him a brief moment to prepare himself. Once he was standing ready, her sword flashed forward in a quick jab at his throat, to which he responded by sidestepping the incoming stick and swinging his sword in an upward stroke, knocking her stick away from him. She immediately responded by bringing it up and overhead, striking down while his blade was vertical. His reaction was what she had hoped for with another sidestep, this one the other direction as he rotated his grip on the blade and connected theirs in the air, using her own momentum to carry her stick harmlessly to the side. As her blade was knocked aside, she pulled it back and brought another overhead swing down, this one following the flow of his exposed side again, and as he reacted to protect himself, she twisted the blade to travel underneath his guard. She was met with failure this time around, as his raised sword dropped low and clashed with the stick, knocking it free from her magical grip and sending the small wooden sword clanging away. He didn't hesitate as he stepped forward and brought the blade's edge to her breastplate.

"While this is nice, I can't help but think about how this is supposed to help me when my opponent is right here, within grappling distance." He said as he backed away, allowing her to reset the training.

"We art ensuring thine survival by teaching thee the ways of defense, and no matter where thine opponent is, it matters not. The only concern thou shalt need have is where thine opponent's blade is: as that is the focus of thine training." She coolly responded, using her magic to pull her favored beating stick back to her side. "Thine current training, until after this ordeal with the Crystal Empire, shalt be a formally defensive course with a brief introduction into aggressive tactics for thee to use upon heading north."

She held true to her word for the rest of the day, as she pummeled him for the remainder of their session with intricate attacks. He held off at first, doing moderately decent, until she ramped her combat up, and then she just blew over anything he could hope for. His reaction timing was improving, but the sword he bore was something he knew he would have to get used to swinging. After another hour of beating him down, they took a break to refine his technique through slow movements and honing his form. After that, she resumed kicking his shit in with that little stick of hers, a stick that he very readily began to loathe with a burning passion.

The day was spent in agony for him, for even when they weren't dueling, she was critiquing his every step, then guiding his muscles to where they needed to be. She taught him, and he listened to what she had to say, as the fire burning in his chest to learn something that he could put to use urged him forward. He struggled a lot with some of the finer movements, and after his simple meal eaten in the castle servant dining area, Luna focused the evening specifically on honing those steps and movements.

And as day bled into night, with the maroon sky sprinkled with early stars, worked alone on familiarizing himself with how his sword moved, with the Princesses going to do their royal duty. Unfortunately for him, Luna ended their session short, with an influx of duties she needed to take care of, and she sent him home, assuring that they would work that night in the dreamscape.

He picked up his dusty cloak and sheathed his sword, feeling his legs just about ready to give way with the intense work he had been putting into improving himself. He flew home more exhausted than he had felt in a while, but also feeling prouder than he could remember being for some time. He spent some idle time with those in the community, though they recognized his ragged look and nearly forced him to bed.

So, with an unsuccessful attempt at seeing how the others were fairing during is adventurous day of being beaten by a floating stick, he grumbled and went to his bedroom for a long-awaited night's rest.

He dropped his cloak and belt at the door, barely managing to shut the thing as he stumbled into bed, ready for a somewhat nice night of sleep. And, in what felt like moments, though he was certain was a few hours, he stood in front of Luna in the training yard, sword in hoof while she had her damnable beating stick ready. He sighed when he saw it but settled into his ready stance anyways.

She came at him suddenly, actually deciding to lunge close to him with her sword levitating within her reach. He stepped back before thrusting his sword upwards to deflect the downward strike, following with a quick sidestep while circling the stick away from his sword. It felt strange, having what felt like the actual blade in his hooves, but knowing that this was nothing more than a dream. Luna stomped forward, sending her sword around his guard, nipping him in the chest before backing away and swinging at his unprotected head.

He gasped at the sudden prick of pain but retaliated by sending his sword out to intercept her own, meeting an unfortunate outcome of her sword vanishing in a blur of movement and then blinding pain. The world around him faded for but a moment before he was back and standing at attention, his head throbbing from the blow she goaded him into taking. He growled his frustration before resuming his original stance and waiting for her to make her move.

"We admire thine determination to prove thou art ready for another level of combat training. Unfortunately for thee: our sister hath declared that thine training is to remain strictly as defensive, as she believes a strong defense is preferable."

"And what does my trainer think I need to learn?" He asked, hoping to peek her passion for brutality enough to let him have an offense that can compensate for defense. His ears drooped at her answer.

"We happen to agree with Princess Celestia, as thine combat skills art so pitiful that any unseasoned warrior who hath taken any time upon a fighting occupation would hath no difficulty in besting thee." She smiled at his frown and glare. "But fret not, Gold Blood: we shalt turn thee into a true warrior, priding himself upon using his heritage to bestow greatness and peace upon the land. Glory awaits thee down this path, thou simply hath to take the steps."

"Good, because I was thinking that if I am ever going to cleanse this city of the filth wallowing here, I'm going to need to have some skills to fight them off. Words can only work for so long."

"Indeed, but thou must practice and become something formidable before thine can use force to tame the wild ponies who hath disregarded harmony. Train harder!" She lunged forward with lightning speed that Blaze was not expecting, and he hadn't even had the time to bring his sword up before she was upon him. He did the only thing he could think of, and rolled back, hoping to find some clearing to defend himself.

She didn't like that.

The bout ended very quickly once she had caught him, as his attempts at clearing space only made him dizzy, and incoherent. As he lay there breathing intensely, she took pity upon him and healed his injuries, allowing him to regain his breath before having the training continue. Overall, Blaze felt like the night was a success, for the most part: he got to hone his skills a little bit more, and it seemed like Luna was easing up a bit, in her own way. She still beat the shit out of him, but the way she was doing it; he didn't get the impression that she was doing to simply to watch him suffer.

And the best part? He awoke actually feeling rested, and as he hopped out of bed, the day just seemed to be that much better for him. He hurriedly strapped his sword over his back, but as he looked at his crumpled cloak, he decided to remove the belt. Donning the white cloak, stitched with red accents along the hems, he replaced his belt and ruffed his wings a bit.

He ate a quick breakfast before taking to the early morning skies, watching the filling streets below for anything of interest. Aside from the random hooded ponies that seemed to be taking the shadowed alleys for whatever reason, he didn't see anything of interest. He did a couple of laps around the city, just getting the blood flowing a bit better, and he was amazed at just how potent some of Luna's healing must have been: because he felt great!

Soaring higher than he normally did, he took a moment to scan the forest, wondering just what was going to happen as he left these woods. These trees had always been the border of his life, as not even the wall had truly stopped him from doing some exploring. He decided that it was something to think about when the time came, and he was finally free of this enclosed lifestyle. He also decided that getting a journal for the trip, just so he could better describe what he saw to the guys back home, he liked the idea a lot.

For a short while, he just lazily flew through the air, not really interested in anything in particular, and just enjoying the morning sun. The cloak would probably become a bit burdensome at some point, but he figured that it wouldn't be too terrible of an annoyance until he started to train.

His laps around the city ended in a flare of movement for Blaze, as he did several loops and barrel rolls, enjoying the day and trying to familiarize the weight on his back. The sword did mess with his movement a bit, and it threw off his flight patterns enough that it buzzed in the back of his head all the time. He felt like the longer he was in the air, the more it would annoy him, so he glided gently down to the ground, allowing gravity to softly pull him with his enlarged wings down to the streets below.

When he landed, he heard the wails of mourning coming from a nearby building, and while he was tempted to see what was wrong, he figured that it really wasn't something that he was going to be able to assist with. As he trotted along, though, he noticed that several guards had sectioned off a side street, one that he wasn't terribly familiar with. His curiosity got the better of him, and he walked up to the guard line, where he was stopped by two stallions clad in both gold and black armor.

The presence of day and night guards intrigued him greatly, and he questioned the two about what had happened.

"Reapers, if what the pony who got away is telling the truth." Blaze had to do his best to suppress a shudder at the response, the memories of his own encounter jumping straight to the front of his mind.

"What do you have to tell that it was a Reaper?"

"Absolutely nothing. I'm sure you've heard enough to know what the trail of a Reaper is: they make their victims scream in agony while taking them outside the city, probably inside the Everfree or something." The day guard answered.

"Strange. I heard rumors there were Reapers hiding underneath the Thieves Guild or something. Supposedly having taken from them in the past, and that the Reapers live under the city or something." Blaze responded, doing his best to look down the alley, though the investigators were all crowded around something of interest. "Something about there being shit under the city, like a nest or a den or something that the Reapers all live in. I can't confirm, but I know that there is some crazy shit that has been happening for a long time."

"Yeah, whether or not the rumors are true doesn't really matter, it might explain a thing or two, but it just doesn't matter." The night guard responded sullenly. "Point is: Reapers are able to sneak into the city completely undetected, grab a poor pony, and take them screaming back to their homes for whatever reason, probably to be eaten."

"If the Reaper took the pony, then why are their investigators?" Blaze asked as he tried to look between them.

"We're not at liberty to say." The two guards said at the same time, making Blaze furrow his brow in frustration, but he said no more as he backed off them, his day suddenly not so happy. He tried to take his mind off the occurrence by walking to the market, hoping to try to see something of interest, but the memories haunting his thoughts just wouldn't budge.

He took it easy and just went straight to the castle, hoping that he would think of something else before it got too bad. He entered the castle with little harassment from the stationed guards, but instead of heading straight to the throne room, he asked the servant passing next to him if he was allowed to roam the grounds, just to see what was available.

Said servant, a small, buttery colored pegasus maid, nervously looked at him, her eyes dating from his face, to his wings, then finally resting on his sword. Her eyes visibly widened, an act Blaze wasn't sure should have been physically possible, before she hid behind her pink mane and nodded rapidly. He shrugged her strange behavior and turned to walk through a side door, hoping to get to the kitchens and cause some mischief.

On the way there, he happened to run into a group of guards, none really happy to see a pony just wandering the halls, and walked up to him. "Morning, guys."

They silently surrounded him, making him feel a little uncomfortable, but he was sure that they would recognize him, and that they would leave him in peace. His dreams were for naught, however, as they all looked between each other, sharing a knowing glance before they tightened the circle around him, the one in his face getting uncomfortably close. He could smell the breakfast this guy had: it wasn't a healthy one.

The guard engaged him in a staring contest, and Blaze was worried that this could turn bad, so he shifted onto his left side, hoping to free up his right hoof to grab his sword in case of emergency. Then the strangest thing happened: all the guards broke down in unison, and started busting their guts laughing, the one in front of him laughing so hard that he had to lean on Blaze to prevent himself from falling over.

"We. . .we were there when. . . ha ha! When Princess Luna kicked your ass! Whoo!" The guard managed to huff out in between bursts of laughter, and while Blaze had a difficult time understanding it, he got enough that he frowned hard. "Oh, wow! I don't think we've ever had the chance to see a Princess just go that. . . ha ha! That apeshit on somepony!"

'Great, now the entire guard is going to make me into the laughing stock, and I doubt I'll ever live this down.' He thought dryly, letting the guard leaning on him fall onto his flank, and then he decided to leave the laughing messes to their charades, his mind set on leaving with as much dignity in tack as possible. His path just so happened to take him down a series of corridors until he felt like he was in a familiar place, the armory hallway.

He walked into the storage room, his eyes lighting up with a colt's glee as he stared at the hundreds of weapons racked around the large room. He stood at the doorway for what felt like ages, just staring at the sheer number of varieties of weapons that ponies could use. He trotted up to the mace areas, looking at the weapons that Luna had confessed to being her personal favorite. His curiosity got the better of him, and he took one off the rack, inspecting the large spiked ball resting atop a sturdy stick of reinforced wood, wrapped in iron. To him, it was a rather heavy weapon, no doubt excellent at breaking bones, shattering armor, and denting shields. He wondered what appeal this weapon could have for a Princess, though that question brought up why an Equestrian Princess would have a favorite weapon at all. He shrugged his own curiosity away, heavily resting the Morningstar back on the rack with the others.

Trotting around the room, he saw a multitude of bladed weapons, from simple swords and axes, to spears and daggers. He saw maces and flails, rows upon rows of bows, and then he saw the stranger weapons: curved swords the likes of which he could only dream of, and in styles so foreign they had to be the weapons of other races. He saw hooked blades, hammers of all types, and he saw a device that looked like a fork, only the handle appeared to be this grip thing that a hoof stuck between two rods.

His fascination fed him forever as he walked around the room, inspecting each style of sword, even swinging a couple around as he tested the feel of them. He settled with the bastard sword he now bore, as it had started to grow on him: he really liked the idea of having a bit of extra swinging room, and the weight meant that he could swing for harder. He was also aware that once he fully learned his abilities and what this body could do with weapons, that a larger sword would do the same for him as a normal one would do for somepony else.

After a long time of admiring the various weapons and types of armor provided, the traffic in the halls outside started to increase. He was just getting ready to leave and check the time when a pair of voiced outside caught his attention.

"Little sister, I understand you may be confident about this sort of thing; after all, you have trained them ever since we took power, but I just don't want to take the risk of losing another Gold Blood to ridiculous reasons." Celestia said in a worried tone as her and Luna passed by the armory door, making Blaze lean against it to hear the reply.

"Dearest sister, thou hath nothing to worry about. We art training him at an excellent rate, as our mastery over the realms of slumber, thou knoweth them as the dreamscape, hath allowed an accelerated rate of learning. We hath been able to condense a significant twelve hours of focused training down into a single night, and then we art training him throughout the day as well. Thou may rest easy knowing that thine Gold Blood is in capable hooves, sister." Luna replied evenly, though she had to shortly in to yawn rather loudly. "We shalt continue to train him as usual, though we art worried about a single issue: he may know exactly how to react, but his body will not. Thou never truly engaged in combat, so thine knowledge may be limited, but knowing to react is not the equivalent of reacting. Blaze Burn hath the knowledge, but he must still earn muscle memory, else he shalt think his fights through, and then he will be dead."

"That does nothing to calm my fears, Luna. Do not make me regret this." Blaze decided that he had better catch up with them before they got too far so he could try to understand what the plan was for the day. He opened the armory door, the squeaking it made caught the attention of both Princesses, who turned to see who was entering the halls.

When they saw who it was, Luna made a tired face of recognition, while Celestia seemed to light up, until she suddenly deflated before him. The change was not lost on him, but that was an issue he was doing his best to avoid: it was bad enough he had to talk to Asta about that encounter they had. If he had to also try to talk with Celestia, well, he knew that there were things that would be far less painful.

"Blaze Burn, 'tis wonderful to see thee on this high morning. If thou would kindly be patient, we shalt eat a meal to break this early morning fast and then we shalt resume thine training. Thou art welcome to join, if thou art willing to stand by; if not, then thou feels free to await our arrival outside. We suggest thee limbers up, for today shalt not be forgiving." Luna said wearily while raising a hoof to her mouth to stifle yet another yawn.

"Are you sure you are in a condition to train today, Princess? You seem a little more tired than usual." He commented as he settled next to the door, drawing his blade to inspect when they left.

Luna smirked at his concern, looking alive enough to carry onwards. "If thou thought that compassion shalt abstain thee from training today, then we must ensure a proper punishment. Hmm, we shalt think upon a harsh sentence over our food."

"I wasn't trying to get out of work!" He added hastily, standing at full attention as his panic started up: Luna was harsh enough as it was, he did not need more punishment. Though his reaction did get a chuckle out of her, and as his heart settled again, he realized she was playing with him, and his worry turned into annoyance. "Be that way. I'll be waiting in the yard for whenever you get done stuffing your face."

She chuckled at his response again, but allowed him to leave uninterrupted, her stomach favoring harshly the prospect of food being provided to her. The three parted, with the Sisters walking to their personal dining area as Blaze trotted outside, sheathing his sword and rolling his shoulders along the way.

He barely got the door open when he felt the heat from the intensifying sun, then he decided that leaving him cloak here would probably be better for him. He stripped his only clothing and brought the sword belt out by hoof. Once he was finally clear of the slightly stuffy room, he absent-mindedly took a deep breath of fresh, summer air. Before he let his mind drift to the incident this morning, he placed his sword on the ground and did some basic stretching, getting the blood flowing a little better.

When Luna did emerge from the castle, he noticed immediately that her beating stick had been replaced with a proper sword. He sighed inwardly really hating some parts of his life, and the fact that she had upgraded her abuse toy from wood to metal only made him hate them more.

Gritting his teeth for a rough day, he drew his sword and tossed the belt to the side of the castle armory. He settled into his ready stance, one that he had done at least a hundred times already. Luna twirled her sword within her grip, rolling her neck as she, too, settled into a ready stance, and the motion caught him off guard. Within a flash, she launched herself forward, attacking at Blaze's legs with a ferocity that caused him to yelp and rear to avoid her swing.

As she counter-swung with a side swipe, he brought his wits together and got a stronger grip on his sword, using the flat of the blade to deflect the incoming blow up and over him.

The bout continued longer than any that Blaze had ever had before, and as his hopes rose from a potential delay, her sword flashed right, then went left under his guard and stopped at his throat. She was grinning like mad as she pulled back, leaving him stunned at the sudden surge of speed she demonstrated. "Again."

Blaze shuddered at the idea of being utterly destroyed by her ability, bur he complied and stepped back to resume his posture. He was in for a long day.

After a longer time getting his used to the weight of another real sword slamming against his, Luna returned to train his form. She had him practice everything she had taught him, making sur that his body could react as fast as possible to the motions of the sword he wielded. She had him honing his skills a bit more, even offering to walk him through the motions slowly, adjusting his stance wherever he was lacking proficient posture. They stopped several hours later, with him not being completely covered in sweat this time around, and they both ate in the silence of the yard, watching several weather ponies flying about managing stray clouds. After the brief meal, she resumed beating the shit out of him, offering short tips about how to better block and deflect her blows. Once she was pleased that he had learned from the day's mistake, and starting to work on tomorrow's, she halted the beating and healed him. Then came ever more form. To Blaze, it was a relaxing time to work on reacting to various poses and master the fastest ways to defend himself.

The day was long, and the work was hard, but by the end of that day, Blaze felt like he had actually gotten somewhere with his blade. He was proud of the feel the grip had in his hoof, and the flight home that night, he felt a buzzing in his right foreleg, as if he could almost feel the weight of the blade in his empty hoof.

The next day went very similarly to the last, with Blaze waking early and taking a morning flight around the city for some light exercise. He followed up by studying the weapons in the armory for about an hour or so before training the day away with Luna. She was following a routine that Blaze found easy to understand, and with that understanding came the ability to focus even more on what he was learning.

A short break for food, and then they were back at it, her beating him down with her new toy. He found out some time into the week that the sword she was using was apparently the very one she had trained to battle with when she was a filly. That little snippet of information made great talk for him and Scale whenever he was resting at home, and the two speculated on what life would have been like when the Sisters were growing up.

Before Blaze knew it, though, the training sessions seemed to be flying by at a faster pace, and he wasn't even struggling as badly as he had thought. Halfway through the month training, his sessions with the Princess of the Night were actually turning into legitimate bouts, with him finally being able to fend her off for the most part. Never for long periods of time, but he was starting to get used to the different methods of defending, and with this familiarization, he was able to protect his precious limbs from the brutal knocking around Luna was prone to dealing him.

He was actually looking forward to these smaller bouts, which were steadily becoming larger and larger. After the guards had seen his beginning failures, they laughed whenever they passed by, but every now and then, they would stand at the edge of the areas, silently watching as himself and the Princess dueled.

Then came the fateful day. He had just arrived at the castle, and was stretching in the training yard when a commotion rose from around the corner. Normally, he would just ignore them, as the distractions had proven to be painful in the past, but he had to stare stupidly at the various guards who were trotting towards the area. He did his best to block it out, especially with Luna coming out from the armory, her training sword hovering just beside her. She was cleaning the blue and silver blade as she trotted out, an oiling cloth running down the length of the blade.

She cast a single idle glance towards the scurrying guards before she poofed the rag away, leaving a brilliantly shining sword levitating in her royal blue aura by the handle. They both settled into their stances, eying each other while he waited for her to make her move, her eyes scanning his posture for any openings to take advantage of. Her tail swished to the side, a movement Blaze was certain she didn't do on purpose but told him she was lunging, and as she leaped forward, he tightened his muscles. Her sword went up, going for a simple overhead strike, and as Blaze sidestepped, his sword-leg rising to meet the challenge, her blade shifted to a diagonal cut across his sternum. He followed by stepping back and bringing his sword down.

There was a loud clang as their swords met, but just as quickly as the sound rang out, they had separated enough to swing properly, her sword twirling as she worked around his guard, trying to find that sweet spot where he was defenseless. He lured her in, allowing her to sneak a bit to his left, where he would have a harder time reaching, and as her eyes glinted in joy, he stiffened to lull her into a strike.

She took the bait, feigning a low swing to his right then twisting the blade up and over to his left shoulder. He paused a moment to let her commit, while slowly crouching down, then as she passed the stopping point, he shot his hoof out, hitting her blade with his own and leaping into the skies. He used the momentary stunning moment to twist in the air and swing his blade at her standing form, only as he zoned in for her, it seemed that she had disappeared.

He brought his sword in close as he finished his flip and landed lightly while he whipped his head around to find her. It was only when he heard the ever faint sound of a blade cutting through the air that he found her, but by then it was too late. He stiffened as her blade suddenly appeared right up at his throat, her hastened breathing coming from behind him.

"Thou shalt not perform any acts thou art not certain shalt defeat thine opponent, and thou shalt not underestimate said opponents. Art we understood?"

"Yes, Princess." He said as she let him go with a gentle shove forward while she drew her sword back. "Damn, I thought that that would have worked! You were falling right where I wanted you!"

"Thine actions were so poorly performed that we hath known thine intentions as soon as thou attempted to trick us into a particular strike. 'Tis important to predict what thine opponent is attempting, but if thee foolishly brings an opponent to thine weaknesses, expect no hesitation from them. Thou art learning to protect thine's self, but thou still hath much to learn in regard to aggressive combat." She opened her mouth to continue lecturing him, but before she could voice another word, a guard came running up to them from around front.

"Princess Luna!" The guy called as he galloped into the training area, gasping for breath as he slid to a stop. "Princess Celestia requests both yours and sir Blaze Burn's immediate attendance at the throne room!"

Luna and Blaze shared a look of confusion before Luna sighed and nodded. "Very well, inform our sister that we shalt arrive there posthaste."

The guard did a quick bow before galloping off again, leaving the two staring at the corner for a little bit. After a moment, Luna simply sighed, teleporting her sword away while she straightened her royal attire. "This is most unfortunate, but we believe that the Princess shalt not call upon us were it a simple matter: she is a capable mare of many pony-related talents. Come along, Blaze Burn, for we think this a matter of high importance."

Blaze shared the belief, though he was worried about what would be so important that she needed both him and Luna there for. He shrugged and sheathed his sword, trotting beside the younger Alicorn as they made their way through the armory and down the halls, heading for the throne room.

When they arrived, Blaze allowed Luna to enter first, and as the doors opened, he looked at the curious sight standing at the base of the dais: two earth ponies clad in gemstone armor, and both were sparkling brilliantly. To him, it looked like they were made out of gems, and he had to blink to clear his vision. And to his surprise, yet again; the ponies were still sparkling. He stared at them uneasily as he made his way through the doors and into the most important room in the entire castle, down the royal red carpet.

The guards turned as he and Luna made their way, but made no other move or sound as the two approached.

Luna sat upon her throne, though she had a very intrigued look on her face while Celestia merely appeared worried. "What is the matter, dearest sister?"

"Our apologies, Princesses. After your reply that Equestria would send assistance to the Crystal Empire, Princess Amore was overjoyed, but then some number of weeks passed, and we heard not a word from you. It should be understandable that Princess Amore was slightly worried, and she sent us her to confirm that you were still going to remain true to your word and send help." One of the guards replied a little nervously, though the answer caused Luna to sit back in her seat a little.

"Oh."

"We would be most pleased to return to our Princess with pleasant news regarding the Equestrian aid we so desperately need." The Princesses shared a momentary look before Luna nodded, only making Celestia appear even more bothered.

"We suppose it has been some time. We merely wish that we had more." She sighed, slightly slumping in her seat in a way that Blaze could only see as defeated. Her eyes lit up for a moment, and he saw a small fire of hope burning in them as she laid those pink orbs upon himself. "Blaze Burn, please approach."

He did so hesitantly, his mind considering the fact that he had already been getting the shit beat out of him for a month now. A month that was now over, so he was to be sent north to solve a problem another country was having. He gave a short bow at the throne, simply to appear respectful, before he cocked his head curiously at the Princess of the Day. She straightened herself and sat as regally as one would expect the high and mighty Princesses of Equestria to hold themselves. "After one month of training personally under the guidance of my younger sister, we art asking thee to accompany a group of our personal guards to the Crystal Empire. When thou arrives there, thou art to follow any and all orders given to thee by Princess Amore. Thou hath fifteen minutes to prepare."

Blaze nodded stiffly at the change in tone, but he knew that she was putting on a brave face, so he obliged by bowing quickly and turning to leave the building. Knowing that he only had a short amount of time to get everything done, he quickly took to the skies, flying straight home.

"Alright, everypony!" He called from the doorway, getting the attention of the ponies inside, who turned to the sudden burst of noise. "Good news and bad news. Which first?"

A unanimous vote for good made him smile. "Finally getting a bit of a break from the brutal training Luna has been putting me through, which kind of leads to the bad news: I've got to heat up north to the Crystal Empire, or something like that, to help diffuse a situation there. I don't know how long I'll be up there, maybe a day or two, and I've got to head out really soon, so I just thought it would be nice if I let you all know."

That was the kind of response that made the entire home stare blankly at him, blinking like he was speaking another language. When they didn't immediately do anything, he opened his mouth to repeat himself, when Scale stepped into view. "Finally heading out to see the world, huh? Well, gotta say that I'm surprised, and it's definitely going to suck not having you around for a day or two, but I think we can survive it just fine."

She trotted up to him, giving him a caring hug before stepping back and patting him on the shoulder. "Good luck with whatever it was that the Princesses wanted you to deal with, though I don't suppose you could tell us what it was?"

"I wish I could, but all I know is that the emergency was bad enough that Princess Amore sent a request for aid from Equestria. So Celestia and Luna want me to go up there, for whatever reason, and solve it."

"Like I said; good luck. I hope you don't need it." As she stepped back, each pony came forward to offer their own well wishes, and the heartwarming partings left Blaze feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. He left the building with a massive smile of his face, and while he was saddened that he couldn't really say goodbye to Asta, he knew that when he got back, they'd be able to put their differences behind them. It was long overdue for their chat, and a part of him was regretting delaying it, but that regret vanished as he thought about the task he was now facing.

Getting back to the castle, he was greeted by a squadron of eight royal guards, a couple he could recognize the faces of, though what surprised him was the sight of Scarlet Cloud in the mix. He walked down the road leading to the castle and approached the red pegasus. "Captain."

"Blaze Burn. Heard you were coming with us." Scarlet Cloud replied evenly, but after a moment he cracked a smirk. "But if I'm going to honest here, I believe it's more of we are going to foal-sit your green ass during whatever issues Princess Amore is facing up there."

"Wouldn't put it passed either Princess to do that." Blaze chuckled, the other guards relaxing with the friendly conversation. "I just wish we knew exactly what was going on up there, that way it would be so much easier to prepare for it."

"Yeah. Only thing we've been able to hear is that it's something big, and been doing a bit of damage to the Crystal Empire-" He was interrupted by the castle doors being swung open, and the entire group turned to see who was exiting the main entrance. They were all surprised by the presence of Princess Celestia herself, but they recovered and did the respectable bowing thing when she walked over to them. She eyed each guard, who had outfitted themselves in travelling cloaks covering their guard armor, the mix of gold and blue steel flashing every so often from underneath the worn garments.

When she turned to Blaze, her gaze went from a hint of pride to overwhelming worry as she delicately stepped towards him. He wasn't really sure how he was supposed to react, so he just stood there and lowered his head as she neared. Due to his voluntary blindness, the sudden hug she wrapped him in startled him and made him jump. He felt a shudder actually run through her, but he sucked it up and waited for the moment to be over.

He was slightly worried as she continued to latch to him, squeezing tighter with each breath that she took, until she held him so tight that he could feel her shivering around him. He nervously patted her on a leg, hoping that he could put some brain function back into her and get her to resume whatever she had to do. Glancing at the others, he saw that they were equally unsure about what to do, and the lack of assistance made him a little upset. "Please come back. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you so soon."

The words barely came out as a whisper, and with the shivering grasp she had on him, so he had to take a moment to process what she had said. As soon as he understood her, he felt a little better about it, and he managed to work a hoof under her legs and somehow pried himself free.

"Princess: I believe we are all aware that this quest is nothing to be worried about, and we all know that we will return just fine." He offered a weak smile, stepping back so she could have some room to breathe. "Besides, it's not like Princess Luna hasn't been giving me lessons on how to defend myself. I know we'll be just fine."

"I certainly hope so. It's been so long since a Gold Blood has arrived to serve, that I really don't want this to turn out badly, and after so much work we've put in to keeping you here. I just. . . I don't want to lose you." She sniffled out, barely keeping herself together enough to talk, though the tears of fear were already leaking. Blaze didn't want to hurt her, but he thought that it was clear that they didn't really have any connection that called for this kind of a response. He was tempted to state that, but something in his gut told him that doing so was an absolutely moronic idea that was best avoided. "I don't want to have had my sister hurt you just to lose you to something I couldn't control."

"Princess, we'll be fine, trust me." He assured her, putting a calming hoof on her leg, which worked so much better than he was thinking it would; as she stopped her sniffling almost immediately, and a happy little smile spread over her muzzle.

"I do, Blaze. I do." She whispered as she leaned down and nuzzled the top of his head, leaving the entire group rather uncomfortable, though she seemed completely oblivious to it. "Just come back to me. Please come back to me."

Feeling more than plenty weirded out, Blaze hastily nodded before backing away and allowing Celestia to return her attention to the other guards. However, as soon as she realized that they had witnessed the affectionate display, her white face turned beet red, and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. "As it is, these guards have happened to obtain a gracious ride for you all to take to the Crystal Empire. I wish you all the best of luck dealing with this issue and may you all return swiftly."

She spoke the words at an astounding rate before bolting back inside the castle, which only put Blaze in a worse predicament with the remaining guards, who were either talking between themselves about what just happened or staring dumbfoundedly at him. He smacked his lips, then sealed them shut as he turned to the two Crystal Empire guards. "How are we getting there exactly?"

The two took a moment to come up with an answer, their minds still processing the awkwardfest that had just occurred. "Um. . . we hitched a ride on a wagon train of merchants crossing for the eastern cities, where business tends to be busy, and hired a trader to take us here then bring us back. We're going to go outside, and then get up and moving."

"Excellent. Everypony ready?!" Scarlet Cloud called to the assembled guards, snapping them out of their conversations as they all checked that they had their belongings with them, each of them nodding. He turned to Blaze, who patted his belt, feeling the small pouch of bits jingle inside his coat. He rolled his shoulders, confirming that he still had his sword on, and the stifling heat under his cloak told him that it was on. Nodding to the captain, Blaze felt comfortable with everything he had, though he might need to make a quick detour to one of the shops just to grab some granola bars.

"I'll need to get some food for the trip, because the Crystal Empire is a ways away, if my maps were correct." He said as the group began to trot out of the castle bailey.

"Don't worry about it, the Princess asked us to pack some extra rations, you can save your bits. Besides, we are on a time schedule and stops are probably not going to be a big luxury, and even if they were, we need to head out as soon as possible." Scarlet Cloud responded, waving off the suggestion as they passed under the massive gate. The group traveled to the north of the city, sticking to the main thoroughfare passing straight through the city.

In Blaze's opinion, the group seemed to be one of those extremely intimidating gangs one might come across, total badasses decked in cloaks and armor, walking with weapons displayed proudly. The crystal ponies unfortunately outshined the Equestria guards, if only because they literally bucking shone!

Blaze was a little upset that these guys were so badass looking, they completely stole the show, though it didn't really ruin the image, because a bunch of heavily armed and armored guards trotting down the city will look intimidating, no matter who constituted the guards themselves.

After crossing the city, the company found themselves exiting the large walls to reveal an empty expanse of dark, brooding trees separated only by a single path cutting through the woodworks. Blaze took a moment to appreciate how the Everfree forest looked from the ground, as it was so much more impressive when viewing from this puny location. It had the power to humble ponies. He had to finally tear his gaze away from the trees to look at where the others were heading, which was a small camp just beside the main path leading out. The camp was populated by a small family of ponies sitting around a very large wagon, which had been emptied at some point.

"I see you've returned, with company no less." A stallion from the family said, trotting forward to meet the group.

"We're heading home to take care of the issue." One of the crystal ponies replied, leading the stallion back to the wagon. "The sooner we get home, the better. So, let's just save the chatter for the open road, and get going home!"

The family reacted to that pretty positively, and the entire group, merchants and guards, began to make their way down the stretch of gloomy trails through the dark forest. Blaze watched as the few stallions in the family hauled the wagon, while the mares and foals sat in the back. As they left the city behind, Scarlet Cloud flipped a switch and started giving out orders and tasks for the guards to do while travelling. He sent two of the night guards to the wagon to get some sleep, while the other two went to help pull the wagon. The remaining guards were put to various tasks, while he and Blaze settled into the skies to scout for any dangers ahead.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Sorry about any delay, but this chapter was fucking Huge! Had to work out how to manage everything!_


	19. 19 Ice Blazer VI: Amorous Conflagration

Chapter 19: Ice Blazer VI: Amorous Conflagration

In the hour or so it took for the wagon to get out of the forest, they met only a single potential threat, which happened to be a pack of Timberwolves running through the woods. When Blaze and Scarlet had heard the howls, they had dived down and warned the others of what would happen. The pack had started to come out of the woods, but when the wooden wolves had seen just how many ponies were gathered around the wagon, they were content to snarl at the evasive prey too protected to hunt. Blaze was glad that they had avoided the fight, because he had seen a few ponies who had lucky encounters with the beasts, and they were lucky to have gotten away with their lives.

As soon as they breached the clean tree line, they all relaxed, as most of the troubles were over, though Scarlet Cloud joked with a few of the other guards about being disappointed that there weren't any bandits to beat up.

Blaze didn't really share the sentiment: he was focused on just getting this over with, and getting back home as soon as possible. He did relish being able to see what things were like outside the city, outside the forest, where ponies could live different lives. He saw the large, gentle hills rolling away from a large central mountain off in the distance, and his eyes opened with wonder, being able to see open skies touching the ground, with no end to the hills. The company pushed forward, getting as much distance as possible between them and the forest as possible.

Cycling a few sleep schedules over the remaining day, Blaze's hope for interesting adventure was destroyed when night fell upon the travelers. They pulled the wagon off to the side of the road, near a creak that flowed through a small tree patch in the hills below the massive mountains stretching to the north. A campfire was lit, and the night guards took posts around the camp as the ponies drifted into sleep in various places. The family took the wagon, while the guards basically slept wherever was comfortable, Blaze ending up underneath the wagon, using his cloak as a pillow.

Blaze was utterly amazed at the various sights as they passed further and further north, passing a mountain range that Scarlet Cloud informed him was the Foal Mountain Range. They trekked until the ground began to rise gently, and the weather grew colder and colder.

The snow began after the second day, and while Blaze was no stranger to the wintery gift, the sight of so much of it astounded him. They were marching through feet of the stuff! He was nearly giddy with the new experiences trailing them as they travelled further and further into the snowy reaches. Nearing halfway through the second day, however, their solo journey was interrupted by a band of wagons catching them in the wintery wonderland. Five more wagons, with four bearing traders, while the last was a carriage, carrying a small group of ponies heading to the Crystal Empire.

Scarlet Cloud took Blaze and the head of the family taking them to meet with the oncoming caravan. The group seemed friendly enough as they chatted, though the riders of the carriage seemed awfully uninterested in talking. Blaze caught a brief glimpse of one as they peeked out the window, but the face disappeared so fast that he couldn't be sure who it was.

The now enlarged wagon train continued forward through the remaining second day, circling up for the night, with the wagons all hitched together in a protective circle around the camp. That night, as the day guards, Blaze included, began to wind down for a good night's rest, along with a majority of the other members of the caravan, the night guards took their positions. Blaze gratefully accepted the blanket he was offered, wrapping it around himself to battle the chilling snowy nights. As he settled against the wheel of his wagon to brave the windy night, a hooded stallion approached him, presumably from the carriage as he didn't recognize this figure at all. He watched the approaching guy carefully, keeping track of his movements and confirming that he was heading straight for him.

He sat straight up when the guy stopped at the bottom of his blanket, staring at him with cold eyes shining underneath the hood. "Blaze Burn?"

Saying his name only brought forth more distrust, and Blaze only furrowed his brow as he stared silently at the guy. After a mental standoff, he relented to the guy and nodded. "Mind following me? We had a couple of things we wanted to talk to you about."

Without waiting for a response, this hooded guy just turned around and started slowly walking towards the other side of the camp. Blaze turned to Scarlet Cloud, but the captain was already burrowing into his own blanket for the night, so Blaze sighed inwardly and cautiously rose to his hooves. Feeling the temperature rapidly decreasing as the last shreds of sunlight faded into the bliss of night, he tightened his grip on his blanket and stepped lightly over to where this guy had gone, his hoofsteps matting the trampled snow even further.

The stallion drew back his hood as Blaze approached, revealing a stone-grey face and golden eyes hiding underneath a pitch black mane. He motioned with his head for Blaze to enter the back of the wagon, though Blaze made a point to shrug his shoulders and let his covering slide back enough to reveal the handle to his blade. He eyed the guy for a reaction, but when he seemed unimpressed by the display, merely glanced at the gently swaying flaps leading inside.

The inside was lit dimly by a single candle, flickering precariously as he swung the flap open, but what he saw made him hesitate at the entrance. He blinked a couple of times as the mare sitting inside turned to face him. "Rainbow Crescent?"

"Ah, there you are, kid!" She said happily, patting the seat in front of her, beckoning him inside the wagon, her other hoof holding onto a can of food. "Come on in! I just couldn't imagine that I would actually see you all the way up here, but when I saw them huge ass wings of yours, I just knew this was to be!"

Blaze cautiously stepped inside, taking a seat while the guy behind him sat next to Rainbow Crescent, pulling out a dagger from his belt and picking at his teeth with it. He stared at the two of them for a moment, before he decided on a course of action. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? I've got a busy day tomorrow, so I don't really have all night to talk."

"Oh, don't be like that." She replied, waving his statement off with her hoof. "There are still another two whole days before we get to the Crystal Empire, you won't miss a couple of hours chatting. But, to answer your question; I was hoping that you might be interested in a proposal of mine. Well, not really mine, but my organization has been interested in you for some time, and this happens to be the perfect time to ask you."

"Hold on. Just give me a second." Blaze said, frowning as he brought a hoof to his temple. "Let me get this straight: you wanted to ask me to help you and your little group of murderers for hire, and you hopped on a bucking wagon just to catch me all the way out here? Why would you even be interested in me anyway? I don't know if you are aware, but I'm kind of, maybe, a guard at this point. Either way, I've aligned with the Princesses, though my loyalty lies with my family: what could you possibly hope to achieve?"

"Blaze, Blaze, Blaze." She sighed, shaking her head as she popped a mouthful of her can of beans, munching loudly as she sat back, a smirk springing to her face. "We may be a bunch of murderers, but killing isn't the only thing we do, and the death is by far the least of our motivations for doing what we do. And no: we did not come on a wagon just to talk to you. Believe it or not, but the world does not revolve around you. We came here to figure out whether the rumors were true, and hopefully ease some of the tension before things get out of hoof. Same as you, I would assume: Princess Celestia seemed rather fond of you, so I couldn't imagine she would just send her most prized possession on a whim."

He frowned even more deeply at her.

"The fact that we met here is purely coincidental. And as for loyalty, I think that we can agree we are mostly on the same side here; you want to protect those you care about, and helping the capital just so happens to a benefit. We are working to remove destructive members of society, those that hope to control power, and dominate their fellow equines." She explained with a smile of satisfaction at his doubtful reaction.

"And why should I believe any word you say, _assassin_?" He sneered.

"Would you believe me if I told you that the time we first met, I was actually sent to kill Al Capony?" He leaned back a little, but his doubt returned full force.

"If so, then why didn't you?"

"Simple: I never really had a chance, but when I got one, a sibling of mine arrived to inform me that we had to keep him alive a bit longer. You see Blaze; Al is a member of a crazy group of fanatics that hope to use whatever chaos they can accumulate to gain power and wealth. They want to use whatever residue Discord has left in the world to profit from the chaos that comes with it. I was going to kill him, and eliminate that source of chaos, but then we found out that he could be a valuable source of information about his collaborators." She explained, nodding to the grey stallion beside them. "Slate here was one of the few that was able to piece him to the others, and we've been working ever since then to find them. The problem is, as we've found, that they have frequent private meetings: but we don't know where or when. If Al can lead us to them, then we can put an end to a chunk of the chaotic fanatics running around: hence why we are heading north."

"You think this has something to do with worshippers of Discord?" Blaze asked dubiously, sitting back as he settled in his seat, now more intrigued by the opportunity of ending a menace to the city.

"Possibly, but the things we've heard are hard to decipher: the undead tend to be that way."

"Undead?"

"Oh, you don't know? Apparently, Princess Amore lost like twenty soldiers to this necromancer hiding in the blizzards around the city. She's been trying to preserve her guard numbers simply to keep the beast from turning them on her, or so we've heard." She sighed, taking another mouthful of the beans.

"Why haven't I heard anything like this?"

"Can't say. But, I guess we'll probably find out in a couple of days. The question still stands, though: would you be interested in helping us to take out these fanatics before they ruin civilization as we know it? I know that we've had our differences in the past, but we really do have the same intentions at the core: you want to protect your friends and family, we want to protect everypony. As it happens, those can both be achieved by eliminating ponies like Al Capony, and whoever the buck has been doing this unnatural shit with the Crystal Ponies." She asked, swapping her can to the other hoof so she could offer the now-empty one to him. He stared at the extended limb for a moment before he looked back up at her sparkling magenta eyes.

"Say I believed you: when would we be able to strike at Al? I want him to pay for everything he's done to me, to my family, and to this city as a whole." He glared at her, though it was clear his anger was directed towards the master thief and murderer, but she simply grinned at his dark expression.

"As soon as we find out when and where the next meeting is supposed to be."

"Then I suppose I could find some time to work it into my schedule." He grinned, taking her hoof and offering a firm shake.

"Excellent! Now, there is one matter than we might want to go over, if you are to become an assassin, and I think you would want to think this over before you actually accept to become one. There are just a few rules to go over, you know: we aren't just mindless murderers like you want to think we are."

"Assassins with a code? That is so, I don't even know what the word is for that, but wow." Blaze was genuinely surprised by the offered information, as he figured as much, but the fact that there were set rules for murderers seemed a little strange.

"Funny. Like the mare said: we aren't blind fools killing whoever we are paid to." Slate stated dryly, huffing and turning to leave the wagon.

"Don't mind him: he's just a big cranky pants. But yeah: we have rules, guidelines to keep the family together, and to help us understand how to best protect the innocent. Remember, Blaze, we want the same thing as you: the protection and safety of everypony. We just do the protecting a little differently than most others.

"Now, the first thing you have to understand is that we work in the dark for a reason: to keep the public out of the trouble. We work in the dark, to serve the light. Don't just run around killing targets or barricades to your target with abandon: the populace doesn't tend to react to death the same way we do."

"Sounds legitimate."

"I don't know whether or not I need to say this one, but here goes: never stain your blade with the blood of an innocent." Blaze reeled back a bit at that one, unsure of why that rule ever needed to be enforced, and who in their right mind would want to hurt an innocent pony. Rainbow Crescent sighed when she saw his reaction. "I know, makes me sad that that rule was made at all, but apparently ponies in the past had a bad judge of character, even with things like this. That said, I doubt you will ever have trouble with this one, but if you do. . ."

She paused and leaned forward menacingly. ". . . then we're going to have all sorts of trouble. But I don't see that happening, so let's move on to the next rule we have: stick to the shadows and remain unseen until you have to strike. Giving you opponent the opportunity to prepare for your attack raises the chance of failure, and failure is unacceptable."

"Again, nothing really unreasonable, but whenever we get to Al, I know you want to stick to your 'code' or whatever, but that stallion deserves to be punished! He's been the source of a lot of trouble for everypony, and if what you say has been happening, then he is a threat to the world. We need to stop him, and he needs to be punished for what he's done!"

"Blaze, calm down. He will get punished for what he's done, and I've been waiting a long time for that to happen. Just please be patient. Look, if it appeases you a bit; I'll show you how we operate, what we use to finish our enemies, and how to use it." She reached under the seat, pulling out a small box, inlaid with an image on the dark oak wood lid that he had never seen before. She put the box between them, then slowly opened it. He unconsciously leaned forward, anxious to see what she was offering him.

To his surprise, when the box opened up, he was greeted with what appeared to be an ordinary bracer, inlaid with the same symbol that was on the lid of the box. He frowned when he saw it, as it was not what he was expecting, though he wasn't sure what he _was_ expecting. At his face, Rainbow Crescent simply chuckled and pulled the bracer out. "A bracer?"

"Not just any bracer, my young novice, but the signature weapon of the assassins, observe." She held her left forehoof into the air, displaying the bracer on the appendage, and before she could demonstrate her weapon, his mind flashed back to when he had first seen her in action. And the way she had punched that guard, a knife appearing from somewhere to stab him, and he had only seen the punch itself. She twisted her hoof so that the bracer was facing away, and Blaze saw an intricately designed device hiding under the straps. "The hidden blade."

She seemed to stiffen her hoof, and the device sprung into action with a satisfying metallic sliding sound, and a blade extended out from the end. He stared in amazement as she displayed the perfectly positioned blade, a lengthy knife of eight or nine inches. She leaned forward, so he could inspect the bracer she offered him, while he compared the contracted blade with the extended one. He found it utterly fascinating.

"Try it on, though I have to warn you that if you decide to use one of these, it would be expected that you join the brotherhood. Wielding the hidden blade and not being a brother would incite any other who knows the emblem to try to kill you, and you probably don't want that." He grunted his agreement, but graciously took the bracer, sliding it onto his bare left forehoof, as she wore hers. It felt strange at first, but after a moment of staring dumbly at it, Rainbow chuckled to herself while leaning over and tightening the straps that appeared just underneath the bracer itself. "Just flex your hoof to spring the blade, and when you want it to retract, repeat the action."

He did as she instructed, though it took a couple of tries before he got it in the right spot, and with a very satisfying click, the blade slid out. He admired the craftsmanship of the blade, as it was polished steel that reflected the warm candlelight, and as he rotated his hoof, he watched the light dance around the canvas covering of the wagon.

"It's yours if you want it, but remember that wearing the blade signifies you are with us, and while it may not be exactly customary for recruits to wield the blade, you will get away with it as long as either myself or Slate are nearby." He looked down at the blade still glinting in the light, his mind debating whether or not this was a commitment he was willing to make. In the end, he decided that giving it a try wouldn't be so bad, and if this all ended with Al's blood spilt, then he was willing to put in the effort. He flexed his hoof, watching as the blade retracted back into the housing mechanism, before nodding and sitting back, resting the cold metal device against his legs, hiding underneath the blanket. "Excellent! Now, it's for the best that you get out of here before anypony thinks we're doing something naughty. Go!"

"For the best, I suppose. Wouldn't want to make this Slate guy jealous that you're sending time with me over enjoying his company." He retorted with a smirk as he jumped out of the wagon, leaving a shouting cyan pegasus behind as he trotted back to his side of the camp. He ignored the curious glances sent his way by the awake guards, settling back into his original spot for some sleep. He dreamt that night of finally taking care of Al, and freeing the city from his grasp, or at least he tried. Luna appeared rather quickly and reminded him that she was still going to beat the shit out of him until he proved to be a competent soldier.

Blaze was woken by a steady shaking, and he grumbled while sliding out of the blanket, being blasted by cold air. The sudden change in temperature did a damn fine job of waking him up, and as his eyes snapped open, he saw the camp stirring to life. He blinked a couple times as he stood up, taking a moment to get in a god stretch, his muscles starting to remind him that sleeping on the ground was never really a good idea.

As soon as he had gotten his eyes cleared of the morning blur, he took in the snow-laden camp, and how the ponies were all beginning to get things ready to move on. He put on a neutral face and trotted towards the center of camp, following Scarlet as they worked their way to the other side, where some of the others were gathering.

The shifts were settled for the day, with Blaze once again taking to the skies for scouting, though he wasn't complaining too much: any chance to get in some work was fine by him. His legs and back may hurt, but he was constantly reminded during training that pain was merely weakness leaving the body.

He liked that mentality.

That day, while fueled by the excitement of the night before, turned out to be so utterly dull, that as Blaze circled above the wagon train, he found his mind drifting to the hope of finally getting to Al. An old dream kept resurfacing in his mind, when he first dreamt that Star would disappear, and he was there. Al had been mocking him for trying to find his little brother. Blaze so desperately wanted answers.

But he had to wait and be patient until he was able to charge into the creed, and take those answers from the thief. Until then, well, he supposed he had a few things that he would have to do: like dealing with this supposed necromancer. The thought of somepony raising the dead, and then making them attack the living: it sent shudders all through his body, and nearly made him sick. He felt like vomiting, but decided that he had better take his mind off of the bleak subject, and his excuse came as another pegasus from the guard flew up to take his position so he could get some food. He gratefully accepted the replacement, and glided down to the lead wagon, where his company of guards was using to travel.

As he landed beside it, he saw that one of the merchants had taken some of their rations, serving out hot soup and bread for them to eat. He trotted up to the back of the wagon, thanking them as he accepted a bowl, wolfing the food down as he trotted beside it.

Other than periodically changing shifts, the day passed without any interference, and the third day came to pass. That night, Blaze studied the hidden blade he'd been given, as he found the intricacies of a weapon that concealed itself utterly intriguing. He repeatedly released the blade, admiring how it locked into the perfect length for a deadly punch, before retracting it back into the housing. The sound it made was so pleasing to him, he would almost call it a comforting noise, mostly because he knew that should anypony take his sword, he still had another weapon at the ready that not many would know about.

Of course, Scarlet and several of the guards were curious about his late-night visit to the carriage, but he blew off the questions by saying he was paying for a passed debt. It was technically true, as Rainbow Crescent had mentioned that she was going to ask him for a favor, and this favor just ended with extra benefits. They had accepted the answer, though he had a suspicion that they weren't satisfied: he was grateful they dropped it nonetheless.

As the fourth, and final, day of their trek pushed through the morning, a heavy snowstorm barraged the caravan. The scouts were pulled from the skies, and the trains were hitched together with long strands of rope. Unfortunately, these trader wagons didn't really have a lot of space for other passengers, so Blaze and the group of guards had little choice but to don as many clothes as they could scavenge from the other members. Which in turn led to a bunch of bulky-looking stallions marching through the snow around wagons, armor hidden under cloaks, which were also hidden underneath every they could borrow.

Blaze didn't bother with too much, but he did grab an extra coat to protect his sword and scabbard from the elements. He found the heavy burden of marching through deep snow to be entertaining to a high degree, and as they pushed onward, he teased some of the others for their apparent struggle against the rapidly rising snow levels.

They didn't like that too much.

After about two hours of forcing themselves to keep moving, the storm finally relented, and as the skies cleared enough to see beyond their muzzles, a sight incomparable to any other met his eyes. He stared at an expanded city, far larger than the capital that he resided in currently, built purely of gleaming crystal of every color. The city was laid like an unbelievably massive snowflake, with main roads leading from a source in the center like the spines, and sharp interconnecting roads between them. At the center had to be what he was certain was the largest structure that ponies had ever built: and this massive tower of gleaming white and pearlescent blue crystal radiated, pulsing like the beating heart of the city.

He knew he was gaping, but the sheer beauty he was seeing was so undeniable, he didn't care. This was such a beautiful sight, he would have to record every detail he saw and tell the guys back home. He'd tell them everything.

His eyes did their best to tear away from the tower, only getting glimpses at the various smaller crystal buildings aligning the roads, split by parks and yards filled with greenery that seemed to populate the mass of the city. He would have thought it strange that so much green existed in such a cold place, but right then his brain wasn't doing a whole lot of thinking. His trance was finally broken when Scarlet bumped him on his side, making him blink his stupor away. "Come on, kid: Princess is waiting on us. You can ogle all you want when we get into the city, but we ain't here to sightsee."

"Right." He took one last glance at the massive tower, admiring the way it supported itself on those four measly legs before he started to move forward to catch up with the others. It seemed like he wasn't the only one stupefied by the sight, as he had to bump several of the other guards as well, getting them to keep moving. They passed through a narrow valley between two mountain peaks, crossing into the green valley nestled away in the snow, and Blaze's admiration of the city's location only grew as they approached. It truly was a city to behold.

They caught another beak as they reached the glamorous city, reaching it upon a main road, and thus easily transitioning into the streets without much hassle. As the ponies removed the overburdening clothing and settled to their various destinations, the two crystal guards led Blaze and his company down the main street. They got a lot of hopeful stares from the locals, like they were knights marching through town in shining armor, here to save the day.

 **That would be mostly true, though the sense of the word 'knight' isn't really applied for you ponies. Throughout most of everywhere else, a knight is simply a mounted soldier, and you would just be the mount.** Blaze repressed his sigh, forcing it inward on the Spirit he had heard absolutely nothing from for so long. There was a part of him that had forgotten the guy was even in his head. **However, you are technically here-**

'Yeah?'

 **Something is definitely not right with this Plane, and the source almost feels familiar. I will return shortly, for if this indeed the work of her, I must know: you may all be in great danger.**

And while Blaze tried to get a response, it seemed that this Jace guy actually left, and the quite returned to his mind again. He never stopped trotting, and as he focused back on where he was, he saw that the gigantic tower was looming overhead. He hoped that whatever it was that this guy wanted to know, he got his answer, but he also knew there was jack shit he could do about it. As they approached, he saw a peculiar, heart-shaped gem resting in between two large spikes beneath the tower.

The group was led up a flight of stairs inside one of the legs, until they were greeted by an elaborate throne room which could easily rival that of the Princesses' back in the capital. They followed a lavender carpet, lined on either side by polished silvery blue quartz, reflecting brilliantly in the midday sun shining through the countless windows cutting through the walls on either side. Sitting atop the throne at the far side of the room was an impressively large peach colored unicorn wearing a golden and silver tiara and heart-shaped necklace. From the distance Blaze couldn't make out facial features, but her dominating curled mane caught his attention: it started a light yellow before bleeding pink and gradually faded into a deep maroon.

He'd never seen a mare as large as she that wasn't an Alicorn, as her height matched Celestia's. And as they approached her throne, he was able to see her weary, almost distrustful eyes, though what he thought was appropriate was her grief. Even as they bowed a respectful distance from the throne, Blaze could clearly see her sadness in her eyes, which was a piece of information he found interesting. Never before had he seen such emotion hidden behind one's eyes, and her golden orbs just shouted sadness.

And love.

Blaze was getting nauseous just being in the throne room, the pure, untainted love. He kept his gaze low, trying to divert the effects as much as he could. He stood up with the others, taking quick glances at her every now and then as she scanned the crowd. "Am I safe to assume you are the aid that I requested from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

"We are, Princess Amore. The Royal Sisters heard your plea, but due to unfortunate circumstances, needed time to prepare proper aid." Scarlet Cloud responded, though his answer seemed to cause her to sag a little.

"Why so few. I thought that with a month to prepare, she would have sent more guards than this: I lost nearly three times your number to this fiend, and I couldn't bear to make them suffer them same fate, losing so many loyal servants." Princess Amore explained, nearly crumbling into her throne, the effects of losing good ponies obviously taking a deep toll on her. Blaze felt bad that she had to suffer, but he knew that they were here to end that, so he hardened his resolve to take care of this as fast as possible.

"It is not my place to question the actions of my Princesses, Princess Amore. I'm sure you understand, but they chose us by hoof, and I trust that their reasoning was sound. And as it stands, we happen to have a soldier with us who they have personally sought to train: Blaze Burn?" He stepped forward as his name was called, and as the Princess' gaze settled on him, he thought he saw something stirring in her eyes, but it vanished as soon as it appeared. "This here is the Princesses' personal project, apparently some kind of special pegasus, if the wings are any indication. Both Sisters have taken an invested interest in some part of training him, so maybe we'll fair better than your guards?"

"Hmm. I can't say I've ever heard of a pony like you, Mister Blaze Burn. I must say, though, as I'm rather curious: what circumstances led to making you the way you are?"

"Born this way, I guess. Both Princesses told me that I'm this 'Gold Blood' and I'm part of a line of pegasi that have served them for as long as they remember. Don't know how or why, never really learned anything anyways: there isn't a whole lot of information available, and not even the Sisters are sure how we got this way." He shrugged.

"Interesting. Well, while I'm sure you are interested in jumping to deal with this problem, I have no doubt that it has been a long journey, and you all must be exhausted. We can discuss what the plan is tomorrow, but for now, guards, would you kindly show them to the guest quarters for some rest. They're going to need it for what comes tomorrow." The two guards that had led them bowed to their princess before turning and taking the relieved guards to rest on proper beds. Scarlet pulled a couple of guards, including Blaze, out of the room once they had everything dropped off.

"We're going to talk with the Princess and figure everything out. The sooner we know what we are dealing with, the better." They all nodded, though Blaze did kind of wish he had talked with them about it earlier, maybe save some time. He stuck with his decision, though, as he knew that it would bring up unwanted questions, not to mention it was only a rumor he heard.

As they returned to the throne room, they witnessed a very exhausted looking Princess leaning in her seat, on the verge of passing out. They trotted over to the base of the throne, and when she heard hoofsteps, she sat up wearily. "Soldier, is there something you needed? I thought you would be taking the moment to rest."

"Rest assured, Princess: I will. But there are a few details that I wanted before I relaxed, just so I had something to think over in the off-time. No offense, Princess Amore, but there is a reason why I am captain of Princess Celestia's day guard: and it's because I am always thinking ahead. I get information as early as possible, so I can process it and come up with a strategy quickly." Scarlet Cloud answered proudly. "I'd just like to know what it is exactly that we are up against, so I have an idea of what we need to do to take it down."

"Well, if you insist." She sighed, smiling briefly before turning to one of the standing guards. "Fetch the captain, and ask him to come here immediately: he should be able to answer all the questions you have. In the meantime, you may ask me whatever you need."

"Thank you, Princess. I can't imagine what this must be like." He said quietly while the crystal guard turned and galloped out of the room. "First question: what has been happening that made you come to us for aid?"

A very short conversation later, the information confirmed by the swiftly arrived Crystal Captain, and the Equestrian guards were trotting nervously back to their quarters. Blaze already knew the information that was given, but it didn't feel good knowing that the rumors were true. Some sick bucker was hiding in a cave to the north of the city, using unnatural powers to resurrect the dead and was sending them to raid the city outskirts. When Princess Amore had discovered the fiend, she had sent a scout to find them, but they never returned. Guards were sent to where the scout had flown off to, but they disappeared as well, forcing Amore to lead a battalion of guards herself to investigate the disappearances.

They found the cave rapidly, and after setting a perimeter, she had sent in a group of guards, who didn't really return. The bodies did, for sure, and then proceeded to try to kill everypony standing outside, but the guards themselves? Never made it out of the cave.

The entire guard was taking a toll, losing friends only to then have to kill them to stop the undead from getting further into the city. Blaze didn't even try to understand what that would be like, but he sympathized to the point of agreeing with Scarlet that they should go deal with this issue immediately. Nopony should have to suffer through what these innocent ponies have gone through, but the Princess had ordered them to rest for the day. Blaze and Scarlet shared an angry look but obeyed, turning to leave.

"Captain, if you truly want to help, then allow your troops time to rest, and we can discuss this later. I want you to be at your full strength when we finish this: every soldier we lose, they gain." She said, not unkindly as both guards stood at the door, Blaze had his jaw clenched tight to stop himself from arguing the point. When they didn't make to respond, she tried a different tactic. "Perhaps we can organize something to expedite the process, and avenge our fallen brethren? I realize you were sent here to solve this issue, but you cannot do so while you are exhausted."

"If we can be prepared for this attack by tonight, when our opponents are sure to be resting, will you allow us to engage? Yes, we were sent here to complete a task, but what those things are doing; it's just unnatural and against every law of nature. What is dead should stay dead, and we need respect their bodies. I am in perfect condition to fight this fiend right now, but if you truly wish for us to rest; we need but a few hours." She nodded to impassioned request. "Thank you, Princess. I'll inform the guys, allow them time to recuperate before we end this."

He quickly trotted down the halls to inform the others, while Blaze suddenly felt very anxious to avenge some fallen guards, who had done nothing to deserve this. He was about to follow out the door when the Princess caught his attention. "Blaze Burn, wasn't it?"

"Yes, Princess?" He asked, slowly turning to see what she needed. She walked up to him, eyes inspecting his appearance, though her gaze made him feel slightly uncomfortable despite being under his cloak.

"There is an artifact here in the Crystal Empire that has held peace and love over the city for as long as it has been here. The Crystal Heart has many powerful effects, aside from protecting our homes: one such being the ability to show ponies what their destiny may be. I would like to invite you to see it." He couldn't really argue with a Princess, her being a unicorn or not, so he simply shrugged and allowed her to lead him to this Crystal Heart, though he wondered if it was by chance the crystal gem shaped like a heart beneath the tower. His suspicions were confirmed as she led him out of the tower and to the center spikes, where a large ice blue heart floated between the tips. "I've always been told that whoever gazes upon its surface will see a potential fate: a future that might come to pass. The reflection it shows is one possible outcome of your actions, and an outcome of your own consequence; be it pleasant or painful."

"You know, I've heard from multiple creatures that my future is supposed to be muddy: like they aren't entirely sure how it will turn out. They always said they were going to be nearby to see where my path lies: and one just so happened to decide to join me here." He replied as he stared cautiously at the spiraling heart.

"Oh, really? Who are these sources, then?" She asked, a curious smile on her face as she watched his reaction, her curiosity peaking at what such a pony's future could hold for him. Her question seemed to bring him back to reality, and he chuckled as he stepped back from the heart.

"Spirits, mostly. Creatures the likes of which you couldn't even imagine, whose deaths happened so far in the past, they don't seem to remember what life was like."

"Spirits? Like the things that those witches and Sages deal with?" He nodded, making her hum in thought, while her gaze went between him and the heart. "Interesting. I've never met a Sage, let alone a Spirit. And you say that one came here with you, to see what choices in life you were going to make?"

"Apparently. He's been staying in my head for some time, but it honestly feels like he's more of a spectator than anything else. He just sits around, doing whatever it is that they do, and every now and then he might comment about something. He's gone away at the moment to investigate this issue you're having." Blaze replied with a shrug. "Not that it really matters, because I still don't know shit about them or wherever it is they come from: everypony seems to know about as much as me."

"Sorry to hear that. It is interesting, though, to hear that you have a Spirit following you around, and one that talks to you no less." Princess Amore perked up, her gaze falling from him and resting back upon the Crystal Heart. "It is a shame, but I understand if you don't want to gaze at the Heart, the knowledge of one's future is not for all, I suppose. All is not lost, and I'm sure we will see each other in the future, so perhaps it is finally time to return to the palace, and see what needs to be done in preparations for the trip. The sooner we relieve the Crystal Empire of this threat, the sooner peace shall reign again."

"Can't agree more, Princess. Lead the way." He said with a light bow, allowing the peach-colored Princess to take the lead back inside, though he did take a moment to admire the city from this angle, with each main street stretching out through the city. This place was absolutely beautiful, and he wouldn't mind coming back here, especially when he wasn't busy preparing to eliminate some kind of dangerous threat to the city.

The plan was simple, yet rode on a large amount of luck, and with the cave being mostly uncharted territory for the group of guards, it was going to be ever more difficult. Still, with a squadron of Crystal Guards and Princess Amore herself, the company felt more than assured that all would turn out alright. Scarlet had argued the point of her following at all, but he really had no power to make her stay, and while everypony but her wanted her to remain behind, she had persisted the point. None can deny a Princess, but they did manage to convince her to stay at the back, surrounded by an enlarged number of guards.

The put Blaze and company in the front, taking the charge to head inside, where they would enter the cavern, and evaluate the safety of the location and either prepare to slowly make their way through the enemy, or dash to the source.

As nopony knew exactly what kinds of necromancy were being used, and the available unicorns had no idea how it worked in general, they decided it would be best to play it safe. With sunlight burning, the group paused at the gaping mouth of the blue ice cavern, taking a final moment to brace for whatever lay within. Blaze spared a brief moment to nervously glance over at Scarlet, who returned the look, but bore it with stoic resolve. And with the first steps, they began to walk into the unknown.

The icy wind from outside nearly vanished once the group had entered the cave, raising the temperature for them to a bearable degree. They let their eyes adjust to the darkness of the cavern, though the specks of torchlight at the far end did not ease any of their worries, and aside from the gentle howling of the scarce wind entering the cave, their breathing went unchallenged across the space.

Unchallenged for a very brief span of time, then the rattling began: sounds so horrifying to the imagination that they sent shivers down Blaze's spine. As the darkness slowly took form, he was able to see shapes moving in and out of focus, as if they were nothing more than creations of an overactive mind. But with the rattling drawing closer, Blaze tensely stepped closer to the center of the group. It seemed the entire group had an unspoken command, as they all closed tighter together, forming a semicircle of bodies while trying to find the source of the sound. The rattling turned into scurrying, as if rodents had been spooked, and the rush of noise towards them made Blaze flinch before it halted right in front of them, where he could barely make out the shapes of two inclines, and a small valley shooting straight to the torchlit passage.

Amore's horn suddenly lit up, and the group was engulfed in a sphere of light, before a large ball was sent flying forwards, striking the ground between the two miniature hills. What beset their eyes was a cluster of creatures; ponies, griffons, a couple goats, and a single minotaur, all lacking any fur covering their bodies, and the skin was ghostly pale. As the creatures blinked away the stun from being blinded, the guards could only stare in confusion at what they saw. This hesitation proved to be a mistake, as one of the griffons, who held a bow and quiver, began to open fire at them. The barrage signaled the others to begin assaulting the intruders, and a small skirmish begun as the recovering guards struggled to get any form of structure where they could.

Blaze drew his sword the moment he saw the griffon thing pull the bowstring back, and now that the other creatures were charging he settled into an uneasy stance to wait their approach. It was clear to him that these things were beyond conversation, but he didn't feel right fighting other beings, not when his target lay further within. Some of the creatures drew weapons of their own, swords and axes, while others just went at them with bloodied limbs and claws.

The two clashed together with a loud clamor, and as Blaze did his best to avoid any confrontation, he had little choice. A pale, featherless griffon rushed him with a sword in claw, while a bald pony simply charged him shortly after.

He stepped forward so he wouldn't stumble with the others, who were facing similar predicaments as these creatures charged mindlessly. The guard to his left took an arrow to the chest, it piercing into his armor as he cried in agony, but one guard behind him pulled him to safety before these things could get to him. Blaze steadied his frantic breathing as the strange griffon raised his sword for a strike, calming his mind to avoid mistakes. He took another step forward as the griffon jumped at him, he waited until the blade had committed to its path before he swung his own in a half-circle, deflecting the sword harmlessly to the side as he sidestepped the pushing griffon and avoiding the pony entirely.

As the latter passed him, he noticed that the mare lacked any irises, and her eyes themselves were as black as tar. He let it go as he kept his ears on swivels, listening for any danger behind him as he turned around to face the enemies he parried.

The griffon had turned to take another swing at him, but before it could, a guard grabbed it from behind and wrenched it to the ground. As the griffon was taken down, Blaze watched the pony mindlessly leap at him, rotten teeth bared as it attempted to tear a bite out of him. He easily avoided the creature, but had to jump towards it as a pair of large claws belonging to a griffon grabbed him from the back. His wings flared open and he broke his assailant's grip, but before he had time to react, the pony charged at him again, slamming her head into his shoulder.

She lacked a lot of muscle, however, and while the impact did distract him, she was so gaunt that her slam did little to him. He pushed her away, not wanting to do serious damage while he punched the second griffon in the face. This one, like the last, was bald, and like most of the creatures he could immediately see; had soullessly black eyes devoid of any life whatsoever.

 **Zombies not of the work of Liliana, fortunately. However, your foe is powerful: I suggest you take care of him before anything escalates.**

"Bad time to talk, dude!" Blaze grunted as the griffon hurled itself at him, making him jump to the side, slamming his shoulder back down on the relentless mare. He was starting to struggle dealing with these two at once, but he got a break when the mare he landed on hit the ground hard, snapping her leg. He grimaced at the sound of a bone snapping, but as she continued to gauge at him with her hooves, she didn't even seem fazed by the painful injury. "What the buck is wrong with these creatures?"

 **I believe your race calls them 'zomponies' and they are completely resistant to pain. While I must comment on the absurdity of that name, you would be wise to aim for a crippling injury to the head, or decapitation, if you needed to. These creatures are relentless until destroyed, and while I know you don't wish to kill another, these monstrosities are already dead. Long so.**

He felt that when she tried to bite him leg, but she happened to target his left, the one protected by his bracer. He knew he should have felt pain, but when he didn't he thanked Rainbow for gifting it, and pushed her away from him one final time, throwing a punch into the griffon's face while fending his way back to the group.

He was dismayed when he saw that the others were having just as much time staying afloat as the creatures kept pushing forward. Another arrow whizzed by his head, causing him to flinch and search for the archer, whom he found sitting atop the hill, raining arrows down into the main group. Feeling his mind numbing, he came to the realization that he would have to do whatever he could to protect his companions, so he jumped forward, slamming the griffon into the ground while leaping over the crawling pony. He dodged another crawling pony, this one only had a single limb still working; the others were all bent at horrible angels.

He charged up the hill only to find that the griffon had turned its focus to him, and was drawing its bow back, an arrow notched and ready to fire. Just as the griffon released the arrow, Blaze jumped to the right, away from the main group of fighting, which put him right behind the entire group of zombified creatures. The arrow shot passed him and stuck to the snow.

Without awaiting an invitation, Blaze rocketed up the hill, his sword slung back and out of the way. He hit the griffon like a boulder, knocking the two down into the sturdy snow, Blaze fighting on top. Once he had straddled the griffon, his back hooves forcing its shoulders down, he started pummeling the griffon's beak. His efforts were rewards with a busted beak, but when he paused, his following reward was a peck in the gut. Without any protection there, Blaze took the full force of the impact with a huff, but managed to stay on top as he returned the blow for another to the face, hearing another sickening crunch as the beak gave way further. He threw another blow to its face, and another. He paused when he was sure that he had stunned the griffon, but as he pulled back, that same snapped beak snatched his retreating limb, biting with surprising force.

He growled in pain and planted his sword in the snow next to them as he began pummeling the griffon in the face with his right hoof. Three rapid punches, and then a slamming blow to the face, but the griffon still refused to release his hoof, so he continued to pummel it. He felt his skin tearing from the serrations of a broken beak, and fearing infection, he twisted his trapped hoof, pulling the beak to the side, and then slammed the griffon again, at the base of its beak. He was finally freed yet began panicking at the feeling of torn fur around his hoof. He shot a glare at the griffon before slamming it another time for good measure, then huffed for breath as he watched the unfazed griffon gaggle at him, its black eyes staring everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Then it started snapping at him with that broken beak again, and fearing it biting him anymore, he grabbed him sword, holding it by both handle and the blade, and thrust down. There was a horrible crunching sound as his blade went through the weakened skull, and as it slid through mush that used to be brain matter, embedding itself in the ground beneath them, Blaze had to look away. The griffon immediately went limp, and the sudden release from the fight made Blaze lock up, his eyes staring emptily into the snow beside them, where black, dead blood splattered against the bright blue snow. It was so surreal that Blaze wasn't sure how he was going to cope with this.

He didn't have long to sit, as soon the company finished off the remaining creatures and Scarlet trotted up to see what was going on. The captain found Blaze sitting atop the doubly dead griffon, staring into the blood-splattered snow, and he felt a little sympathetic towards the green guard-to-be.

Shaking his shoulder to bring him back, he pulled the younger pegasus away from the kill, grabbing his sword and cleaning it in the snow before offering it to him. Blaze took the blade with a nearly idle hoof, blankly sheathing the blade but never bringing his eyes into focus. Eventually, he got his bearings back and shook his head clear, though his eyes remained slightly cloudy. "You know, I've seen ponies die before: this isn't the first time that I've witnessed such a thing. . . but never. . . never have I. . . I _killed_ somepony."

"Listen to me kid, the only advice I can offer you is to just not think about it. Consider this: we were sent here to complete a mission, which happens to involve saving innocent ponies from destruction by these creatures. We came here to put an end to this villainy, even if it means destroying the product of said villainy." Scarlet Cloud patted Blaze's shoulder, his gaze softening as he looked at the green trooper. "If it helps any: these creatures were dead when we got here: we're just putting them back where they belong, returning them to their eternal slumber. We stop this necromancer, give these unfortunate beings peace, and save the Crystal Empire from obliteration: don't let guilt or fear hold you back. The Princesses trust that you can do this, so do it."

"Right." Blaze muttered, looking back at the regrouping soldiers, whose numbers had been reduced noticeably. "We're on a mission to save these ponies from this fiend."

"That's the spirit! Now come on, we've got a mission to complete, and then a long trip back home." Scarlet replied in strained cheer, pulling Blaze back to the main group. Blaze didn't really feel the cheer, but he put on a stone face as he saw how the others were reacting to the situation: looking about as disturbed as he felt. He had no room to blame them; this was something that they weren't entirely prepared for. Still, he accepted that the best course of action was to finish what they started and stop this necromancer before they cause any more trouble for them. He joined the group, taking his position in front of the assembled soldiers, Scarlet standing to his left. Blaze spared a single look back through the group, noting that Princess Amore looked exactly like he had felt, no doubt because of the skirmish.

Scarlet bumped Blaze in his wing, nodding for them to get going, before calling to the rest to dot he same. Blaze took a quick breath before drawing his sword and stepping in line with the marching soldiers.

Amore lit the cave brighter still with her magic light orbs, and as they made their way to the candlelit cave, the cool air was steadily replaced with a warm draft. The tunnel they followed down was barely wide enough for them to traverse two wide, meaning Blaze and Scarlet took the lead, pushing further into the bowels of this frozen crypt. And after several twists and turns; the pair of pegasi broke through the narrow path into a large stone cave. Torchlight lit the area, suspended in the air by iron buckets fastened to the ceiling by rusted chains, not that Blaze noticed that: his attention was focused on the dozen griffons all standing in various positions around the cave.

The far exit of this miniature cave was guarded by what looked like the stone ruins of yet another fort, complete with walls and two square platforms standing aside the large paved path. Standing in front of the next tunnel stood two massive snake-like creatures.

"Naga!" Scarlet hissed, stopping dead in his tracks once he saw the serpentine creatures posted guard, spears held up by well-muscled, of a bit rotting, arms attached to what looked like human torsos. Just as the other guards trotted into the cave, the undead creatures all turned in unison towards the invading force. Several griffons drew their bows and nocked arrows, while the others unsheathed unwieldly blades that seemed far too heavy for them to lift. The approaching guards scattered as arrows began to whistle abruptly, cutting short any opportunity for the guards to form a plan. Blaze dived to the side as arrows whizzed by, taking to the air in hopes of avoiding unwanted damage.

His plan worked out far better than he was expecting, as the griffons firing arrows seemed preoccupied by picking off the mass of ponies battling with griffons at the entrance. He took half a second to form something of a plan, before he noticed that a griffon was working its way around the fighting bodies, sneaking upon the Princess. He felt split over his obligation, but took a single glance at his blade before plunging himself into the fray, dropping on top of the griffon. There was a sickening crunch as his blade punched right through the griffon's hide, sliding easily through its rotten carcass and scraping the stone on the underside.

The sound of him slamming onto the ice-laced stone made two guards spin around in fright, only to see that he had saved their lives. Without time for proper thanks, they merely nodded to him and turned back to protecting Amore, who was sitting back with a look of grim acceptance on her face.

He understood the feeling all too well.

He stared down at the lifeless body before him, the urge to vomit rising quickly. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to fight it off and help finish this as fast as possible, yanking his sword free and turning to see where he was needed. The issue he quickly discovered was that these griffons used blades too large for the space, and their weak bodies had a difficult time swinging with any force. And as these griffons distracted the guards, who were battling madly to stay alive, the archers were trying to pick them off.

Casting a quick glance to the platforms, he counted four archers, two on either side. He sighed, knowing that this was not going to be easy, and took to the air once more, gently flying around the outer edge of the cave, where they were least likely to be looking. It was surprisingly easy for him to evade detection, and as he softly touched down behind the right-most pair of archers, he felt a strong buzz take hold of his senses. Time seemed to blur as he snuck up behind the first of the griffon archers; a purple and grey creature that had nasty gauges running along its back. He raised his blade and turned his gaze as he thrust forward.

There was some resistance as metal bit into flesh, and a knock on his hoof as it struck bone, but the blade slid passed, and continued pushing forward. The sound was sickening to his ears, and the squelching of tearing flash being ripped by steel grated loud in his mind, and his curiosity took hold for a brief second, making him spare a moment's glance at the griffon.

What he saw was disgustingly fascinating while also being strangely comforting: there was no blood, and to him it looked like the blade was simply absorbed by this unfortunate creature. Up close, the blade looked like it vanished into the feathers, as if the body was simply eating the blade. But that was before the undead life left what remained of the body, and the muscles went limp, the blade ripping through the rotten flesh as the body gave way. And still, no blood came out, something that Blaze was unsure was a good thing or not, but he was grateful nonetheless. The soft crunch of a body hitting the floor made Blaze flinch, but only because the other griffon turned to see what the distraction was.

Realizing he had no time to do anything, Blaze jumped at the griffon before it could aim for him, wildly swinging his sword to knock the bow from the griffon's claws. He succeeded in the sense that the blade twisted and cut into the decayed wood, rendering it useless for combat.

He knew he took care of one threat, but the griffon was the other, and one that he was now unsure how to deal with: his sword had bitten firmly into the wood, and neither were separating soon. The griffon tried to pull back to bow, seemingly unaware of the compromised weapon, and as it pulled, the wood creaked angrily. Then, in a sudden burst of wooden splinters, the bow exploded, cascading them both in fragments of sodden wood.

The griffon got the worst of the blast, as splinters shot over its arms while the top segments slung back and struck its face. Fragments of wood stuck into the griffon's eyes, and as it growled in frustration, dropping the loose arrow to claw for wherever Blaze was, the pegasus took the opportunity to get some space. Some debris had gotten into his face, and he needed to clear it out before it distracted him too badly, so he backstepped, wiping his muzzle clean before ramming the griffon off of the platform, where it fell harshly onto a stone, splitting its skull. Blaze would have made sure that it was dead, but before he could, the other two archers noticed that they were being attacked and turned to aim at him. He started to step to the left, towards the edge, and waited until the two archers released their arrows, then he planted his hooves and dived to the right.

The archers had compensated by aiming just at the edge of the platform, where he would have been, but the arrows were met with empty air. They reached for their quivers in synchronization, keeping their black eyes focused on Blaze, who had stumbled on some loose mortar, and was struggling to regain his balance.

He had just straightened out when he saw the to griffons pulling back, and his panic set in, making him flare out his wings as he tried to leap forward to close the distance before they shot him dead. He got exactly half an inch before a flash and a blur decapitated the far griffon. The blur became a blade that burst through the first griffon's throat, now coated in an inky-blank substance. As the blade exited the re-killed griffon, the two bodies collapsed to reveal Scarlet Cloud, standing behind them, panting ever so slightly.

The two shared a brief nod of acknowledgement before they stepped towards the middle, where the naga still stood guard. Blaze peeked over the edge, spotting the two standing there, seeming completely disinterested in the battle taking place before them. He leaned back and glanced to Scarlet, who could only shrug, and sighed. He snuck another quick peek before jumping into the air and silently gliding to the other side, comforted by the shadows concealing his form.

Landing on the other platform, he crawled over to the Captain, who was studying the undead creatures below. "What do we do?"

"Give me a moment." Scarlet replied in a harsh whisper, his eyes glued onto the two figures who were in turn staring blankly at the fighting occurring across the mid-sized cavern. After several tense seconds of silence, filled with Blaze anxiously glancing between the Captain and the naga, Scarlet finally leaned back, sighing sadly. "Well, shit does not look good for us: those two aren't going anywhere unless they have to. That means that if we want to get by, we're going to have to fight them, but I doubt you've ever fought a naga before?"

Blaze shook his head, and Scarlet cursed under his breath as he looked down at the stone ground. After a moment, he looked up, a fire in his eyes and a wicked grin on his muzzle. "Neither have I, but I've heard they're some of the toughest fighters south of the far frozen north, so we've got our hooves full with these two."

"So, we're just going to engage with two of the deadliest fighters around, and just hope for luck to bless us with victory?" Scarlet's grin only widened while his eyes flashed with excitement. "Drop down on them?"

The red pegasus' only response was him glancing down at the closest of the two naga while he rolled his shoulders, sword swaying with renewed energy. Blaze felt very nervous over the prospect of fighting these creatures, but he did know that he had a sword, and the naga had spears. Spears were not good for close quarter combat, so he had that going for him. He resigned himself to whatever fate befell him, returning to his original spot on the far side, looking between Scarlet and the naga he was going to drop on. The Captain signaled for them to attack in three, and as the countdown began, Blaze felt his heartrate jump from rapid to nearly out of his chest.

The moment Scarlet pointed down to attack, Blaze jumped off of his perch, silently falling as he brought his blade down in an overhead arch aiming for the naga's exposed neck. He barely heard Scarlet doing the same on the other side, but he kept his attention focused on finishing this undead abomination off before it could react.

If only things went as smoothly as that.

The moment Blaze entered the naga's sight, the creature reacted with unbelievable speed, leaning back to avoid the deathblow while swinging its spear to deflect his wide swing. He hit the floor hard, and a split second later, Scarlet did the same: neither had a successful sneak attack. Blaze hissed as his sword slammed to the ground, jarring his leg and making it numb for a second, but he had no time to worry about it as the naga were coiling their snake bodies and pointing their spears towards the pegasi. Both Blaze and Scarlet leaped up, dashing away from counterattacks.

Blaze felt the rush of air as a spear followed him, itching to taste his flesh as he circled around the spearhead, hoping to close the gap. He had a chance as the naga withdrew to stab at him, and he followed the spear back to its owner. Unfortunately, the naga knew how to deal with this, and it took the spear by a single clawed hand and swiped at him with the other. Blaze ducked underneath, avoiding the swipe but opening himself up for the spear, which followed a heartbeat later. Blaze deflected the blow with a swing right, and he stepped over the shaft, jabbing his blade weakly towards the naga's throat. His sword nipped the naga's shoulder as it tucked its neck defensively behind its arm, but the creature also rolled with the motion, escaping any serious damage and leaving Blaze overextended once again.

Blaze pulled back, but was too late as the naga grabbed him by the cross guard of his sword and pulled him in. The creature's maw opened as it leaned forward to tear through his flesh with razor sharp fangs glinted dryly in the torchlight.

Fearing for his life, Blaze bucked and kicked doing his best to keep his lively limbs away from the danger zone while he tried to get enough space to break his sword free. His lucky break came when he twisted the handle in the naga's grasp, and right as he pulled back, kicking with all his might, assistance came from Scarlet Cloud diving into the naga's side, staggering it long enough for Blaze to break free. Right as the white pegasus hit the ground, however, things shifted from them standing a chance at holding these things off until the others could get here to struggling even more to survive.

The naga Blaze was fighting snaked its tail around his forelegs, ripping him to the ground as it tried to drive its spear through his skull. He managed to roll out of it, and right as Scarlet had begun to pull him back onto his hooves, the second came, splitting the two by yanking the Captain into the air.

Blaze would have assisted, but before he could react, he was forced to use everything Luna had taught him to evade the thrashing naga slithering in front of him. He ducked under a thrust, sidestepped a wide sweep, then locked up with it while he tried to find a way to get to the red pegasus equally struggling with his own undead abomination. Blaze pushed against the naga, feeling it give ever so slightly, and he grit his teeth as he tried to use that to his advantage, using whatever strength he had to push it back. The naga responded by leaning back, allowing Blaze to begin extending, but then it whipped the spear to the side, catching Blaze to the side as it dived forwards, claws extended in wild bloodlust.

Blaze managed to evade the ruthless attack and slid away from its arching tail. His slide pushed him over to the creature's spear, which he kicked back, away from the fight, using the respite to check on Scarlet, who was in a perilous position, with his naga looming over him. Gripping the blade's handle even tighter, Blaze tried to dash to aid the Captain, but was met mid-step by a nasty sideswipe from the second naga's tail.

Blaze was thrown away, but the danger was heightened as the first naga had recovered and caught the pegasus in its claws. The impact knocked the wind out of his lungs, and he wearily glanced up at the snarling beast, endless hunger painting its features despite its void-like eyes. Feeling dread in his stomach, he looked to see what was going to happen to Scarlet, only to watch as time seemed to slow down to an unbelievable level.

He watched in horror as the second naga ripped Scarlet's sword from his hooves with his tail as his spear was sent racing forwards. The sickening crunch that followed was going to haunt him for a long time, as the spear didn't even slow as it was sent completely through the red pegasus, blood spurting out like a crimson spear of its own. Scarlet's wings began to spasm, flapping while his body reacted to the impaling steel, his mouth wide open in a silent scream of endless pain. Then, slowly, agonizingly slowly, Scarlet closed his mouth and turned to Blaze, his eyes wide in unfathomable pain as his hooves idly grabbed the shaft of the intrusive weapon. Blaze could see the acceptance on his face, and a faint smile touched his muzzle as he nodded to the younger soldier. Then, in a final savage blow, the naga clamed its jaws around the Captain's head, ripping bone and muscle and sinew from body, before swallowing the mouthful whole.

Something crawled into the edge of Blaze's vision, and while he would never know what it was, it painted everything in sight red. The naga before him glowed hot like the sun, and he felt his muscles moving of their own accord, grabbing his sword in both hooves, blade pointing down.

He didn't think, he never hesitated, and with a howl of untamed rage, he brought the blade into sight, ever so briefly, before plunging it into the scaly flash of the naga holding him. The naga let him go, yet before his hooves touched the cold stone, he was spinning, and with force rivaling anything he had known before, he sent four horizontal slashes across the naga's chest and abdomen. His hind hooves hit the stone, but felt nothing as he burst forward, flying at the second naga with wings spread wide as he collided with the beast like a falling comet. He didn't even bother using the sword, simply bashing into the naga's scaled abdomen with his skull, sending it crashing into the wall and causing the cave to reverberate with the sound of cracking bones.

He paused for just a second to stare at the creature, hatred and rage blinding him to whatever he would have seen, as the red deepened and darkened. The faintest of outlines could highlight to him where the undead abomination lay on the ground, and as he stoically stepped over the fallen creature, he reached down with his hoof, grabbing it by its collarbone. The naga let out a sharp his as he applied pressure on the brittle bone, a snap resulting from his efforts.

And without waiting for breath, he sent his sword through the creature's chest, using so much force that the blade chipped into the stone, clouding them in dust.

Blaze didn't care about any of that, and as he lifted the creature even higher he sent the blade into this undead monster's chest until all that was left was a handle and the semblance of a bloody cross-guard. He stared it down until all it would see was bloodred rage, then he backed off, ripping the blade out, sending venom-green blood arcing around the area. He continued the path of the swing, bringing the blade over his head, grabbing the pommel of the handle with his other hoof for maximum inertia. And with one final mighty heave, he brought the blade down on the neck of the naga, dragging the sword clean through its chest and out the bottom of its shattered ribcage. He straightened his stance as the naga stared at him with fully dead eyes, unmoving as if there had been no strike at all.

Then, after three second of any trace of a wound, the top half of the diagonally cut chest sickeningly slid off the rest of the body. The entirety of the naga fell into a bloody heap at his hooves, and as Blaze settled onto three hooves again, he stared at the permanently dead creature as his vision returned to normal.

Cleaning his blade on a small pile of snow, Blaze solemnly trotted over to the headless body of the Captain, his gaze returning to normal as the blood-lust faded. He sat there until the sound of hoofsteps clattered on the stone, and he gently placed the decapitated head back on the stone.

No tears were shed, no wails of misery. There was only the ice-cold silence of ponies in mourning of a friend, who died on the battlefield in defense of innocent lives. Blaze wished that he had had more of an opportunity to get to know the guy, but a few months of training only frequently with the soldier had been lacking what he needed. He understood, though, that some of the others were very familiar with the Captain, so he allowed them to do what they needed to, which ended up being them lifting the body with utmost dignity and carrying him back to the entrance, where the other fallen had been placed to rest. Blaze turned to the remaining guards, and Princess Amore, who were all stone faced in shock and grief.

"Whoever needs to go and tend to the bodies, do so now. I'm going to take the head of whoever is responsible for this shithole we're in now." He declared angrily, turning to the gates behind them, stopping at nothing as he forced the iron bars open.

Behind the gate was a lengthy passageway, this one was carved entirely of stone, and had several firepits lining the walls, illuminating the path to the large iron-bound wooden doors at the other end. He marched across the room, not bothering to examine the walls, and ramming his empty hoof into the door, knocking loose any locks set into it, and sending the double doors flying open. He wasn't entirely surprised by the sight behind the doors, as it was what might come to mind from a necromancer's lair.

A very large square room was lit by a large firepit in the center, burning intensely from a stockpile of wood that would last days. Lining the walls to either side was a double row of large pillars, each holding torches across the surface at regular intervals. Across the fire was a raised platform, upon which sat a solid black dais. And crowning the dais was a throne built of stone the bones of the long-since dead, seating a cloaked figure who seemed pleased by Blaze's arrival. Blaze stopped before the massive fire, watching the hooded figure as it leaned forward, indicating to him that the others had followed behind him. And sure enough, hoofsteps signified the arrival of the remaining company, ensuring to him that this was going to be a reckoning when he was able to kill whoever hid behind that hood.

He stepped around the corner of the fire, walking at a steady pace towards the steps leading to the dais, twirling his sword anxiously as he stared down the figure. Before he could reach the other end of the fire, however, two dusty grey unicorns stepped out from behind the bone throne, midnight black eyes absorbing the light from fire instead of reflecting a shine. What made him stutter in place as he stopped was that these ponies were completely bare of any hair; no fur, nor mane, nor tail. They just stared ahead, naked and unblinking as the creature atop the throne shifted in its seat, watching his approach in absolute stillness.

Blaze waited for the pair of undead unicorns to slowly walk down the stairs before meeting them at the end of the firepit. Soon he was joined by the remaining guards, as well as Amore herself, the presence of whom seemed to stir this necromancer from its state of resting. Two deep blue, cloven hooves reach up from the folds of the black robes and pulled back the overhanging hood.

The creature Blaze saw was surprising, in that a dusk blue ram sat upon the throne, horns dull and as dark as his hooves, yet what caught Blaze's attention were the pair of crimson eyes beneath snowy eyebrows. As the hood fell to this ram's shoulders, a necklace of bells peeked out from beneath the attire, causing a gentle jingle to ring against the flickering sounds of the fire. The ram smiled mischievously as them.

"I've been wondering just what it would take to get you to come here, Princess Amore: I had to waste quite a few zombified creatures to get your attention." The ram haggled out in a raspy voice, his features twisting with madness as he grinned towards the Princess. "But it seems that the reward was worth it: for when I obtain your magic, I shall enslave all the ponies in that pathetic city of yours, and I'll use their magic to further my campaign. I've got a world to return to, and nothing shall stop me now!"

At the end of his speech he leaned back into his throne and his horns flashed bright orange, and the two unicorns responded to the command. Their horns began to glow a bright white, and then they showered the group of guards with large spikes of solid ice. Blaze jumped to evade the projectiles, watching as the fired mercilessly into the crowd, though their aim was lacking. Not that they needed aim, as the guards were already taking hits.

Blaze fluttered in the air for a moment longer, before raising his sword and diving down at the pair of zomponies. The first unicorn dodged his attack by jumping backwards, horn already flashing in preparation for another bolt of ice. Blaze reacted by closing the distance and swinging his sword at the unicorn, though it didn't evade like he had expected, instead it chose to take the blow. As his sword collided with the unicorn's head, there was a sudden burst of resistance, as if he was striking stone instead of a body. The impact jarred his legs enough that he had to back off, diving underneath a blast of ice in the process.

He stepped back in, jabbing at the chest of the unicorn, but it chose to take the hit without resistance, and a burst of orange flared up in the contact zone. Blaze suddenly understood, this necromancer had placed protective wards around these two, but he was not about to give up just yet. He dodged yet another spike, not sure how to approach this issue, he decided that he had better just keep swinging until there was nothing to swing at.

And much to his surprise, and admitted disappointment, the next swing he sent did far more damage than he had guessed. There was a brief flare of orange, but it vanished and stopped resisting his assault, allowing the ebony-colored steel to pass into the unicorn's shoulder.

The would was non-lethal, but the blow knocked the pony down, allowing Blaze to finish it off before it could react. He swiftly put the blade through the unicorn's chest, eyes diverting to the other one, so he did not have to watch. And as he withdrew his blade, he heard the unicorn whisper, ever so faintly: "Freedom, at last!"

Unsettled by the spoken words, Blaze forced it out of his mind as he jumped back into the air, glad that this chamber had plenty of airspace to maneuver. The single unicorn was now firing at every guard that charged to the stairs, but the numbers were just far too much for the single pony to handle, and they eventually overwhelmed it. Blaze steadied his flying so he could hover and observe what this necromancer would do, though he was greatly concerned by the shit-eating grin he bore with prime confidence. The ram leaned forward in his seat, then proceeded to applaud them for their success, his horns glowing brightly.

"Wonderful! You pitiful ponies will make fine replacements for the scores you've already ended!"

Then there was a burst of magic, and a wave of orange encased the room, the unknown effect worried Blaze to ne end as he landed, terrified of what the seated necromancer had planned. There came the sound of stone cracking from all around the room, and before anypony knew what was going on, even more unicorns marched from out of the dark crevices along the shadowed walls.

Amore called out for them to regroup, and her horn flashed white, surrounding the entire company of guards in an aura of silver and gold. Blaze backed into the rest of the group, holding his blade out as the mass of unicorns all charged their horns to cast many, many more ice spikes towards them. The soldiers all settled into combat stances as they prepared for the worst, yet right as the unicorns began to open fire, the air surrounding the group flared unbearably bright, forcing the company to squint to see.

To Blaze's amazement, the air seemed to be on _fire_ , and was slowly sucking itself inwards towards the group, though it may have just been his eyes. And as the ice spikes began to collide with this mirage of air, they all disintegrated on contact, leaving the group unharmed. In spectacular fashion, the air condensed beyond the guards, sucking towards the Princess, and as Blaze turned around to see her completely scrunched and focused face, then violently exploded out in an orb of light and purity. All the incoming ice spikes were disintegrated, and as the expanding wall of light struck each unicorn, they simply vanished, leaving the entire company free of a horde of zomponies dealing death in spells of preserving ice. As the spell ended, Amore collapsed into the hold of several guards, he immediately began to check her health.

Fortunately, she smiled and weakly attempted to stand on her own, only to have to guards insist on bearing her weight themselves.

"Get her out of here, we can take care of this bucker." Blaze ordered as he turned to face the necromancer, growling as he started to steadily make his way to the throne. The guards carrying the protesting Amore out, happily taking her to the safety of the outer portions of the dungeon cave. The guards that weren't getting the Princess to safety eagerly followed him to face this fiend of the sanctity of life itself. However, at his words, the necromancer stood from his throne, his grin suddenly gone; replaced by an unamused frown with the fleeing of the Princess. Blaze and company halted at the base of the steps, with Blaze being two steps up, while the necromancer's horns lit up brilliant orange. Yet another burst of orange filled the room, but this time, instead of facing another horde of the undead, the iron doors at the entrance slammed shut, glowing a dull orange as dark magics sealed the door shut. The Princess' detachment halted at the doors, being completely unable to pry it open.

"I do not think you understand the position you are in, pony." The necromancer said in a flat tone, his eyes resting in a glare on Blaze, though he rolled his neck and shoulders. The action made the necklace of bells pop out again, their ringing filling the hall with a noise much louder than naturally possible. His horns lit up, and his black cloak flew off of him, revealing a large blue ram, whose red and gold necklace jingled with each step he took. He stopped at the top of the stairs above them, his smile growing with his confidence.

"My name is Grogar, and my titles are many: the Necromancer, the Ancient Darkness, the Unholy Creator, the Ram of Death! I have ruled over ponies for years, my life unending, and my rule unquestionable! Witness the true power of the Dark Arts!" He bellowed out as he stood upon his hind legs, reaching out as if indicating to the world. His horns lit even brighter than before and each of the unicorns that Amore had banished returned, standing battle-ready behind the ram. The two that they had slain earlier were rising to their hooves once more. He settled back onto all four hooves again, his grin returning. "I will take your lives, and return you to service, under my command, and Princess Amore: I am going to use your magic to enslave these worthless ponies, so that they may know a true King!

"I will use the magic you hold to gather every ounce that lays in this forsaken land, and when I am at the height of my power, I shall return to the land I once called mine! I will enact vengeance upon those that have stolen everything from me!" He thumped a hoof to his chest, and the sound of the reverberating bells was all the incentive the unicorns needed to rush down the steps towards them. Blaze stepped back in line with the rest, and they prepared for the charging ponies, though he was thankful that they didn't just fie down upon them like trapped animals.

As they two forces clashed, Blaze realized just how weakened these unicorns were: they must have been so far gone that nearly all of their muscle mass had decayed. He felt the rush of bodes against him, but he had felt worse by foals, and he easily shoves the three jumping him back, using the clearing to swing his sword, taking the three down in a single swipe. The other soldiers were having just as much ease taking down the zomponies, and Blaze was beginning to doubt his fear that this Grogar guy was even that powerful. The dozen or so unicorns died in less than two minutes.

Smiling triumphantly, the company cheered as they stomped up the stairs, glaring down the still viciously grinning Grogar. Blaze's smile faltered when he felt something grab his tail, and as he turned to see who was messing with him, he saw one that the dead had risen again, and had already taken down three of the guards.

Shouting his surprise, he whipped around and began to hack at the zomponies, taking down two in two swipes, and shoving another pair down the steps. The others caught on to the deception fast enough and worked to stop any more casualties from happening. As Blaze hacked the unicorns apart, he felt a part of his mind snapping again, but not nearly the same as last time: this time was more of a sickened, disgusted snap. He felt no bloodlust, only fear and disgust towards the actions he knew he had to do. Still, he continued to hack away at the undead ponies, yet each time he took one down, another took its place, and they were reanimating so fast that the guards were slowly being pushed back towards Grogar, who was grinning madly as his horns charged for another spell.

Blaze returned his attention to the zomponies in front of him, taking down another one before fending off the bites of another. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a guard go flying forward, crashing to the ground near the fire, unable to get up. There was no scream, no sound from the stallion, just a quick death.

He realized then what was happening to them; these zomponies would slowly wear them down, while Grogar kept reanimating them, and raising the fallen guards as well. He panicked for a moment, deciding to jump forward and clear six zomponies at once to relieve those closest to him. He got another swing at a zompony before he was forced to get back in formation, but the respite he had earned them was more than enough to encourage the group to force the advancing undead back down the steps. "Guys! We gotta take down Grogar before he kills us all!"

"You think?!" One of the soldiers at the far end of the steps shouted back sarcastically.

"Give me some space!" He shouted back, stepping forward and pushing down another three zomponies before turning and leaping back up the flight of stairs, where Grogar was preparing to fire again. The ram honed his sights on the approaching pegasus, but realized he had miscalculated the distance, and that Blaze was approaching faster than he liked. He switched his tactics, using the charge on his magic to send another pulse through the room.

This time, instead of reanimating the dead, or sealing the door, the shockwave sent all of the ponies, dead or alive, flying away from him. The blast sent everypony slamming into the wall above the door and had enough force that the large fire was completely put out, along with every torch in the room. With the chamber in complete darkness, Grogar's laugh entered the creatively horrifying minds of the living ponies, the undead being lucky and killed by the blast.

Grogar's horns lit up, though this time the lighting was a light purple, and instead of encasing the entirety of his horns, they simply condensed into balls of smoking energy within the curls. Too bad Blaze couldn't see what was going on; hitting the wall had left him with a concussion, and he had to seal his eyes shut to block out as much pain as possible. As Grogar began to release these balls of purple magic, anypony hit by one instantly turned to a pile of ash. The guards were slowly recovering, but also dying to the magical assault led on by Grogar himself.

As Blaze finally pulled himself back onto his hooves the sight before him was one of utter terror and chaos: ponies diving for any cover away from the balls of death flying towards them from the completely glowing Grogar. How the ram saw in the dark was beyond Blaze, but he was eternally grateful that the magic glowed, else they would all be dead by now.

And as he dreaded the thought of dying here, Princess Amore came to their rescue once again, casting her illumination spell and showing the guards what to do. Blaze reached for his sword, only to find that it had vanished in the mass of dead ponies clustered against the wall. He struggled to keep his balance as he thought of how he was going to stop this guy from killing them all and stealing their magic. He bumped into a cowering guard, nearly tripped, and as he struggled to regain his balance, he felt the blade strapped to his braced extend, forcing his leg up a little.

His head cleared enough just then that he knew what to do, he retracted the blade, though this clarity was lost at the thought of all the death and suffering that this creature had caused, and the bloodlust returned to him. He leaped into the air, making a beeline for the ram while doing barrel rolls around the balls of death Grogar was casting at them. He let out a mighty roar as he connected with the floating ram, narrowly evading the last two balls of dark magic while slamming the extending hidden blade into the necromancer's throat.

The momentum carried as they flew away from the others, soaring over the throne and slamming into the back wall. There was a loud crack as the bells across the necklace Grogar wore snapped and broke, leaving him without his power. Blaze held the necromancer in the air, against the wall for a moment longer, allowing the satisfaction of having ended the being that had ended so many others before sink in.

Then he slowly slid down the wall, resting the dying ram on the ground as the world around them faded into what had to be just the two of them in existence. He laid the ram on his back, allowing the vile thing to look into the eyes of the pony that ended him, and vicious snarl leaving his lips as he stared at the fading ram. After a moment, though, the anger subsided and he was able to think more clearly, and this led him to sit next to Grogar, who was struggling to keep the blood in his neck: vainly struggling. "I would not wish this fate upon anypony, regardless of how evil they are: nopony deserves to be forced into eternal slavery by something beyond their control. I hope that whatever awaits you when you die is equal to the suffering you caused during your life."

"You. . . you ignorant, young. . . young fool." Grogar spat out some globules of blood. "I cannot die: I've made my pacts with those who can make sure I return. And when I do return. . . when I do return, I am going to make you my first slave. . . pathetic pony."

"I'm not the one dying at the hooves of the other here Grogar." Blaze said cautiously. "But even if you do return, I know that I will be ready to kill you, and make sure you stay dead."

"So young, so naïve, do you truly think this kind of power is temporary? I am where I am because I cannot die!" He paused so that he could cough up more blood, this time the energy was obviously leaking from his wounds. "You may sunder my body, but my spirit is beyond your reach: and when she comes here to expand my power, you are going to pay. You are going to pay with everything you have, and then more!"

Blaze stood up from his spot, watching pitifully as the necromancer slowly died from blood loss, the stones underneath of him dyed in crimson with the lifeforce of a being unworthy of it.

The world came back into existence, and things were not the same as before, as now he was surrounded by the surviving guards, who were either staring at the dead necromancer in fear of his words or glaring daggers at the dead body. He understood both reactions, but he had far larger matters to tend to, so he back away from the group, who parted from him in respect. He turned to Princess Amore, who looked very shaken up from the events, but also on the verge of collapse.

"It is done, Princess: the Equestrian guard shall take our fallen brethren and return home, where we can give them the respect they deserve for their sacrifice." His tone was dull, saddened, and almost dead, though his eyes could show the pain he was feeling, he knew that they only showed the numbness slowly overtaking his body.

* * *

 _I just wanted to say thank you for everyone who's come along this far! I thank you all for giving me your time to read this idea I had, and I thank you all for the support of a (let's admit it) rather shitty novel. I wished that I would have had the balls to start this years ago, back when I had both the time and the ability to write whenever I wanted. Maybe then I could have gotten to the stage in the story that I wanted. I have so many plans for this work, and it is just a fucking damn shame that I won't be able to finish them, but I guess that's how life works, right? Anyways: feel free to take inspiration from whatever you want in here, maybe someone out there can do a better job at telling this story than I can, because we can all say that I don't really have the writing skills to do so._

 _I do apologize for the length of these last two chapters, but there was just so much that I wanted to share: I needed to give you all an idea of what his life was like during training, but not spend another 100k words telling you about his daily routines._

 _One thing that I did want to cover at some point, that I've hinted at already, is the involvement of the Mane 6. I did have a larger plan for how they were going to fit into the second half of this story, but I'll tell you all right now: that would probably be in another 100k -150k words away, and I don't have the time to write that many fucking chapters. That, and I know it isn't really a popular thing to write a story like this, without the girls involved, so I doubt many of you would be interested in a 500k word, 35 chapter story filled with OC's._


	20. 20 Magmatic Turbulence

_Author's Note: So, I've got a few things that I'll be needing to say: a couple of explanations and realizations that need to be made public._

 _First, I tried to leave last chapter on a bit of a closing note, as I didn't really have much of an intention on returning to it. Long story short, because it's just one full of personal drama and ain't nobody got time for that; I was just going to stop writing altogether, and leave it at that._

 _Obviously, that didn't happen._

 _So, yeah. . . in case you haven't noticed: I've based quite a few story elements off of my own personal life (which ones though are for me know and you to find out), as more of a personal therapeutic attempt. It was more or less successful, about as much as I was expecting, so I'd just like to thank you all for bearing with me this long, because now we're going where I wanted this to go as far as a story should be concerned. I'm not holding back, as this story has finally moved beyond the major events of my own life, leaving my real creativity to take control. I've got a vision for this story, and it is not dying out anytime soon. However, as I have big plans for the future of Guardian of the Sun, there are a few things that I_ _need_ _to address here and now about the story so far. A few grievous errors that slipped passed my lackluster attentiveness._

 _As it stands, I think we will all agree that this is an alternate history of Equestria, one where things might have turned out a little differently. One of the issues I ran into recently, and one that I have no clue how it came about, is the timeline. If any of you guys are really into the entire universe that Gen 5 takes place in: well, you know what I am talking about._

 _For everyone else; Discord is actually the one of the last villains that Celestia and Luna deal with before Nightmare Moon. Something that I had stuck in my head for whatever reason is that Discord was the first major baddy that popped up shortly after the Pillars of Equestria vanished. So, now that I've gone and royally fucked things up for the timeline, I'm just going to have to go and say 'fuck it' and take this story to it's own little spot in the multiverse. Please do bear with me, as the story is far from over, and many of the things that I've set up for now are going to be implemented in the future. But this version of the development and return of Equestria happens to have Discord sowing chaos a lot earlier than normally, along with every other Easter egg and crossover I've decided to throw in here. The explanation for how this is possible is going to be revealed later in the story._

 _Moving forward, I've decided that too many chapters had passed without a proper dream song, and I'm going to be very disappointed with everyone who doesn't guess the song. And while you guys are in that portion of the story, please know that I own no rights to Ornlu (Any AoE2 fans here?), nor any song lyrics that I use in this story. Those all belong to their respective creators and companies and whatnot, just as any non-OC characters that I had added/mentioned._

 _One last thing of note, one of my dear, dear friends has asked me to start writing a small side story, so expect that to be coming up here shortly. It's. . . it's a little different from the subject material in here, but that is all I'm going to say!_

 _And I wanted to give a huge thanks to everyone who have shown their support for this passion project: the support has really encouraged me to keep producing content. Back to another fine addition to the Guardian of the Sun!_

Chapter 20: Magmatic Turbulence

Blaze blinked several times, still trying to process just what had happened back at the cave, with six decorated coffins resting before him. Despite all the affairs going on in the Crystal Palace right then, he couldn't take his eyes off of the boxes. He knew that they would be taking four home with them, and the idea made his mind blank: he was no stranger to loss, but this was almost a shit-show.

For him, the worst part was that not only had these soldiers lost their lives, but that so many others had as well; all sorts of creatures had been taken by that necromancer. He wanted to be angry, and he wanted to bring that bucker back just to kill him again, but after tearing through as many undead as he had, all that he wanted to do now was head back home and enjoy whatever peace he could get. He was thinking about approaching the Princess and asking permission to return home, but just as he started turning, he noticed several sparkling crystal ponies staring at him. A mare who was clearly a grieving mother held onto her filly, both looking at him with teary eyes, though the mare had the slightest hint of an appreciative smile on her lips.

Blaze swallowed his trepidation, offering a weak smile as he approached, though each step he took made the filly seem a little more nervous. He stopped a short distance from the pair, eyes shifting between the two as he tried to gauge their emotions; his reward was fear and sorrow hiding something.

"Ma'ams, is there something that I can do for you two?" He asked as kindly as he could, the mare perking up and her positivity shining through a little while a smile began to slowly appear on her face.

The mare took a single glance down at her teary-eyed daughter before glancing back up at him, her smile now fully apparent as she began to run a comforting hoof down the filly's back. She sniffled once as she wiped her eyes clean with a hoof. "We-we wanted to thank you for returning him home. There h-have been so many ponies that lost s-somepony close to them during th-this whole disaster, and they usual don't get to s-see their loved ones again. I h-hope that he didn't p-pass for nothing?"

"We handled the situation ma'am, and his passing was not in vain: that fiend is gone, and you're all free to live out your lives again." Blaze answered, his smile disappearing at even more depressing news from what Grogar had done to these innocent ponies. The mare thanked him before taking the filly to a distant coffin, presumably the father of the filly, and as Blaze watched their reactions, he felt a little warmer knowing he stopped any more suffering from happening. The feeling slowly took root and began to grow, turning from bliss that he helped these families to desire. Maybe if he worked even harder, he could stop more in other places to: help spread this feeling of calm and reassurance. His smile returned at the prospect, a low whisper escaping his lips. "And I'll make a promise to keep other families from facing this as well."

He turned to look around the room, where grieving families wailed next to coffins, or simply stared blankly at their fallen loved ones. The sight would have been horrifying, but by now Blaze was determined to keep this kind of pain as limited as possible. The burning in his heart had started, and he was certain of what he needed to do.

So, with determined steps, he approached the throne, where a weeping Amore was sharing the grief with her citizens. He stopped at the base, allowing her time to gather herself, and as she wiped the tears from her eyes, he cleared his throat and stood tall. "Princess Amore; if there is nothing else you need of us while we are here, I ask that you grant us permission to return home, so that we may honor our dead and bury them in peace. We have a lot to do, and I believe it would be best if we were allowed to begin the journey home as soon as possible."

The Princess took a moment to clear her thoughts before she looked down at him, her face scrunched in pain, but relief slowly washed it clear. She nodded once. "There is nothing we need of you or your companions anymore: all that is left is for the families to recover from their losses, and a memorial to be held in honor of these brave ponies. Thank you for your assistance; I doubt we would have survived this menace without it."

"It is our honor to have been able to offer assistance, Princess. I'm sure that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would not mind sending for aid if you request it again: we sure won't." The statement was backed by the remaining five guards, all of whom were bleak-eyed, yet nodding strongly. "I offer you whatever condolences I still have: this is a tragedy nopony should ever have to face. Maybe the next time we meet, it will be under more pleasant circumstances."

"I agree. Farewell, all of you. May your trip home be peaceful and uninterrupted." The guards all nodded, the group collectively turning to gather their fallen comrades and return home. Blaze knew that this was going to be one tough trip, but his determination gave him the strength to approach the caskets holding their three soldiers. He looked at his fellow guards, who all nodded their agreement, and they split between them the caskets, two ponies to each. Carrying their dead through the city felt strange for Blaze, but he was proud that he had one last opportunity to make Scarlet proud.

Because Blaze was the strongest in the group, he took Scarlet's coffin himself, allowing the stallion helping him to run ahead and fetch accommodations for the trip back. And after fifteen minutes of marching through the southern street, earning the saddened stares of once happy ponies, they broke free from the city, facing frozen mountains separating them from the rest of Equestria. Meeting them outside the city limits, much to the surprise of the group, was the same family or merchants that had brought them here. The solemn father in the family stepped forward, his sparkling seemingly faded a bit as he removed his hat and placed it over his chest.

"I'm terribly sorry for your losses, we know what it's like to lose somepony important to you. We figured it would be nice to get a lift back by ponies you may be familiar with, with everything you've done for the city and all." He said, bowing lightly as Blaze gently lowered Scarlet's coffin onto the ground.

"Thanks for the offer, I doubt we'd be able to walk all the way back home carrying our friends through the snow. Are you sure you want to take us though? I think we could find somepony willing to cart us back." Blaze said as he sat down in front of the stallion, the other guards following suit after placing the caskets down. The father simply nodded, putting him hat back on and approaching the large pegasus.

"It'd be my pleasure to help take home the ponies who saved us from destruction at the hooves of those creatures."

"Well, I can't speak for the group, but I'd be grateful for the assistance." The others nodded, and then the family started to move from behind the father, helping to move the caskets inside the wagon. The group of guards were grateful for the help, immeasurably so, and it didn't take long before the entire group was ready to leave. Right as they were about to leave, Blaze walked up to the father, who was starting to hitch himself to the yoke. "Are you sure you have everything you need, though?"

"Kid," The father chuckled. "We've been doing this for generations, even since before the Princesses all took power: we're always prepared for longer trips. Don't worry about us, we'll take care of you all, and make sure you all get home in one piece."

Blaze nodded, returning to his trotting position beside the guy who had tried to help move Scarlet's casket. They began the journey in silence, but once they had gotten out of sight of the city, Blaze turned to the guard. "Now that Scarlet is unable to issue orders, am I wrong to assume you will be taking command until we return to the city?"

The guard turned to him, a smirk on his face as he shook his head. "I think the Princesses would prefer that you take the mantle, until they can officially give it to you. I'd like to imagine that the Captain would have liked you to learn how to lead, given the special treatment the Princesses have been giving you, but I doubt it. He would want us to keep shit together until we can figure out a plan and get home together, so I'll give you some advice about what we need to do, and we'll work out schedules for the sake of staying sane. Let's get the group together: they're going to need orders to keep themselves busy."

Blaze allowed the guy to take the lead, and the pair trotted to the other side of the wagon, where the others were trotting along, though it was clear their heads were far from the trail. The guy called them together, and as soon as they had gathered, he started to give out orders. "Bulwark and Cold Hoof, you two head to the front, protect the team. Shadow, I'm sorry about Star Trotter: he was a good stallion. As it is, you're the only night guard here, so head to the wagon for some rest. Dandy Wing, you and me in the air."

"Shadow's going to be on his own all night?" Blaze asked as the others began to disperse to their assigned tasks, causing the named stallion to turn to him, a smile under his sagging eyes.

"That's how it sounds like." He answered with a shrug, turning back to enter the wagon. "I guess it wouldn't be the first time I've had to solo a shift overnight, not that I'll complain: I won't have to listen to you pussies complain!"

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny Shadow!" Who Blaze assumed was Dandy Wing, being the third pegasus working days, called out as he took to the skies. As the yellow and gold pony circled above them, he began to harass the exhausted night guard. "Get your ass in that wagon and get some sleep!"

"Wish I could keep the enthusiasm." The first guard said as he stretched his wings and rolled his shoulders. "Take the rear: you'll be able to handle just about anything that tries to sneak up on us, with your fighting style. And for when you get into the leadership department, just know what your guys are capable of doing, and put them where they will be used the best. I trust you're flying, but after that cave, dude, you need to be taking things down. Dandy up there: well, he has a bit of an image problem. The guy's so full of himself, I wonder how he got into the guard in the first place."

"Right." Blaze answered, trotting over to the back of the wagon. He watched the sides of the roads, though nothing of interest happened as they made their way through the wilderness. The snow got steadily thicker as they trudged along, though the ruts that marked the path made the snow more of an inconvenience than anything else. That night, the party stopped to rest along the shoulder of the road, resting in a cove underneath several large pine trees that offered meager shelter from the elements. As the wagon was pulled into place, the remaining group slowly settled into a semicircle with the wagon to their backs, the single campfire illuminating their gaunt and tired faces. Blaze sat next to the exhausted pair of earth ponies, Bulwark and Cold Hoof. Steaming soup was passed around for them to dine on, and though there was a healthy portion prepared, none had been saved by the group.

The fire felt amazing for Blaze, and he relished in allowing the warmth to seep into his stiff joints, working him into a more relaxed state than before the journey had begun. He sat there, staring as the tongues of energy lapped at the air, mesmerized by the untamed motions.

He was jolted back to awareness by the movement of the two guards next to him, and as he watched the group, save Shadow and himself pulled out bedrolls from the wagon. The black pegasus trotted to the fire with an empty bowl in hoof. Blaze watched as the others settled into their various sleeping positions, until Dandy looked over at him. "You planning on staying up all night maybe fight a bear or two, Blaze Burn?"

"No," Blaze replied, shuffling his feathers and standing up, earning the attention of the remaining guards. "Just planning on helping Shadow for a couple of hours, so he doesn't get too lonely, you know. Besides, I figure getting some air under my wings tonight might ease the churning in my stomach."

'Mm." Dandy grunted, rolling over and pulling his blanket up.

Blaze did a lap around the smoldering fire while keeping an eye out to watch the others as they each turned in for the night. He stopped at his original seat, and as he watched the last pony hide from the snow under their blankets, finally turned his gaze back to the slowly dying fires. He gently sat down, trying to not freeze his balls off on the cold ground.

Shifting in his spot, he felt the gentle allure of the tongues lulling him into the closest thing to peace he was likely to experience for a while. For what felt like hours, he sat there in silence, entranced by the soft sounds of wood being devoured by what he considered the purest entity in the world. Movement to his left caught his attention, and with great difficulty he managed to tear his gaze from the flames to see Midnight stretching. The fact that the pegasus the shade of his namesake was still sitting there told him that he had not sat there for hours, and that tidbit of information seemed to please him. Smiling inward for his lapse into a wandering mind, he shook his head clear and stood.

Midnight glanced his way as he approached, flapping his wings to get some airflow under them, then nodded to the top of the wagon.

Blaze watched with a cocked head as Midnight dipped low to the ground before leaping into the air, and landing atop the wagon in a single bound. Blaze blinked, then shrugged to himself and followed suit, using his wings to lift him the last quarter as he didn't have the strength to make the jump. Once he was resting precariously on the metallic rings holding the canvas up, he watched as Midnight took to the skies. Sighing to himself, he shifted to avoid falling onto the canvas roof, then jumped back into the air.

He followed Midnight as they did a single circle around the camp, slowly catching up, though that was no issue as soon as he stopped above their camp. Blaze hovered in the air next to him wondering what he was up to. Midnight surprised the larger pegasus by quickly pivoting with short pumps to his wings, and turning to face him. "I'm going to keep heading down south for a hundred feet or so, then I'll come back. I want you to head north the same distance, keep your eyes on the ground, looking for anything that might not belong there. Come back and report whatever you find."

Without waiting for a response, Midnight took off, flying south along the dimly glowing path that marked the road. Aside from a single cloud that drifted across the moon, the sky was bright and clear. Though the cloud blocked the direct moonlight, enough pervaded in the atmosphere and, with the light from the stars, lit the surrounding area enough to see. Blaze watched for a hoof-ful of seconds before seeing to his own task.

He was glad to see that the path behind them was visible, but more than that; the peace that he was feeling was nearly euphoric, with clear air flowing under his wings and in his mane. Flying on silent wings, he kept a careful eye on the ground, but with the openness of the region, with a few trees every now and then, nothing really had a chance to hide. Not that there was really anything hiding in the first place.

Inhaling deeply, Blaze let his mind wander freely, keeping his eyes open for any irregularities while he mindlessly flew onward. His mind went back to the events underneath the snowy tundra, where they had sacked Grogar's lair, dealing with the masses of undead. He shuddered as he thought about how his blade, the very blade resting on his back, had sundered the bodies of those ponies and griffons. While he knew that the knowledge that he had killed would trouble him, what truly worried him was the fact that he wasn't bothered by destroying those two naga, that he was unperturbed by their deaths. He could still feel the flesh of those things giving way, could feel the jarring impact of their bones resisting his blade. The feeling of their bodies falling underneath his blows, with muscle and skin riven by steel; sometimes he felt like his limbs were holding up their fresh corpses, and all he could do was not stumble. The feeling was unlike anything he had experienced before; the adrenaline from the fight was intoxicating and the clarity in his mind was astounding. The confusion of battle that made his instincts kick in was infuriating, but the instincts called for him to partake in the battle.

Now he was here, after the fighting had finished, and the memories of what he had done were no longer distorted by the rush of fighting. The horror it had caused, the sheer disgust, had made him nearly vomit several times after they had retreated from the ruined chamber.

'Those naga had it coming, though.' Blaze thought sullenly to himself, bringing his attention back to the task at hoof. 'They had killed Scarlet, and no matter what, I was justified in what I did: because had I not done what I had, we probably would not be here right now. I will not mope about the past: there is nothing I can do about it anyway. No, what I need to do is move forward with what I know and do whatever I can to avoid situations like these in the future, though. . . maybe, just maybe, I could use what I've learned from here to better do my job back home.'

 **Your abilities are coming into fruition, Gold Blood. I must say, after observing that fight with this Grogar fellow, I do believe that the secret to unlocking this potential you desire is within your blood-lust. Strange for a race of creatures such as yours, a race of passive herbivores, to have such a keen thirst for violence.** Jace commented, his voice echoing in Blaze's skull like the ringing of a large bell. **I must think on it further, but I have a theory about your innate strength, as well as what makes you tick. You are one very interesting creature, Gold Blood. Most interesting.**

Blaze was about to respond, but Jace made it clear he was beyond communication, for even the pegasus could tell that something was taking the entirety of the Spirit's attention. Blaze turned a few irritated thoughts inward, hoping that the unwelcome visitor would sense his displeasure at the random comment, then decided he had gone out far enough. He banked heavily to the left, keeping his eyes glued to the ground while he searched for anything of import, but as was the case during his flight there, there was absolutely nothing for him to report.

As he followed the road back to their camp, his thoughts turned once again towards that unfortunate encounter. As the smoldering campfire came into view, he decided that the best thing he could do was accept the fact that he had gotten extremely lucky, and that he needed to learn how to properly fight.

Before he could see the wagon, the cloud overhead cleared away, revealing a startlingly white backdrop, the ice-blue mountains to the north creating an atmosphere that rang forth with crystal nights and frozen wonderlands. The snowy hills around them resonated with Blaze in a way he had rarely felt. In that brief moment of revelation, he understood the appeal for why the ponies to the north had chosen to settle in the region, as he could see himself being happy in the wintry landscape.

Blaze allowed his mind to return to a neutral state as he glided down to the camp on silent wings, enjoying the fresh air caressing his flight feathers. Sitting next to the wagon was who Blaze figured would be Midnight, seeing as how the dark-colored pony was the only one that should be awake.

However, the closer Blaze got, the more unsure of himself that this was actually the sole night guard standing watch over the party. Midnight was just a normal pony, black coat, and a deep brown mane and tail cut short in the typical guard fashion. He wore the standard night guard blue-shaded steel armor, and had opted not to wear a helmet, as was usually among the pegasi. This pony, however, seemed like the same one from before, with his black coat and brown mane cut short, but as Blaze neared him, he realized one key distinctive feature: Midnight was a normal pegasus. This guy had black, leathery bat wings in place of the standard fare that came with any normal pegasus pony. Blaze immediately took to flying higher into the air, still close enough to get a good look at who he was dealing with, but also being able to stay out of earshot.

He hoped that the moonlight wouldn't cast a shadow on the ground, but that didn't deter him from circling the camp as he got a good like at this stallion hiding in the guise of Midnight. Now that he had a chance to really observe the guy, he noticed that not only were the differences in the wings, but that this guy had fluffy ears, like there were little tufts of fur clinging to the backs and tips of them. The stallion looked around, then glanced upwards, to the north where Blaze should have been coming back from. Blaze wondered if this pony knew whether he was supposed to be coming back, like Midnight would, or if he was perhaps just waiting on something, or somepony.

After thirty seconds of waiting, the stallion seemed to grow impatient, and unfurled his wings in preparation to take off, and that was all the motivation Blaze needed to begin stage two of his emergency and totally well-thought out plan that was not being created on the go. He plummeted towards the ground, closing his wings tight against his side as he fell, feeling the whipping cloth attacking his hips and legs. He hoped that his sword wouldn't slide out during the landing.

Just as the guys was crouching to get airborne, Blaze slammed into the ground in front of him, bending his legs in hopes of absorbing a little of the harsh impact. As the two straightened, he saw the guy's momentary look of surprise, that soon turned into a scowl. "Where have you been? I told you to check back in if you saw anything, and I know you aren't that slow in the air."

"I checked something I saw off to the side of the road. It shouldn't have taken me as long as it did, but it was just a den of foxes none too happy to have me barging in on their home." The lie came out of his mouth faster than thought. He spared a fleeting glance at the pony, and was shaken to see that the guy had a near perfect semblance to Shadow, minus the wings and tufts of fur atop his ears. "What's with the wings?"

"Don't change the subject on me: you were supposed to report in if you saw anything, and I meant 'anything.'" The Shadow-duplicant sighed, shaking his head while shuffling his wings. "But since you elected to stay up for some time, you were fortunate to see our shift blessing first-hoof."

"Huh?"

"These wings, along with a bunch of other enhancements that aren't detectable, are all gifts we received upon choosing to take our positions in the night guard. Princess Luna blesses us with them: a more frightening appearance to better deter miscreants, sharper vision, hearing, taste and smell. They only make themselves apparent during a full moon with a clear sky, but the result is what you see. Besides, most ponies are asleep during the night, so we really don't need any special wings or anything." The guy explained, and it was all making sense for Blaze. Night guards just looked creepy as Tartarus, but he was certain that when he was a colt, if he ran into one of them during one of his random jobs, he'd of been scared shitless.

"So, why only during full moons on a clear night? Seems to me like it would be overly useful to just have it happen all the time, and especially whenever you guys are just on patrol. I could think of only one or two ponies ballsy enough to even try messing with somepony if they looked as intimidating as you. Seems like the best way to prevent any nighttime trouble would be to make criminals scared just to look at you." Shadow just shrugged. "Besides, now you don't look like a pathetic weakling who could be tossed around by a filly."

"Funny. At least I'm not the Princess' plaything." Shadow retorted.

"Hey! I'll have you know I am NOT the Princess' plaything: just one of them, and even then it's a complicated arrangement." Blaze gave the smaller pegasus a playful shove, and with his height and weight advantage, sent said pegasus scrambling to stay standing. "But I'd rather be close to the high and mighty than be struggling against a starved corpse."

"If I remember correctly, you were struggling just as much as the rest of us." Shadow shot back after getting his hooves under him. "Not that that says much, though. By the Princesses that was an awful experience."

"And now it's behind us, so we can continue to do our duty and protect those who would be crushed by those who seek to do harm." Blaze followed Shadow's tone, dropping their voices to reflect the somber thoughts now flowing through their minds. "I know I'm never going to forget that feeling: actually killing something. Like; really killing something, and making sure it stays dead this time around. I'm going to struggle with it a lot. Still, the best thing we can do is move forward, though it sure as Tartarus isn't going to be easy, but it will be worth it. You got anypony waiting for you back home?"

The sudden shift in topic caused Shadow to pause, staring at a point in front of him as if it held the answer he needed. After a moment, he came back to the present, and he ruffled his feathers while trotting forward to take his place near the front of the wagon. "Once upon a time."

"Ooh, a story?"

"No. Just forget about it: I've done a damn fine job at it until now." Shadow glared at Blaze, his eyes boring into the disturbed pegasus. "Besides, you wanted to take part of the night shift, so you better get your attention focused on the roadside. We got more important things to be worrying about than the past."

"I beg to differ. IF you got something waiting for you back home, then it might help you to think about them, and it might be enough to keep the bad thoughts away."

"Kid. . . Look, Blaze." Shadow replied after a pause, his head dipped as he chewed on the words. "I'll tell you this because I know you mean well, and that I know this is having just as bad an affect on your own bearings as it is on ours. Somethings will worm their way into your head no matter what you try to think about, and these happy thoughts you try to get us all to think; they're only going to worsen the effects of the mood. Yeah, sure: at first you might feel fine, but after a while, the two sides are going to convolute. They'll mix together, and your hopes become your fears, while these nightmares start to strengthen from the memories of positivity swelling inside them. You've never had to deal with things like this before, so it might be less grating for you, but it will still happen. Do whatever you can to repress these memories, but they will come back."

Blaze's answer was slow coming, but he wanted to make sure it was the right reply to what this guy was telling him. "You're wrong about one thing, though.

"You are correct in the statement that everypony needs to do whatever they can to deal with these, even if your opinion is to repress the memories. However, where you fall short is the assumption that I have never dealt with this before." Blaze continued, stepping in front of the bat-winged pony so he could demand his attention. "I have not killed like this, but I am not so fresh as to never have witnessed a murder before, and you should remember that while I may be young by you standards, I have seen some horrible things. I was one of the three ponies that infiltrated The Sister's castle a couple years back, stealing some of the merchant's good locked away in the vault. There was an assassin with us, and she killed several ponies during that venture.

"Yes, it may be true that nopony has ever really seen what we had to go through before, but do not assume for a second that I am some blind fool who thinks I am something I am not. I went here because I wanted to: and I am returning because I have to. My motivations for pushing forward are that I have ponies that rely on me, that need me to continue being me, being mentally healthy, but most importantly; they need me to be _there_." He stared into Shadow's brown eyes, noticing in the glinting pale moonlight that there were shadows recessed within the earth-like texture of his iris'. He found the sight aptly accurate. "If you have somepony back home, think of them, and think of how you're sacrifices keep them safe. It's the only thing we have left, because once these fights take everything else away, we'll still have the fire to fight so long as those we love fuel the need to protect."

He stared at Shadow for a moment longer, then turned and slowly trotted back to his side of the wagon, eyes and ears peeled listening for anything that might come close to them. He was a bit surprised that Shadow hadn't responded, but he accepted that it was what it was.

He felt the tug of the night lull him into a sense of bliss, though he fought his hardest to stay alert, and the arc of the moon across the starlit sky was the only marker to the passage of time. After three hours of sitting at the back of the wagon, staring into the gently glowing landscape, he succumbed to the exhausted demands of his body. He grunted to get Shadow's attention, and when the black pony glanced his way, he nodded towards the camp. Shadow returned the nod but let him head off to sleep. As Blaze crawled into his bedroll by the dying coals, his last thoughts were to the busy week he had had.

'Heh. Bat pony.' His mind churned slower and slower as he feel into the depths of slumber, but that last description of what Shadow had become struck a chord, and the humor emerged as a single tired chuckle while the last of his faculties slipped into the abyss.

 _The sudden chill of the snow was gone now, replaced only by the searing heat of the large bonfires below, each formerly being a building of some sort. Blaze shook his head rapidly as he tried to clear the smoke from his eyes as he passed through a column of the stuff. Banking his wings to the side, he used the rising heat to maneuver around two other pillars of charring smoke. As he pulled out of the turn, he noticed a pair of wolves, each larger than seemed possible, dive onto a cloaked figure. The figure stood its ground, but the bo staff it wielded seemed pitiful against two monstrous wolves._

 _He glanced away as the pair of canines leapt at the creature, letting his wings carry him away from the horror surely unfolding below. He tried finding somewhere that wasn't being besieged by massive wolves of flesh and hunger, but there seemed to be no end to the mass of teeth and claws. The wolves unceasing numbers flooding into the small village that was already alight with writhing flames, with destruction that was pure and complete._

 _He wanted to look away, to find something more pleasant to fill his eyes and ears, but he had little choice now: his sense of obligation was overwhelming. So instead of leaving these creatures to be picked off and torn to pieces, he thought of the quickest way to end their misery. Surely it would be to just assault them directly, but that would have broke his word to the pack Alpha; Ornlu._

 _So, in lieu of backing away or relentless aggression, Blaze took the solemn duty of watching the desolation of the village below. He was the wolves' eyes in the skies to signal any fleeing villagers._

 _The day was dark and windy, but the nagging winds hardly bothered Blaze, for his attention was focused on following a trio of small pandas making a break for the edge of the bamboo forests surrounding the settlement._

 _He never even had to warn the wolves: their keen noses detected the creatures before he could take breath to shout. His gaze was glued to the carnage as the trio of black and white ursae were pounced upon by an equal number of dire wolves. Had this been some normal raid conducted by normal animals, he'd of been less concerned, as was the mindset he had nowadays, but these were far from normal wolves._

 _Even from his vantage point above the forest-top the wolves seemed far larger than they should have been. His experiences with the massive canines had been interesting to say the least: brutes and savages the lot of them, but with a pack mentality of sheer determination and survival instinct. It had brought about his current conundrum when he had investigated them, and now he found himself ensuring the survival of a race far older than any equine species he had heard of._

 _The wolves made short work of the pandas, and thus left Blaze to continue his searches around the village._

 _One lengthy hour later, after most of the town lay smoldering and the grueling stench of death clung to the air like thickened fog, he finally found time to rest upon a ridge overlooking the expansive bamboo forests that evaded the chaos below him. Though many of the buildings were finally burning out, the plumes of smoke still rose from the ground like black pillars marking the passage of countless lives into the unbiased grip of the void._

 _The day was coming to an end, with Celestia's sun slowly fading towards the western horizon, and Blaze was soothing his mind by watching the light glint off of the pillars of smoke rising from the ruins. Despite most fires putting themselves out quickly after burning through any fuel, there was a significant amount of smoke still coming from the expanded wolf territory._

 _No small part of that being from Blaze's assistance in locating the isolated village on the border of the dire wolf hunting grounds._

 _He shook his head, hoping to figure out a plan for what he was going to do before summer faded into autumn. Just a measly week or two before he would attempt to board a ship heading towards mainland Equestria, but there was still so much he wanted to learn and record about both the wolf and panda cultures here. Albeit, his interest was decidedly favoring the former's._

 _With Jace going mute, he let his mind drift back to the columns of smoke, his imagination kicking in as he tried to find something within the shapes that was so alluring. It wasn't long before the churning of the smoke began to arrange itself into shapes, fuzzy and distant at first, as if they were still deciding what form would be best to appear as. Then, all at once a mighty herd of reg-eyed cows he saw, plowing through the ragged sky and up the hazy draw._

 _He had to blink to make sure he was seeing this correctly, for the herd seemed endless as it materialized out of each and every column of smoke, the pillars acting as some kind of gates to grant the bulls material form. He was impressed._

 _As the daydream gradually grew in strength, he noticed something strange about the animals: they each had brands instead of cutie marks, and each and every brand was bright red, as if still on fire. As if the demonic bulls weren't interesting enough, as each one took a step, a clang could be heard, faint as a whisper, but numerous as a swarm of changelings, as if their very hooves were made of steel._

 _The herd continued to stream out of the smoke, each black, brazen bull charging like made towards the nearest bunch of clouds, disappearing within it's dusty gray folds. In contrast to the lighter clouds, he knew he saw the dark silhouettes with horns black and shiny, while their hot breath he could feel._

 _He wanted to blink and look away, but the picture his mind had made was just to great, as he was now captivated by the sight unfolding before him. Fear gripped him in bolts as he watched the herd thunder through the sky, for as he looked deeper, images faded into sight that he had never seen before._

 _The very same creatures that he had bore witness to hiding in the dead of night, and within the shadows of the ethereal realms: Humans._

 _Only, as these humans approached from the heavens above, charging down another bank of massive storm clouds, he saw they weren't alone. They charged down riding what appeared to be massive ponies, equines that looked similar, if a lot wilder; with harsh eyes, thin frames and a size more comparable to either himself or these dire wolves. It was at this point in his vision, with these riders approaching, that stirred the voice in his head from an ancient silence._

 _ **Cowboys.** Men who rode to chase this herd of red-eye cows across the crimson sky, instilling in him a form of fear that he had never felt before. It was different, for the riders approaching, while nearly endless, were coming hard, and he could hear their mournful cry._

 _The fear suddenly made sense, as to why he felt such a primal urge to run and cower away from these spectral beings, these were creatures not from this world, nor any single other. This was a collection of riders from worlds the likes of which not even Jace had wanted to talk about: Ghost riders in the sky._

 _He couldn't help himself, and he felt his wings carrying him closer to these creatures, these men that were so obviously bitter and exhausted. Their faces gaunt, their eyes were blurred, their shirts all soaked in sweat. He stared with increasing alarm at the sheer number of riders chasing the thundering herd of cows, cows that had long-since been claimed for this very purpose eons ago. The closer he got, the more he saw._

 _He was staring at the sight in terror, when something stirred from the mass of information he wanted to capture and caught his undivided attention: the sound of something screaming at him. He glanced to the ground, wondering who would be calling for him, as it did not sound like the wolves, whose guttural voices were distinct. Then, a single rider stopped his mad charge forth and paused his rearing horse in front of Blaze, who could only stare aghast at the occurrence. He heard him call his name._

" _If you want to save your soul from Hell a-ridin' on our range," The cowboy called out in a voice as sweet as candy but rough as rocks, pointing a single finger at the pegasus. "Then cowboy change your ways today or with us you will ride; trying to catch the Devils herd across these endless skies. Yippee i-o. Yippee i-ay."_

 _Ghost riders in the sky._

 _Blaze watched as the rider whipped hard on the reins of his horse and resumed the reckless charge against the cow._

 _Ghost riders in the sky._

 _It took some time before the horde of riders finished charging from the smoke column into the bank of clouds several miles west of the village ruins._

 _Ghost riders in the sky._

 _When the final riders vanished, Blaze's attention was finally diverted back to the ground, which was rapidly approaching. In a mild panic, he flared his wings and caught himself before he crashed against the charred, blood-soaked ground. Even though he saved himself from a damaging impact, he still landed rather gruffly, but recovered fast enough._

 _His eyes lingered on the blood for a bit longer than he would have liked, but he managed to tear his gaze back up to see the pack of wolves slowly walking up to him. His revulsion only grew as he saw the corpses of several pandas lying in many of their mouths._

" _Pony!" He turned to see the massive wolf, taller than him and certainly taller than even Princess Celestia herself, that was the Alpha, Ornlu march forth from between two hut husks. The Dire wolf Alpha had blood and gore smeared over his muzzle, though he also sported several new cuts and gashes. "You have done well, and held your end of our deal. Pony has helped the Pack, pony is now Pack-friend!"_

 _That got several pleased howls from the wolves not clamping down on future meals, and even Ornlu himself allowed a brief wag of his tail._

Blaze awoke with a start, his heart racing as if he was still in the midst of that dream, flying above the slaughter of creatures he had never even known existed. His vision was met with a deep blue sky, instead of the smoke-laden one from his dream, and the realization that he was finally out of the dream allowed him to ease his breathing.

Though the dream had unsettled him, he knew from the light entering the sky that dawn was just an hour or two away, and that sleep was going to evade him for the remainder of the day. He begrudgingly sat up, refusing to notice the chill biting at his fur as the bedroll blanket slid off of his torso. Two of the guards had already gotten up and were hunched over the growing fire, taking whatever warmth they could before the day began. He watched them for a second before deciding that he had better join them.

As the pegasus rolled his bedding together, Shadow landed in the camp and joined the two day guards at the fire, now sporting his feathered wings in the absence of a full moon shining overhead. Blaze took a moment to reconsider what he knew about this guy, which was little to nothing at best.

He wondered what would cause somepony to take the night shift, as he never really saw the appeal in staying up all night. His best guess was that there was something that the guard preferred in the solace of the sleeping hours, though Blaze thought the time was dreary and timeless. To him, nights always felt like a period in life where nothing really wanted to move, and only the most daring sought to use the blackness for deeds. He didn't like that he couldn't see everything around him, but the worst part was that everything felt as if it had gone to sleep: the ponies, the animals, even the trees and buildings seemed to call in quits when the sun had gone down.

It was in those ponderings that something came to the front of Blaze's mind, and as he reviewed everything he thought about the night, he started to understand something that was inconceivable to him before the events of Grogar's Cavern.

'Surely Princess Luna would have done something about it if that had been the case: she may not always be on top of taking care of the ponies at night, but she wouldn't just let them go crazy for no reason.' His mind was just getting to whir down this new rabbit hole when the crackle of the fire brought him back to what was going on around the camp.

Blaze noted internally with slight pride that his mind was sharper than it was before his training and studies with the Princesses had begun. He had followed an interesting mental path with some curious information at it had only taken him several seconds to find that conclusion. It seemed that his distraction had permitted Shadow to take a seat next to Bulwark and Dandy. He shook his head and finished tying his bedroll together, then trotted over to the fire, nodding his morning greetings to the three gathered guards. Once they had the fire going, they sat around the circle of heat and enjoyed silent companionship of those who were still alive.

The sun broke over the eastern horizon in silence, as none of the four thought to break the peace that had enveloped them, so it took until the rest of the guards and the kind family to get up before the morning meal would be prepared.

A pot full of snow was set over the fire, allowing the melted snow to boil so a breakfast drink of hot tea with biscuits could be enjoyed before a long day on the road.

Blaze relished the hot drink, as he found the warmth spreading across his body relieving after these passed couple of days. With the nightly fast broken, the group worked quickly to get the camp cleaned up and the wagon ready to travel. Shadow took his leave to get some rest inside, while the rest either hitched themselves up, or worked to organize things for a safe trip.

He tried his best to entertain himself by watching his breath fog in the air, rolling as more warmth air rushed out of his muzzle and into the frigid winter air.

As before, they made quick work of their camp, packing everything and hurrying along their way after breakfast, and the group set to hurry back. Grave news had to be delivered, and while he was certain that he could have flown back to the city in a day, maybe thirty-six hours, he stayed behind as was his duty to both those remaining and to Scarlet Cloud. He felt responsible for the captain's death, and wanted to be there as his body was returned to the city he had served. Breaking camp was simple, as the temperatures made everypony want to get moving as soon as possible.

The second day traveling was spent in a grand silence, as nature itself seemed to be enjoying the frozen land with quiet content. Blaze certainly would not complain, the easier it was to get back, the better: though a part of him really did want some bandits to attack, as it would have provided him an excuse to vent some built-up emotion.

As it was, there was no bandit attack, and the second day came to a close all too rapidly, though they had worked their way out of the mountains and were making camp at the edge of the large plains separating the Foal Mountains from the large pillar of stone marking the mountain range at the center of Equestria. They all settled around the campfire, enjoying the radiating heat circling outwards, while Shadow prepared for another long, solo shift watching the endless expanse of snow.

Blaze took pity on the guy, and volunteered to keep watch for an extra couple of hours, like the night before. Even though he knew that Shadow was grateful, the guard had decided to not do any talking that night, and it had become clear to the youngest pony in the squadron of guards that the bat pony was still mulling over the idea of having his leathery wings visible all the time.

Blaze took the shift in stoic silence, hoping that things would turn out better for the guards once they were back home, without the worries of the road, and without the fear of undead abominations to rip their throats out.

As he crawled in his sprawled bedroll, eyes lazily tracking several of the constellations he knew of, his mind turned back to the events within his dream before. He was as equally curious about the events that unfolded as he was of the fact that Luna hadn't bothered showing up. Though, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Luna had pretty much ignored him the entirety of the trip. In his mind, it was because of his super awesome skill with a blade, and the fact that he was just such a badass that he didn't need no Princess watching over him like a mother hawk. The truth was probably far less glamorous, but eh, guy's gotta dream.

His dreams were elusive that night, or if he had them, he remembered nothing that his subconscious cooked up for his wandering mind to enjoy. Still, it did give him the opportunity to recuperate from the stress of the last few weeks, months if he was going to be honest with himself. He woke that morning feeling brighter than he had in some time, and with his refreshing sleep, the day seemed better-off than most.

His cheery mood seemed to infect the others, and as the camp was stored within the folds of the wagon, the party set off with a pop in their step. Most of them did, at least: nopony was sure, but one or two imagined Shadow was trying to sleep through the jerky motions of the stallion's pulling the wagon at random gaits.

But their moods were to bright to be sullied by such concerns as a sleeping comrade.

About noon on the third day, as they rounded pass the mountains, a small carriage came into sight in the distant north. It took most of the afternoon for the carriage to became recognizable, and when it did, Blaze groaned in disbelief. As he was running the air patrol, he saw the incoming carriage first, warned the others about it, and then proceeded to keep a careful eye on it's approach. Yet, as he realized who was closing in on them, he felt a mix of feelings towards the incoming group of assassins. He was certain it was Rainbow Crescent and that bulky dude Slate, as the carriage was the only he had seen that looked as it did. And considering they were also coming from the Crystal Empire, alone, meant that it could only be so many ponies.

The carriage closed the remaining distance when the party decided to call the traveling a day, with a dozen or so leagues before the now-visible Everfree Forest was on them. The carriage came upon the party as they finished setting up camp, with Blaze having explained the situation to them. What amused the party the most was that as the assassins' carriage pulled up, the stallions pulling it seemed to drop then and there. Then both Rainbow and Slate climbed out of the carriage, looking as relaxed as ever, and Blaze couldn't stop the smirk from crawling across his face.

"You two are looking positively delighted at having personal handlers hauling you around."

Rainbow returned the smirk, though her approach was tainted by her fresh white cloak blending in with the snow. "You wouldn't want to make a lady walk all the way across the country all on her four hooves, would you?"

Blaze rolled his eyes, but otherwise left her comment untested as he turned to face the gawking group, who had stopped setting up camp for the sake of watching the integration. Blaze mad a shooing motion to get them moving again, and it seemed to bring many of them back to the task at hoof. And only once he was satisfied that he had removed the majority of the distraction did he walk the pair of assassins over to the barren campfire. He nodded to one of the stallions from the merchants, who tossed him a fire-starter to get going on the fire. While he hunched over the bundle of kindling, doing his best to get some combustion going, Rainbow and Slate took seats on either side of him, relaxing from a busy day of traveling.

"So, we managed to catch a little bit of the celebrations before we had to leave, though we wouldn't of really had a chance to participate if we had wanted to. Busy life; one of an assassin and all," Rainbow commented once the kindling had caught an ember, the sparks of a fire glowing to life. "From what was heard being screamed across the entire city, your merry little band of knights charged into the lair of that freak and took care of him."

Blaze grunted, posture hunched as he brought the kindling into a hungry little pillar of fire, dropping some twigs over the aspiring blaze.

"Not that it came as a surprise, of course." Spoke a voice to Blaze's right, and it took him a moment to remember that Slate was also here. The large, namesake-colored pony shuffled in his seat, glancing around at the not-so-subtly staring ponies who were starting to gather around the building campfire. Some carried supplies, another had a pot, and a couple were hauling some snow to boil. "We've heard rumors about where you come from, and the feats your blood can do."

"As it is, though," Rainbow continued, as though Slate hadn't said a word. "you did a mighty fine job of taking care of that little problem, and in doing so, saved us some work. For that: you have our thanks, though since you are an unofficial brother, we'll just go with it was part of your duty. I am most curious, however: what was it exactly in that dwelling you delved into, and who did you kill?"

"There was a necromancer by the name of Grogar hiding in the deepest parts of the cave, along with a small army of undead creatures that we had to fight off. We lost a lot of good ponies in doing so, but we managed to get to him, where I was able to bring him down." Blaze explained, tossing several seasoned oak wedges on top of the fire. Once he was satisfied the fire was tended enough for the time being, he leaned back and turned to look directly at the cyan mare. "Although, I've got to seriously thank you, because you guys are the only reason we survived."

The comment earned him a surprised, and somewhat flattered look from the assassin, who's eyebrows slanted into a v-shape while her nose scrunched up. In explanation, he lifted his left fore-hoof and flexed the muscles, releasing the mechanism concealing the shining blade. "Once Grogar had disarmed me, he thought that I was helpless, and let me get close enough to use this on him, and because I could close the distance, I was able to. . . to kill him."

The sudden shift in his demeanor, from gratitude and cheer to gloom was not lost on both assassins, who watched in silent understanding. Unfazed by their silence, Blaze carried forth, "We lost a few good ponies during this fight, and while we are going to do the best to honor their memories, and had already avenged their deaths. . . well, it's going to take some adjusting. I don't know if I'll ever be the same again after that cave."

"Kid, you may have some special gift in your blood, or whatever it is that caught Celestia's eye, but you are still just that: a kid. A foal," A comforting hoof was placed on his left shoulder, inciting his raised eyes. "We've all been there before, and coming from the more experienced of us assassins, I'll tell you that things get easier the less you think about them."

"Yeah, I know. It's just getting myself to stop thinking that is going to be difficult. But I've already figured that part out, probably shortly after the whole thing was over."

"Good. In other news, I wanted to go over a couple of things with you," She glanced around at the camp that had done their best to be 'discreetly' listening in on their conversation with a frown. As she continued speaking, she decided that her wagon was the best place to have a private chat. "about your initiation into the Order, as well as what I'll be needing from you. Though, maybe we should get to someplace where we won't have to speak in an alien language for the sake of anonymity. Follow me."

He decided not to argue, and instead stood up and took slow steps to avoid rushing ahead of the tiny mare. That was probably the most annoying thing in life for him, at least the largest inconvenience in his life; his long legs made pacing with others difficult.

The two climbed into the small carriage and sat as comfortably as they could, Blaze watching Rainbow in curiosity and eagerness while said mare was simply taking a moment to collect herself, as if she was out of breath. He found it strange that she would be so unfit, as she had struck him as the kind of mare to keep herself from going soft. Once the wagon stopped rocking, Blaze stared with a renewed intensity at the prospect of things getting far more interesting than before.

"So, as you know: Slate and I were sent to the Crystal Empire for the sake of gathering some information, as well as a few other items and chores to do. What you were not aware of was what that entailed exactly." She started in a struggled voice, one that sparked a hint of concern for him as he watched her pause to finally collect herself. "Basically; we got information, killed a target, and delivered and received a few messages for the Order.

"The information was just regarding some of the informants used by Al Capony and his gang of misfits, the sorts of which you might here if you follow us to our headquarters in the capital. What you should know right now is that the main reason Al is even alive, as I've told you before, was that we wanted to get some more information about his meetings with the others like him, where we may strike and remove a portion of the membership immediately. The good news is that we got some information, leading to the less good news: that information is in the form of a frighteningly short list of couriers that are used by the group of Al's fanatics," She sighed and leaned against the headboard, her muscles collapsing in on themselves, something that made his concern shine even more considering she was wearing a bucking cloak. "This list has an astounding two names on it, but at least that is two potential leads towards gathering what we need to finally be rid of this menace."

She pulled out a scrap of parchment that held a list of names, the majority being scratched out with black ink. She winced as she offered the list to him, but he declined the item, instead focusing on the pain the mare was obviously in. "What happened to you?"

"Oh, it's nothing; just a little scratch some lucky guard got during our escape after killing a particularly paranoid pony. His paranoia may have been justified, but really he didn't do enough for it," She shrugged. "Like I said earlier; we had some other jobs to do. One of my jobs was to take care of a loose end, a pony who had offered information about Al Capony and his efforts, though was a member of that very same group. Slipped in and did what I had to, but the lucky bastard with a pike had just so happened to be skimping on his duties and waltzed across me."

She shifted in her seat and a fold of her cloak shifted as she spread a wing to reveal a small rip in the fabric across her ribs. Through the hole, Blaze saw clean bandages instead of a wound. "I redress the wound as needed, twice so far, and with the medicine we keep on us, I'll be fit as a fiddle in no time.

"Besides, if this is the price for what I do, well, suffice to say I don't envy the guy I killed: this is hardly a scratch, but he took some serious wounds before he died. Truly impressive what a pony can survive, though I tried to keep it quick and quiet, the bucker still bled a lot." She explained as she settled back down, hiding the injury under wing and cloak again, though her smirk persisted to indicate her lightened mood. "Now that we got done with this work, we might finally make some progress on taking down the traitor. And once we get back home, we'll finally introduce you to the rest of the family, hopefully get you initiated and working too! Though, I don't know for sure when we'll get you in, but at some point somepony from the Order will come about and contact you regarding it. Until then, when we get back into the city, I've got a couple of things for you to do."

"Oh?"

"Keep your eyes peel for anything unusual, just watch for anything happening with those thieves, as Al is sure to be busy when he learns that we've started to take down his world. We're starting small, but anything that we do against him might set him off, and until we know exactly what, where and when he does anything, we can't risk letting him get away. We may have contacts around the city, but many of them are freeloaders and beggars: the exact audience Al and his thieves go to for the same information. They might as easily tip him off to our activities as tip us off to his, so the more eyes we have the better, especially the loyal ones."

"Okay, but what would I even look for? If Al plans on doing anything, what are the chances that I'll be the one to catch whiff of it?" Blaze was approaching incredulous of the prospect of being a sentinel over things that he didn't understand.

"We need all the help we can get here, Blaze. Look, Al is part of something big, remember? Like, 'Trying to resurrect Discord' big, and the more ponies we have on our side, the better chance we have of beating him and those insane fanatics," Her gaze softened, and the smirk returned after having been replaced by a somber straight face. "But I doubt we'll even be able to use you: Celestia seemed pretty damn certain that she wants you by her side as much as possible."

"Please don't remind me." Blaze sighed and shook his head.

"No. I enjoy reminding you: the blush makes you look super adorable, especially on such a big and strong stallion who carries a large sword across his back," He shot a glare her way, but she steadfastly ignored it. "And it is fun things like this that you need more of in your life if you want to keep your sanity, they've done wonders for me.

"On to the next topic: what you should probably expect to happen once we get you into the Order. First off, you should know that much like those thieves you sided with, the Order handles its business on an individual basis, and each pony fills a different role within the ranks. We'll discuss those in great detail later, but for now you need to know that whatever skills you bring to us will be the ones we base your initial role on, although your assignments may change as we further discover what exactly you can do. And judging from what I've heard talking amongst the crystal ponies, you may be one of our bruiser fighters, with your size and strength. Also, after seeing you going hoof to hoof with Luna like you did, I'd be willing to put more than a few bits on you taking a spot in our forefront assault operations whenever we have them. Besides, if you take a stealth or saboteur position, I might be out of a job, and we can't have that!"

"Your job may be at risk right now, with that debilitating injury of yours," Blaze smirked back, flashing his bracer-bearing forehoof, along with the glistening steel blade. "Besides, I happen to think that a stealth occupation might be more fitting for one of my stature, where shadows will assist my diminutive size in hiding from fierce ponies who might seek to overpower me."

"Right," Rainbow chuckled. "We shouldn't put you out there, where even the smallest of fillies have the chance to hurt you and steal our secrets."

The two shared a brief laugh at the jest, the mood brightening and relieving Blaze of some of the stress he'd been holding onto. As the last of the chuckles faded behind them, Blaze took a moment to really get a look at the mare, who was resting in her seat. He thought he saw a friend in her, though he knew that there was a lot he was going to work through before he could truly call her one. What he did see, now that he had taken some time to look at the assassin as more than just a killer for hire, was a pony with similar goals to him.

Rainbow Crescent may have been an assassin, but like he had been a thief of circumstance, so too was she a victim of time. He noted that they both wanted to keep the peace, and the prevent disaster from ruining the lives of those powerless to the whims of fate. In a way, he saw a kindred soul in this downtrodden path to clean the mess of society and maintain the mechanisms that kept civilizations alive. Him by helping those in need, and protecting the weak. Her by killing those who sought the other end of life; among the darker desires of existence.

A strong-willed pony who was doing her best to make lives easier for those who had no knowledge of the hardships they fought. And upon reaching that conclusion, he decided that this was truly a pony who he could befriend, and through their union, he saw a brighter future for all. Her vibrant pink eyes focused down on him as he asked his simple question: "Now that you're injured, aren't you glad you got this ride to take you back?"

"Nah." She waved the question off. "I'd prefer to just fly on back home, drop the information off to Master Ahad, then get some rest, pain be damned. But, since we had this ride for the trip up here, might as well use it on the way back."

"Why'd you bring this up here? Wouldn't it have been easier to just fly up here on your own, do your business then fly back?"

"It would, but the whole point of the ride was that Slate and I were supposed to be a merchant couple looking to expand our business from the south, opening up some trade routes with the Crystal Empire. Our story set us up to meet with one of the larger business owners in the city, and it had several other convenient uses to it, like being able to transport larger supplies for those of our siblings outside the capital."

"I take it he was disappointed to learn that you had no intention of meeting with him, as you had business elsewhere."

"Oh, on the contrary, who do you think we were sent to kill?" She answered. "The ruse was especially useful in the circumstances, and it made getting to him a lot easier than you would imagine. Of course, like I said earlier; the bastard had more defenses than we had anticipated, and one of his goons got lucky. But to answer the original question: yes, I am very glad that we had this carriage ready. While I do wish to just fly on back, I'm not going to worsen an injury just for the sake of saving and extra day or two."

"Hmm," Blaze absorbed the lull in conversation, unsure of how to proceed, as he felt there was something he needed to say, but the thoughts eluded him. Rainbow Crescent also seemed ensconced by the silence, allowing the sounds of breathing to encapsulate the pair as they tried to find a path free from the reticence. He leaned forward in his seat to shuffle his wings, then pulled himself tighter in the carriage before he took too much room and cramped the space. "I guess. . . I guess we'll talk more when we have something important to discuss, but right now I think there are a few things that I might like to think over. So. . . see you later, I guess?"

As awkward a farewell as it was, both ponies appreciated the break and exited the carriage and back into the chilling world. Blaze inhaled deeper than he thought he needed, feeling rejuvenated with the frigid air, and relaxed more than he would have liked.

He spoke with a few of the others whenever he was asked a question, but for the most part he kept to himself. He ate his taciturn meal, grateful that the others seemed to detect his desire for solitude, and gave him peace. His mind was buzzing with ideas, processing information, and preparing for the future, or at least running scenarios that he thought he would most likely run into. He knew what he wanted right then; getting back home and making sure everypony he loved and cared for was safe and protected. But the more he thought about it, the more unease he felt towards what else he would do in life: he had options, though Celestia was most likely going to fight tooth and horn to keep him by her side. What was he going to do once he had taken care of Al? Would he just accept where life was taking him, and join the Princesses' sides? Fully commit to the Assassins, start taking the lives of ponies insane enough to worship Discord?

The questions never ended, and each time he though he could answer one, another would suddenly make itself his top priority, His head was beginning to ache, but before it could get too terrible, he cut off the basic functions of thought in preference of watching the ponies around him. He was never particularly excellent at the meditative studies that Celestia had sent him through, no more than any other hotheaded youth with a busy schedule, but he was decent.

Clearing his mind was a simple matter of tracking his breathing in slow, measured steps until he could only focus on his breathing.

Once he felt sufficiently calm, he opened his eyes and began to observe the interactions of those around him, noting primarily the downtrodden moods of the guards, the conflicted moods of the merchants, and the general passiveness of the assassins and their transporters. His ears flicked from side to side as he listened in on the various conversations, but nothing really stood out to him, so he continued to rotate his attention to the groups converging and diverging at a whim. His eyes scanned each pony, looking for nothing in particular, but noting whatever he could.

Celestia had wanted him to have some skills like this, of that he was certain: she was going to try to push him into a leadership position, maybe even take Scarlet's title as Captain. While the idea had some appeal, he agreed that he could use the skills, but firmly rejected the idea of taking a position in the guard just yet. His focus was on protecting him family from the likes of Al, who had shown to be a traitorous bastard, and if the assassins wanted him dead, he'd make sure to find proof of his guilt.

One thing that he knew for sure was going to happen was his role in finding out about this supposed mission that Al and his little group of fanatics were going to have. Though he was unsure of the future, he knew that there was enough to do in the now that he shouldn't really need to worry about it.

He let himself a small smile, knowing that things would get easier, especially once he's able to deal with Al. That smile soon faded, however, once he remembered that there were still so many problems that had to be dealt with; things that had nothing to do with Al or those bucking fanatics. The largest, most glaring issue being the events in Grogar's Cavern, and the death of these three good guards, pones who had futures, lives and probably some family to come home to.

Even if he decided not to join the guard, he should at least help those powerless by stopping villains the likes of Grogar and Discord, shouldn't he? At the very least, he shouldn't just squander the power in his blood, of that he was certain.

Hoofsteps crunching some snow behind him alerted him to the approach of somepony, and as he started to turn around, Rainbow took a seat next to him, eyeing his curiously. "I wouldn't normally offer you this, but I know what it's like trying to process the horrid things that happen under these kinds of circumstances. Whatever happened to you in that cave, I'm here to listen if you want to talk about it, so give me a holler if you ever need somepony's ear. Bring Asta to the large building down by the southern marketplace: it's a mare's house and she'll be able to find me there. Wait by the door, but send her in asking for me, and if I'm there, I'll come out to talk."

"What's a 'mare's house?'" Blaze asked, suddenly curious as to the offer. "And why bother bringing Asta along if I'm just going to talk to you?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes, a weak and exasperated smile forming on her blue muzzle. "A mare's house is self-explanatory: just a safe space for fillies and mares to stay, where the likelihood of something tragic befalling them is dramatically reduced. Colts such as yourself are forbidden from entering the premises, which is why you'd need to bring Asta along. I here the two of you are close."

Blaze shrugged his shoulders in apparent apathy, though inwardly he was berating himself over his harsh words towards his sister. He needed to mend their relationship before they drifted to far apart, else he feared he might lose any grip on reality. "We are, but why can't I just knock on the door, and then ask for you from there?"

"Because the concept behind a mare's house is that we try to shelter everypony inside from the other sex, and if a male were to knock on the door, they would be extremely unlikely to even answer it. You'd be pounding away until you either gave up or somepony inside had enough of your persistence and decided to shut you up." The straight answer would have stunned Blaze, had he been paying full attention to the conversation, but he was preoccupied with thoughts of home, a part of him mind was eager to return to his home. Others were terrified that his departure had created a rift between himself and the rest of their small community, and had irreparably damaged his standing with them. And still more were so horrifyingly numb, from both the tedious duty of combat, and the heavy toll taken to eradicate the undead, that they had simply requested a shelter to curl up underneath and fade from existence.

"I'll keep your offer in mind," He muttered, eyes glazing over as one particularly strong urge of paranoia gripped him, pleading for him to hide from the confrontation he had promised Asta once he had returned. "Thanks, though."

"Kid. . ." Rainbow patted his shoulder, keenly aware of the drifting mood hiding underneath his bored demeanor. When he didn't look towards her, she had to squeeze on his foreleg, getting his attention away from the dark clouds of fear forcing themselves in his mind. "I'm serious, if you ever need to talk about anything, even if it's as simple as the weather plans from Cloudsdale, I'm here to listen. We've all been there before: the first time we go about taking lives, the abhorrent feelings and gut-wrenching nausea. I understand a lot more than you might think, maybe even than you want to believe."

"Yeah, yeah," He sighed, looking towards the relaxing group of haggard guards, many of whom Blaze could tell were not getting enough sleep. The entire group could use a barrel or two of mead to calm their nerves. Each.

He knew he could.

"I understand that you want to help, but the truth is. . . well, the truth is: that I don't ever want to think about what happened in that cavern again. I don't want to talk about it, I don't even want to think about how it made me feel: I just want to move on, do something in the 'now,' and find something to focus on," He finished, finding some more of that elusive resolve that kept slipping from his grasp. "Besides, we got a chaotic fanatic leading an organization trying to bring back the bucking _Spirit of Disharmony!_ I don't even have time to think about it if I wanted to."

"If that's what you want to believe; go ahead, kid. But know that everypony needs some time for themselves, And we have more time than you think, maybe," She paused, thinking things over. "For all we know, that group of fanatics might not want to meet for some time because of what we've done to their Crystal Empire supplier."

Without waiting for his response, Rainbow stood and left, leaving him to entertain the possibility of confiding in her; something he was unsure he'd be able to even do with Asta.

As the sun set against the horizon, the entire grouping of the three parties sat around the expanded fire, enjoying the warmth spreading from the burning wood as the individuals fought off the colder weather. Some, like Blaze, had taken to the colder weather than others, like Rainbow Crescent. Blaze ate his bread and stew in silence, considering what he was going to do once they returned. Surely the Sisters would want a full report of what happened, probably personal accounts of the ordeal, along with reports and files to be dealt with. He knew she'd want them all to do something at the funeral, though the thought of doing anything more than going home held no appeal to him.

If he had it his way, he'd get to the castle, tell them what they needed to hear, and once he'd finished his accounting, he'd stop by a tavern and grab a bottle or two of mead, drink his memories away, then sleep the rest until he was left with his trauma.

With the addition of the two assassin's, both of whom were willing to stay up for the night shift, Blaze had permitted himself to rest overnight, where his nightmares may pray on him for the entirety of the night.

The fourth, and final day of their return journey was filled with anxious energy, as the returning soldiers knew exactly what was going to be expected of them when they returned. Blaze would have fallen into their mood, had he not been preoccupied then. He spent the majority of the morning thinking over his plans for the immediate future, which spanned of the next day: returning home and delivering the fallen to the Sisters so that they could give them a soldier's funeral. After that, he'd do any required paperwork if he had to, but once his obligations there were complete, he had every intention honed on going to a tavern and ordering the strongest mead they had available.

With all the darkness and death, all the stress and worries he'd dealt with over the last week, year really, he really was craving some alcohol to drown all his emotions in. It didn't really help that Door Cracker had given him a taste for the sweetness of mead: it hid the flavor of the alcohol really well. The way it was explained to him, his youth would have repulsed the drink if it was too strong, so going with something light helped ease him into drinking. It was also explained that the creed drank so heavily all the time that it was just something that they kind of 'bonded' over.

He doubted anypony really bonded in that shithole, but he needed to make an impression, so he decided to try drinking. He supposed the Princesses would disprove of his choices, but they could blow him if they wanted to. . . he had to stop his bitching there, as he remembered that Celestia was all too happy to give him some attention in that manner.

Not. . . not that he really complained.

Blaze let out a growl as they trudged down the trampled snow path that bled into the covering of the dark woods home to many a nightmare. He really hated how events had left him changed: on one hoof, he really didn't want to complain that he had earned the attention of a Princess. Celestia was by no measure an unattractive mare, it was just. . .

His obligations to his family meant he wanted to devote his time to protecting them, and with Celestia being a Princess, he thought it was wrong that she should waste her time on somepony like him. If she had come to him under different circumstances, in a different time: maybe then he might, _might_ , entertain the idea. But he had too many worries with Asta, Scale, Al, and these assassins. There was no time for courtship.

They neared the northern city gates by the time he managed to reign in his contemplations, and he was surprised to see that a company of royal guards, six day guards bearing Celestia's golden sun on their armor and six night guards sheltered under Luna's. The guards took positions around the party as they returned, and the reinforcements drew even more attention from the gathered townsponies. He watched the choking crowds carefully, eyes peeled for any sign Al, or at least somepony he knew stayed close to the unicorn.

Nothing.

The party marched down the central street through the all-too familiar market he had spent so much time in, down the main passageway until they came upon the barred gates to the inner barley of the caste itself. As the wagon drew to a stop in front of it, the four day guards posted outside stepped clear to the sound of chains clinking together. There was the heavy boom of metal locking into place, and the wooden doors swung inward, revealing the wide but shallow arch of the gate. Blaze took the lead while the escorting guards stopped the crowds from rushing inside to investigate. He passed underneath the archway and into the main courtyard just inside the wall, where a double line of guards, half day and half night, flanked either side of the road. At the end of the procession were the two Sisters, each bearing grim faces tight with worry.

Needless to say, Blaze was not expecting the arrival to have taken the course that it did. But at that point, he was beyond complaining: if it made the process go by faster, then he'd accept it gratefully. The company of ragged guards approached the Sisters on weary limbs despite the constant rest, and bowed in unison. At the Sister's bidding, they all rose.

The Princesses' gaze lifted from the standing party to see the wagon finally pulled to a stop in front of the double columns of guards. Both their expressions seemed to suck inward, as if a sour flavor invaded their tongues.

Blaze felt a pang of sympathy, but turned to silently assist the others in removing the three caskets. He wasn't entirely sure how they wanted to go about it, so he let two of the others take Scarlet Cloud's, as he knew they were all at least friends. He had paid his respects ferrying the body to the wagon up north, so now he felt it prudent to let somepony else offer their respect. He did go over to Shadow and help the stallion move the casket belonging to Star Trotter. Blaze was beginning to wish he knew what kind of a guy Star Trotter was really like: he'd never really spent much time talking with many of the guards he journeyed with. Enough to get a basic understanding of what they were like, but nothing satisfactory. That lack of compassion then was leading to a sucking vortex in his stomach now, the only way he could learn anything about the fallen now was to get second-hoof accounts from others. That was just no way to learn about somepony.

The party took a solemn stand behind the three caskets once they had been rested on the cobble path, staring ahead as they watched the Princesses both take in a breath. Blaze had seen a few interesting emotions coming from the Sisters, but the depth of sorrow coming from Luna as she inspected Star Trotter's corpse was something he was unprepared to see.

The sadness coming from Celestia at the passing of her Captain seemed weak and nearly forced compared to the depressive state that Luna seemed drawing into. And had Blaze himself not been completely numbed by this ordeal, then he would have been concerned over her mental health. He figured that tonight he'd offer to share a pint or two with her in honor of the fallen: it was the least he could do. Maybe he might find out more about Star Trotter, Scarlet Cloud, and maybe even the Princesses themselves.

"'Tis a tragedy that we lost these fine three souls in this battle, but our enemies shalt not rest until all of our glorious civilization lies in ruins. Mourn not the passing of our dear friends, but cherish instead their feats and memories! We shalt pay homage to those who willing give their lives for our safety, and we honor their sacrifice by persevering in trying times." Celestia called out so that all the ponies in the courtyard could hear here, though the words were heavy with sorrow. A single tear tracked down her cheek. "Do not falter in thine duties, guardsponies, for 'tis thou who accept the duty and honor of defending these fallen soldiers' families. We rest tonight with heavy hearts, but come the morrow, we shalt retake our armor, reclaim our spirit, and stop those heathens before any more shalt fall unnecessarily!"

The short speech got a chorus of cheers and whoops from the ponies gathered just outside the gate, as well as the family still standing in front of their wagon. The guards all stomped on the ground in a rhythm Blaze thought he might of recognized, though the memory eluded him.

"Day Captain Scarlet Cloud, night guard Star Trotter and day guard Bronze Helm shalt be buried with full honors, the highest respect we hath to give to any who offer thine life in the line of duty. By sunset today, they shalt be resting in eternal slumber within the castle cemetery, so that they might receive complete peace." Princess Luna continued, and though her voice was strained, Blaze admired her strength to keep her tears in check. It was more than her sister could say, but these were important ponies to the Sisters, when guards were so few in number.

More mournful this time, but equally proud cheers rose from the crowd, thought the guard gave a single, tributary stomp. Militaristic was the approach Blaze would have given the attitudes the guards had towards this process.

Blaze lost any interest in the remaining conversation and stood there in silent contemplation as he thought about what his next plan was. He had several things he wanted to do, but wasn't sure how to go about them, and with the excitement and damage done during this last ordeal, he figured a mug or two of mead and a good night's sleep would do more good for him than anything else. Another half hour of social obligations belonging to the Sisters passed before the announcements and other formalities passed. Unfortunately for Blaze, that also came with even more procedures and nonsense that he had to go through with with the other surviving members of his group involving interviews with the Sisters.

Celestia took the lead in marching the eight of them through the castle grounds and through the castle proper next to a pair of doors. Each of the guards, Blaze included, lined up against the far wall, each knowing what was going to go on.

Sure enough, both Alicorns entered the room, which looked like a study from the brief glance that he got. The six guards stood in silence for a minute before Celestia returned, grabbing one of the guards at a time, and leading them inside. Four had gone in then left before she got to Blaze, and she seemed to hesitate while motioning for him to enter, though he was too exhausted to really worry about it. Inside, the room was definitely a study, or at least a small personal library, judging by the bookcases. Luna was sitting in a lush chair, one of two opposite a third. With a small table separating the seats of the interviewers and the interviewee, Blaze knew which seat to take, and silently complied: the sooner this was over, the sooner he could drown his sorrows in alcohol. Celestia took the empty seat while using her magic to pull out a notepad with a quill, a bottle of ink floating in her golden magical aura.

"Is the formality of this really necessary?" Blaze asked after a brief sigh, realizing this was going to take a lot longer than he wanted. Luna returned the sigh, looking to her sister for an answer, and when the elder Princess nodded, a small smile broke the dark Alicorn's muzzle. In answer to his question, the notepad disappeared in a flash, and in its place appeared a slice of cake, ready to be devoured by the white Princess. Luna seemed to sag into her seat as the smile faded back into a grieving frown, her horn lit up for a moment, then her usual flowing mane dulled and settled onto the top of her head, turning from a royal mane into a simple, short, light blue mane.

The action wasn't entirely expected, but Blaze supposed them relaxing with him was an improvement from one perspective, so he forced a smile. Celestia inhaled her cake, nearly literally, before breaking the ice on the topic; "We're taking shortcuts here because you've done so well the last couple of years that we trust you will be honest with us. That, and it is the holidays, as well as the heavy subject. You don't have to go into detail right now, but if you could just give us the basic information about what exactly happened to you all inside the necromancer's lair."

Blaze nodded, trying his best to keep the smile up, though it was a struggle. He didn't want to think about it right then and there, but it was inevitable that he would have to deal with this eventually. Swallowing the lump of hesitation in his throat, he figured he'd start with them leaving the city, marching for the mouth of the cavern. . .

". . . and then we got back here, to an unexpected fanfare of sorts." Blaze sighed, taking a sip of a bottle of ale Luna kindly summoned for him.

"I see. . ." Celestia mumbled, drinking from her own bottle with eyes glued to the floor between her legs. Luna looked equally depressed, and that wasn't surprising for anypony there, as the death of loyal servants who had made strong impressions was never something to be taken easily. "Well, it was wonderful to hear that they fought honorably and died a warrior's death, defending ponies from a serious threat: I know Scarlet Cloud would have wanted that."

"Look, I'd love to continue to talk with you both, and while I'm sure we might be able to learn a bit more about this Grogar guy with some digging around, but I've got things I've got to take care of today." Blaze said, downing the remaining ale in a swift drought before standing. Both Princesses matched his actions, before Luna's horn lit up again, taking the drinks away and returning her mane to a professional appearance. "I'll see you tomorrow, Luna? And hopefully we can get some work done towards fixing this issue with Al Capony and his little scheme."

"Actually, I'd like it if you took tomorrow off, Blaze Burn." Luna interjected, putting a hoof on his shoulder to stop him. "I know that this is a special time of the year, and I heard Asta causing trouble lately that you had been gone for so long. My sister and I have also decided that you no longer need to break yourself down each day, since there is no longer a rush to have you battle ready. We'll take up weekly sessions, so you have more time to dedicate to other pursuits, so meet with me next week."

"Thank you, Luna. I'll make sure to keep up some kind of exercise during the week then: wouldn't want to get soft between lessons." Blaze thanked the Princess, backing away so that she had room to return to her seat. He turned to Celestia and nodded towards the door. "I'll be out of your mane so you can interrogate the others without any further delay: we've talked far too long as it is. I'll see you sometime soon?"

"Certainly. Just do be careful with that band of assassins. I hate that you ever considered joining them in the first place, but I suppose Al Capony has become a bit more of a threat than he used to be. I doubt just my guards would be able to defeat him." She explained as she opened the door, granting Blaze leave while she looked for the next guard to question. Blaze shrugged his reply away, and chose instead to find the nearest open window for a quick escape. It so happened that the nearest one was right down the hall, and as soon as he was out in the open skies, he had to frown: the sky was darkening as evening deepened, meaning that Celestia was going to have to lower the sun pretty soon.

Blaze hummed in thought as he made his way to the first in he came across, a small establishment he had been in once or twice during his time with the creed. The bartender was a stout mare of brown coat and generic black mane. Her hazel eyes lit up as she recognized the stallion entering, ready for a bit of business when most had dried up for the holidays. Blaze sat down on a bar stool, nodding to a barrel of mead held up behind the bar. "Two mugs of mead, please."

"Coming right up." The mare shipped, deftly pouring two mugs and dropping them on the counter in front of him. "Nopony to spend time with?"

"Drowning memories in a mug." His curt reply came out harsher than he wanted to, but he had little time before the mug was drained, being rapidly replaced by the second. Once he had finished the drinks, he patted his coat, looking for the bag of bits he usually kept on him, only to frown when he didn't feel them. "Dammit."

"It's on the house."

"Thanks. But to answer your question: yes I do have family to go home to, but I was one of the ponies sent north, dealt with a necromancer who killed a good friend of mine, and witnessed dead ponies get back up trying to kill me. Nearly died on a couple of occasions, and I've been dealing with stressful shit for years now." Blaze indicated for another drink, which the mare frowned by complied with, getting him a third mug of mead. "On top of that, I've got a rebellious little sister that I've been busting my flank to keep safe, a chaos fanatic threatening the lives of my family, and a group of murderers trying to recruit me."

The more he talked, the more understanding the mare was on his drinks, well, until he had cleaned nine mugs of her mead, and was asking for a tenth, even though his speech was just about starting to slur. He had confided in her about every problem he could think of, until a hiccup stopped him mid-sentence. At that point, he stood from the stool and stumbled his way through the streets, as his wings weren't quite functional right then.

He stumbled around in the darkness until he managed to find his way home, tripping his way trough the door and landing roughly on the ground next to a couple of surprised ponies. "Blaze Burn?"

"Blaze?!" The screech pulled him to his hooves just in time to be tackled to the ground by a ball of brown and green hugging him tightly. The sweet scent of his sister filling his lungs, and he hugged her tightly, and even in his drunken state, he knew that his sister was safe and happy. . . well, safe. "What the BUCK were you thinking?! You said you'd be gone a day or two! NOT A BUCKING WEEK!"

"Not so loud." Blaze mumbled as he rubbed his ear, rolling from underneath the mare so he could stand up, only to find himself utterly out of control and falling back on his face. Asta helped him onto his hooves, but the moment she let go, the world tilted around him, and he found himself tasting flooring again. "Ouch."

Blaze blinked, and suddenly he was being hauled by two ponies down a dark hallway, and fearing the worst, stuck a hoof out to stop them. He had miscalculated the distance between him and the pony on his left, and his forehoof slammed into the floor, tripping the three of them in a big mess. The pony on his right, a mare by the high pitch of her voice, growled in frustration and lightly punched him in the side. The blow would have been light, but his intoxication state was taking everything to eleven, including pain.

Huffing as he lost his wind, he tried to breath and stand at the same time, but the coordination required to do such an insane maneuver was beyond his current capabilities, and instead of rising to his hooves in a timely manner, he failed in spectacular fashion. "Blaze, just stop moving so we can get you to bed."

The sweet sound of Asta's voice calmed him down immensely. Unfortunately for him, it calmed him down so much, he promptly fell asleep, right there in the dark space that was probably a bad place for a stallion to sleep.

 _Author's Note: Hey guys! Again, super sorry about this delay, but shit hit the fan real hard, and life decided that these last three months were going to be slammed with shit for me to take care of, and I've had so little time and inspiration to write. The good news is that with any luck I'll be able to start writing on a more regular basis after the holiday season, maybe sometime mid-January? Either way, don't expect another GotS chapter for a month or so, ish. The other project I've been working on will probably take a bit higher priority, as it is something that I'm enjoying busting out, and the plot is so much easier to work with in short bursts than a considerable universe like this one._

 _Anyways, happy holidays to all, and I hope everyone here has a lovely winter, whether you celebrate the holidays or not! The next chapter will be a bit of a late Christmas Special, as Blaze and the gang are going to fully celebrate Hearth's Warming together. Expect a bit of a shorter chapter that time around, but it'll be a lot less depressing and far more in mood with the atmosphere of the holidays, even if it does come out late._


	21. 21 Burning Hearth's Warming

Surprise! I'm not dead, and while that is unfortunate news for some, it does mean that I'll continue to be working on this story. Due to some major complications coming up, I'd been forced into a bit of a hiatus, which severely crippled both my time to write, and my motivation to do so. However, I've managed to cram out enough hours to finally finish both this and Chapter 3 for the "196th Episode Spectacular!" story I've started. If you wanted to see how I'd write the Mane six, those little shorts I write are really the place to do it for now. . .

As for this specific chapter: yeah Christmas came about two months late for Blaze and the family. While this chapter was _technically_ finished about a week and a half ago, I'd wanted to go over any final edits, seeing as how I am author, editor, and publisher for this damned thing. The breaks were good in the sense that I was able to think things over, and make some more expected adjustments to the overall interactions they've had.

 _(It certainly didn't help that somehow an old save erased about four hours of work at one point.)_

Just know that I've already started work on Chapter 22, though it won't be publish-ready for a while, as per the norm about now. I do sincerely hope that the wait is worth it, as this is a breather chapter, and I would appreciate the feedback on how my "happy" chapter went.

So. . . yeah! Until next time, Hinterland Seer.

Chapter 21: Burning Hearth's Warming

Blaze's head was splitting, and it felt like somepony was taking a pick and mining for ore through his skull, and the bright white light pouring through the open windows was not helping in the slightest. He squeezed his eyelids tighter, but it had no effect on the sheer intensity of the invasive light.

Opting to pull the covers over his head, he tried to get his fuzzy limbs to work, only to find that half of his body was immobilized under pressure. It took him a moment to realize that his entire left side was weighted down, and even longer to get control over his right. When he did, he shifted his forehoof, feeling a soft, furry body under his touch, which created his spontaneous concern over who was cuddling up close to him.

The pony was smaller than him, naturally due to his size, but whoever it was, they had cuddled up as close as they could get, going so far as to snuggling their head around his neck, and wrap their forelegs under his wings.

Inhaling deeply, for the light was still too blinding to use his sight, his suspicions were proven correct, as the unmistakable scent that belonged to Asta invaded his nostrils. He shifted his free hoof down the mare's shoulders, before brushing against the wrist bones of her wing, as if he needed any more confirmation that his sister had kept his drunk-flank warm throughout the night.

Relief washed through him to finally have her back in the safety of his grip. That relief was short-lived, however, as the moment he tried to smile, his head reminded him of his endeavor the night before. A small groan escaped him while his head reeled, and he was forced to sit there is agony until the repercussions passed, which he did his best to take organizing the few thoughts he had.

He sat there for a couple of minutes, working the courage to open up his eyes, even though his head protested aggressively. Despite the discomfort, he did manage to pry open his crusty eyes, and he blinked to clear his vision.

Through the glaring light, he worked his vision as clear as possible, being greeted by his mostly bare room, the wooden walls signifying that he never had any interests of that sorts. However, once he gained use of those faculties, he cast his gaze to his blissfully sleeping sister, who had a pleased smile planted across her muzzle, and eyes squeezed shut to ward off the morning light. Her bright green mane was swept back, her new fashion statement: he thought the look suited her well. He ran a hoof through her mane, expecting the usual silky smoothness that came with her attentiveness to personal care, only to be met with a tangled, greasy mess.

The idea that Asta would ever let herself get this bad was highly amusing to him, and he let out a weak chuckle while he patted her head. Unfortunately, that simple chuckle sent his head pounding even more, and he closed his eyes to get the pain over with.

The movements he's been making seemed to be enough to stir Asta, but it wasn't until he stopped petting her mane that she finally began to wake. Blaze opened his eyes to see her let out a cute yawn as she pushed herself away from him. "Morning."

Her eyes shot open in surprise at the sound of his voice, complete with a startled yelp ending with her falling off the edge of the bed as she backed away from him. The pain subsided enough for him to crawl to the edge where he met her glare with a bemused smirk. The earthy pegasus was lying on her back, with forelegs crossed over her chest. "You didn't have to go and scare me like that, you know; something like an 'I'm awake now' would have sufficed just fine."

"And you didn't have to crawl into my bed last night when I was drunk." Blaze pointed out with a playful smirk as he hopped out of bed and arched his back in a massive stretch. He helped his little sister up onto her hooves before his smirk fell into a frown with his comment: "Not even sure why you wanted to cuddle, you have your own bed, and it's not even that cold down here."

Asta looked down at the floorboards bashfully, kicking a hoof against the floor while she tried to conjure up an excuse. "You said you would only be gone for a day or two, but you were gone for nearly a week; I got nervous. Then you came back, and we heard that speech that the Princesses gave at the castle gates, and I was so relieved you hadn't been one of the ponies who died."

She let out a huff as she did her best to hide the tears threatening to roll out over her cheeks, though her posture made it clear to Blaze that she needed to get this off of her chest. "I just don't want you to ever leave like that again."

"Asta, I've got more important things to be doing around here: I can't just go off and die. It has become very clear that you ponies would be lost without me." Asta rolled her eyes at that while wiping away the fresh tears with a hoof. Before she could drop her forehoof, however, Blaze stepped forward and pulled her in for a tight embrace. "But I just can't promise that I'll stay forever. Eventually, I'm going to take care of those fiends that threaten your safety, even if it means that I have to leave for a while. Just know that I'll always come back."

As he explained his situation, Asta's face went from slightly amused, dropping to worried and anxious, before relief became the dominating emotion she wore. Not that Blaze could see any of it, because the moment he grabbed her, she had melted into the hug with a greater enthusiasm than he had ever experienced from her before.

"I can't guarantee that I'll always be around, but I'll be damned if I don't come back. Every. Single. Time." He pulled apart from her so that he could look into her sparkling emerald eyes. "I promise you, Asta: I will come back, even if I have to beat the shit out of Celestia and Luna, and tear apart this city, brick by brick. I _will_ return to be there for you. And now that I got that out of the way, care to join me for breakfast, else everypony here thinks that you decided to go into heat a few months early?"

"How can you just do that?" She scoffed, doing her best to retain a straight face, in spite of his shit-eating grin at her bodily issues, which quickly morphed into his best 'innocent' face as he put his hooves in the air in a defensive position. "You can go from a heartfelt speech about how much you care and are going to be there, and then you just go and start talking about food! We were supposed to be having a moment, and you just go and ruin it! How?!"

"Simple: I'm hungry. We had our moment, the moment passed, and now I'm thinking about food and a bottle of mead to wash this hangover away with." He shrugged, turning and making his way for the door, with Asta hot on his tail.

"You shouldn't be fixing a hangover with more alcohol, it'll just make it worse." She stated hotly as they made their way down the hall, passing a surprising amount of ponies along the way. Each one they passed offered either a generous bow or an ingratiated nod towards him. While he was used to the respect they displayed towards him, this was something else entirely, and not something born of his assistance stabilizing their lives. This was almost a fearful respect, as if his trip north had changed how they see him, which was absurd; they had no idea what had happened up there, so how could they possibly have a changed opinion of him? He had little time to dwell, for Asta's badgering brought him back to their adventure towards the kitchen. ". . . better for you anyways. If you keep drinking like you did last night, you could have a problem with it: I've seen other ponies fall into alcohol as a coping mechanism, and I don't think I'd be able to help you get out of that if you ended up there."

"Your worries are appreciated, Asta, like always, but you have nothing to fear: I've been drinking for quite some time, and I merely use it to relieve some stress." He wasn't really sure why he spun the lie, but it was out there, and he had no motivation towards taking it back: he thought it would be better if she didn't know just how much he relied on the sweet, reliable memory-killer found in alcohol to drown his depression.

Far better to let her think that he drank for fun, else he have another issue to worry about. He liked his mead, though ale was growing on him.

The pair of pegasi trekked through the kitchen, which was moderately occupied with other ponies busying about cooking a massive breakfast for the Hearth's Warming gathering crowding the main living area. Any and all conversations happening came to a grinding halt the moment ponies realized who had entered the room, and an uncomfortable amount of eyes fell upon Blaze. He shifted nervously, still ignorant to the reason behind their attitude shift, despite seeing similar changes on multiple occurrences already.

Prompted to move by Asta's nudge in the side, he tried to read the other ponies' eyes, trying to gauge exactly what it was that had changed for them. The attempt was met with limited success, but he did glean that there was a formation of sorrow in many of them, something that he could only associate with a saddened respect. His first thought was that they were sympathetic towards his return from that horrid trip, but he quickly disregarded that. How could they possibly imagine what it was like?

His ruminations on the subject were cut short as he got to the large kitchen counter that served as some sort of serving station, where several elderly mares worked to feed the hungry beast that was this household. They smiled kindly, and the sweetness almost brought his mind to ease, and relaxed him enough that he easily returned the act.

"Something hot please." Asta requested nicely, allowing the mares to fill two bowls with steaming oatmeal, topped with brown sugar and cinnamon. The pair thanked the mares and turned to leave the place and find somewhere to sit and eat in peace.

Blaze noticed the kid behind them before they had even fully turned around, but he didn't recognize the growing brown colt for a second. He did a once-over the colt, finally sparing a glance at his cutie mark: two chocolate muffins. That did it, and he returned his gaze to the colt's eyes, seeing the sadness and reserved demeanor that was Muffin's trademark disposition.

He glanced briefly behind the colt, seeing the lively white unicorn Sweet Flower, who was looking on with hesitant eyes. The latter brought more concern to Blaze than the colt before him, but he met the immediate pony with a level gaze and a curt nod. "Muffin. It's been some time since we last spoke, hasn't it?

"It has. Blaze. . . " Muffin kicked at the ground, trying to think of how to word what was on his mind, gaze dropping while he gathered his thoughts. Sweet Flower took the opportunity to approach and offer a comforting hoof on the colt's side, and her presence seemed to have the immediate effect of calming him down. "I just wanted to tell you how glad I-we are that you're back home. Ever since you helped us all get our hooves under us, well, we've really learned what it means to have good friends like you and Star. . . may he rest in piece."

"What he's trying to say," Sweet Flower cut him off before he started tearing up, pulling Muffin in for a quick hug while flashing a gentle smile towards Blaze and Asta. "is that we were extremely worried about you after hearing about what happened up in the Crystal Empire. No matter what anypony says, Blaze; you're family, and we all care deeply about you, and that you've become a core part of our community. Now that you're back, we can finally celebrate Hearth's Warming in it's entirety!"

"Hmm?" Blaze blinked, cocking his head to the side before turning to look at Asta, who had sprouted a sheepish grin.

"Hearth's Warming _was_ technically three days ago, but we decided to hold off on it until you got back, so you could feel loved!" She replied happily and, much to Blaze's astonishment, started bopping up and down like a little filly, although he did suppose that she was still a bit of a filly. At heart at least.

"Asta, you know you guys didn't have to delay Hearth's Warming just for me." He sighed, shaking his head as if in disappointment, but before anypony could disagree, he smirked and wrapped a large wing over his sister's back, pulling her in tightly. "But I am eternally grateful that you all did. I don't suppose you'd all be fine waiting an hour or two so I could go and try to find something to get for you all?"

"Nonsense!" The three foals responded in unison, until Asta cheerily replied: "You already gave us the best gift ever: being home for the holidays!"

Their universal happiness at simply having him back warmed his heart immensely, though it did nothing for his pounding headache, so he figured he'd do his best to make this an amazing holiday for them, and do right by making sure he was at full capacity. He offered Asta his bowl of oatmeal, which she took with great confusion. "Hold on a sec."

He trotted to the back of the kitchen, opening the pantry door and walking inside, and climbing a ladder, as the room was too small to fly. He got to the top shelves and reached into the back, pulling out one bottle of spiced mead, for a quick recovery from a heavy night of drinking. He popped off the cork, then quickly pounded the sweet drink, savoring the honey and spice flavor, whilst enjoying the near-immediate effect of his diminishing headache.

He slid the bottle to the back, concealing it behind a box of ingredients of some kind, then slid down the ladder. Once he was free from the pantry, he shut the door and felt the remnants of his hangover disappear, a satisfied smile soon forming across his muzzle.

However, his satisfaction soon faded as he approached the three ponies, who all scrunched up their noses as he got close. His first thought was that they disapproved of his drinking, but while not necessarily untrue, stirred his stubborn defiance, and he opened his muzzle to prevent them from berating his habits. Asta beat him to the punch with a quick silencing hoof in the air. "Before we do anything for Hearth's Warming, Blaze: you _need_ a bath! For Celestia's sake, bro, it smells like you waltzed through a crematorium all week, then decided to take a trip to a dung heap and make 'mud-pies' from the materials at hoof!"

"Hey! I smell like a field of daisies!" Blaze retorted, holding a hoof to his chest. "But you break my heart with your atrocious accusations."

At the three's deadpanned expression, though, he did his best to attempt a subtle sniff under his foreleg, which made him recoil back. He was afraid that Asta may have to be given proper credit to the stench that clung to him, if his retching stomach was anything to go by. With a hoof holding his midsection back from total collapse, he nodded quickly to the three, motioning a wing towards the baths; "If one of you could grab me some of Scale's soap and meet me outside the bathrooms, I smell like I'm growing mold samples on my belly."

Asta let out a playful huff before trotting out of the kitchen, soon followed by a pair of smirking friends, leaving Blaze red in embarrassment looking to see if anypony else had noticed. He was thankful that nopony seemed to be paying much attention, or they didn't seem to be paying attention. Either way, he quickly made for the doorway, checking corner so he wouldn't run into anypony, causing yet more distress on his part.

As he glanced around the main area, he noticed something that surely should not have slipped his usual attentiveness: a large, heavily decorated tree sitting in the corner, complete with a massive quantity of wrapped presents stuffed underneath and around the base. The tree itself stood at least fifteen feet up, at the branched along the base stretched wider than his wingspan.

"Impressive." He admired the effort that must have gone into decorating that monstrosity, but he had other priorities right then, and scurried along the wall until he was free to enter the hallway. By deftly avoiding anypony he came across, he managed to escape further embarrassment at the hooves of his stench, and slammed the bathroom doors shut.

He heaved a grateful sigh as he rested his back against the door, closing his eyes and sliding to the floor now that he was safe where nopony could bother him. "What a wonderful Hearth's Warming present you've given me. . ."

His eyes snapped open, immediately focusing on the gorgeous purple mare sultrily climbing out of a steaming bath. Her dripping mane clung in tantalizing fashion to her coat, though what really caught his attention was the gleam in her eyes, the glint in her smile. He knew what she wanted, she knew she was going to get it. He grinned while she lifted her hind legs out of the tub, because she _was_ showing off her body, and he was enjoying the view while she teased him.

Her own grin grew while she flicked her tail his way, sending a cascade of water droplets across the tiled flooring. She took a confident step forward, batting her eyes as she whipped her mane across her neck, sending another shower of water dew across the room. Another step forward, followed by a brilliantly flashing smile, which was shortly interrupted by a fierce knock on the door.

A strong nudge sent Blaze standing in a flurry of movement, and Twilight was at his side in an instant, though all seductiveness had left her stance as she stared at Blaze. "What the buck happened to you? You smell like death!"

"Yeah, I've gotten the memo already." Blaze grumbled as he stepped up to the door and carelessly swung it open, revealing Asta standing ready with a bar of glowing green soap in her hoof. "Oh. . . right."

Asta stared at Blaze for a second, then her gaze hardened as she glared at Twilight, and the visible tension felt suffocating for Blaze, standing right in the middle. Asta's jaw clenched for a moment, but softened as she returned her gaze to him, inciting his frown, which was quickly replaced by unease as he watched her eyes flash downwards then back up. He knew exactly what was going on in her mind, so he snatched the soap out of her hoof, and before she could do anything, slammed the door shut.

He was about to turn around and take a quick bath to clean his fur, when the soap suddenly left his grip, floating in a purple aura away from him. He turned to Twilight, who wore her usual sultry grin as she motioned to her tub with a swift glance backwards.

Carefully contemplating the risk, he shrugged and decided to go with it, leading a happy unicorn back to the steaming tub, already working off his sweaty, blood-soaked, mud caked cloak. The soiled clothing slid away via magic as Twilight eased him into the tub, making sure to get his good side up. The bar of soap dipped in the water before being slathered over her fore-hooves while she gently eased herself on top of him. "Shall we make sure you're good and clean for the party . . .?"

Blaze vigorously scrubbed the towel through his increasingly unmanageable mane, sighing with frustration as he worked any and all moisture out of it. While he dried himself using mundane methods, Twilight simply used a quick spell to drain the water from her coat, much to his jealousy: it had to be so much easier to dry one's self off with magic, not to mention quicker too, than it was to use a towel.

Still, if he were to become reliant upon magic, what good would he be for anything? Using that thought as motivation, he finished by wrapping a towel around his mane, and a second around his tail, tying them up and giving them time to dry on their own. He had all day as it was.

"Thanks for the present, sweetie." Twilight sighed as she trotted over to him, her magic being used to drain the tub of the gray, soapy water. She planted a quick kiss on his cheek before trotting towards the door, only to stop with a hoof extended towards it. She sighed a glanced back at him, earning a curious look. "Do you have any idea how stressful it's been; thinking that somepony you've come to rely on may have hurt themselves doing something stupid, likely never to return? I swear to all that is good and holy, if you ever leave us like that again, there will be a reckoning, and a lot of hate-sex to make up for what you've done. Probably not all of it from me, if what I hear is true."

Before he could ask her what she meant, she opened the door and trotted out, humming a happy little tune. He sighed, fearful that he knew exactly what it was that she was talking about, but really hoping that what he figured it was wasn't the case.

He cleared his head by finally getting everything in order, and by doing his best to forget the last week by tossing the soap on a nearby shelf. He wanted nothing to remind him that he went through that: the nightmares were going to be more than enough. He put on a brave face as he left the bathroom, only to be caught off-guard, once more, by the stunned faces of Muffin and Sweet Flower, while Asta only glared at him.

He cleared his throat before motioning for them to step away from the door, though it took them a moment before they complied. He stopped in front of the door, knowing what was going to come out of their mouth before either had opened theirs. "Don't worry about it until you're older: that way I don't have to go through the process of explaining what adults do in their spare time. I'm not the pony to go to for that information anyways."

"What?" Muffin blinked, a light blush crossing his face as he realized the answer to his unasked question.

"I said 'don't worry about it.' Now, let's head out to the main area so we can celebrate as a family, and maybe get some proper food in my stomach, since you were so kind as to forget about my bowl of oatmeal." Blaze chuckled, stepping around the colt and leading the trio down the halls towards the main room again. The three were hesitant to follow, but acquiesced after a moment, shuffling behind the stallion as he trotted into the main area.

As they broke from the darkened halls, Blaze noted that a large portion of the ponies gathered had been preparing themselves around the large tree. Many were sporting holiday attire, such as bright hats, ugly sweaters, even a couple dressed in bright jester outfits. The last made little sense to him, but it wasn't really his position to judge how others decided to dress.

He had a splitting smile on his face as he approached the gathering of ponies, for there were few times when he actually felt happy, but this sure did the trick. He called to the first few ponies that he saw, exchanging pleasant greetings and warm wishes with those he crossed, until he finally got to a pony that he was decently close to: Scaled Equilibrium. The golden-maned sage smiled warmly as her favorite conduit approached, and the two embraced in a short, happy hug.

"It's been too damn long, Blaze." She exclaimed cheerily, grinning from ear to ear as she pulled away, though she made sure to hold onto his foreleg, an act that was not missed on him. He let her hold onto him, allowing her the peace of mind that he was actually home, whole and looking happy. A tear threatened to drop from her eye, but before it could she quickly pulled him in for a much tighter, longer lasting hug. "You never do that again, you hear me?"

"I know. I know." He mumbled, gently stroking the back of her honeyed locks in an effort to soothe her, fully aware that his absence was harsh for many of them. Though he recognized his importance to them, he never fully understood exactly why they all cared about him this deeply: surely they would have to acknowledge that at some point his forced alliance with the Princesses was going to put him in heated situations. That was one of the justifications he had for not joining forces: he'd be put in scenarios that prevented him from being by their side to protect them all. Instead of explaining all of that, he opted for the more diplomatic response: "But I'm back now, and in time for the holidays."

"That you are." She smiled, finally backing away, idly wiping a tear from her cheek.

"And we are extremely happy to have you back: because now we can finally celebrate this most sacred holiday of ours." Blaze couldn't help but smirk at the old asshole, turning to see the eldest pegasus in the world shaking his head towards him. "I've been waiting for this for three Celestia-damned days: your sister wouldn't let us celebrate without you, and she's gone so far as to hold our presents hostage until you got back."

"I see." Blaze chuckled, stepping forward to greet the elder with a proper hoof-shake. After the most formal greeting was completed, the aged pegasus shook his head and stepped back, replaced by a pair of young foals, blank flanks who he remembered moving in a couple of weeks ago, cousins to somepony who already lived here. "Hey kids, you guys need anything?"

"You're Mister Blaze Burn, right?" The right one, a blue filly earth pony with sparkling pink eyes, asked with a happy-go-lucky-sounding voice chirped.

"That's me. Why do you ask?" He smiled at the filly's energetic bouncing up and down, though the speed at which her legs were buzzing back and forth concerned him: she was going to hit the ground and teleport to some location outside the city with them. The other, a pink filly earth pony with bright blue eyes this time who was most likely the first's sister, groaned and face-hoofed at her sister's antics.

Blaze turned to the second as she explained, in a mild tone that suggested she was more relaxed than the first, that they had been told to wait for his return before they could get their presents. Apparently Asta had made it very clear that nopony was to even look at the unopened gifts until he had returned, and while the idea of seeing his baby sister viciously guarding boxes greatly amused him: he found it high time to humor the foals.

"Alright then. Since it seems my sister has declared marshal law and taken matters into her own hooves, I believe it is my right as her brother to fix this problem." He turned to Scale, who was smirking at the foals' behavior. "How much longer before breakfast can be arranged? I'm certain these poor fillies have been just burning up with excitement at what their gifts might be."

The first filly squealed in confirmation, while the second succumbed to her desire and nodded excitedly.

Many of the adults around "aww'd" at the grand display of adorableness present before realization at what Blaze had said finally caught up with them, and they all shared their various exclamations of relief and anticipation. Scaled Equilibrium took a moment to check the food, before returning to inform the hungry mass of ponies that breakfast was nigh upon them.

The wording passed right over the foals, but at the urging of the adults, everypony organized themselves into somewhat passable lines as they made their way towards the dining area, hungry for a warm meal on this frigid day. Asta remained glued to Blaze's side, as if making sure he stayed there, and while she seemed content that he was, he also sensed her apprehension. It was something he decided to discuss with her once they had time after the gift exchange was done, probably when the foals were busy playing with their new toys or trying on new winter attire. Still, she seemed happy enough that it wasn't too terrible a concern of his, moreso just a hunch of a worry.

Tossing his dripping towel away from the crowd, he made note to pick it up after breakfast. First he had a meal to savor. He sat at one of the many tables arranged in the area, though it seemed that many more had been moved from inside just for this reason, as the space inside the building seemed much smaller than before. He took his seat near the far end of a table, with Asta still at his side, as well as Scale and a couple of others. Muffin and Sweet Flower sat directly opposite them.

From his spot, Blaze was able to peek over a few ponies' heads and spy Twilight sitting amongst a group of her friends, talking excitedly about the something or another, her movements rather animated as if fueled by a great passion. He was equal parts glad and disappointed that she ignored his presence: maybe he'd be able to finally put out his hope of anything else forming between them.

He knew they could never really be together, especially not with Celestia pining after him, but he had hoped that maybe they could share something more than sex. Perhaps this was better for him.

His silent ruminations were cut short by the sudden arrival of a feast of food. When they had said that there was to be a feast, he didn't expect that they even had this kind of supply of food. It seemed that he wore his disbelief like a medal, because both Asta and Scale started laughing at his expression, though it fell to the former to explain the abundance. "Several of the construction ponies found a lucrative success in helping the restoration of the city, and had a large sum of bits earned for their hard work. On top of that, the Princesses seemed determine to make us the fattest ponies around it seems."

"Yes. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were rather eager to pay us in food for your time with them." Scale added, sipping from a glass of juice as several platters full of fresh, steaming vegetables were laid across the table. "Though I am under the impression that it should have been us paying them for your time: I doubt we would have survived being in your presence for long."

"Funny." Blaze retorted, a smirk finding its way on his face as he inhaled the rich aroma that was produced from the divine-looking foods coming out of the kitchen. It wasn't long before the kitchens had finally been emptied of the prepared foods, for which Blaze was certain the tables were grateful, as it appeared to have been meticulously calculated exactly how much space was available: the tables were completely covered. "But I must agree with you; I've got no idea how you all survived this long."

"See! You're getting it! We just got to find a way to get you to move in with the Princesses in the castle." Scale exclaimed merrily.

"Oh! I know!" Asta piped up excitedly, though with the direction this was going, Blaze was sure he wasn't going to like the wonderful suggestion she was about to provide. "How about a marriage?"

Yep. He didn't like the suggestion.

"I think that's a lovely idea, the only problem we'll have is finding a way to get our poor Blaze Burn here to wear something nice long enough for the wedding." Scale tapped her hooves together softly, her expression that of hard contemplation, which, under different circumstances would have worried him. . . Blaze found the idea of anypony entertaining that thought, even jokingly, very concerning.

"I have a much better idea than finding ways to marry me to Celestia: how about we serve our food, like everypony else is, so we can eat?" Blaze suggested, already reaching for a plate of rolls.

Asta beat him to the baked goods, dropping two on her own plate before cheekily offering the dish to Muffin, who sat to her right. All the while, she had her tongue out in a very foalish manner, earning a roll of his eyes while he grabbed some fresh fruit and stacked apple slices and strawberries on his plate instead. He helped himself to a healthy serving of spiced apple pie, and stacked as many chocolate pancakes on his plate as would fit. By the time the rolls had returned to him, he had already filled two plates, and was eagerly awaiting the others to finish getting food before he ate.

He had considered digging in right away, as most of the others were already doing, but he was in the mood to wait to eat until they all had food.

It took a meager minute or two before that happened, but eventually, food stopped being passed as ponies began to devour the feast. By then, Asta was nearly halfway done with her plate of rolls, boiled eggs and peaches. Blaze didn't mind: he was available to begin eating, and he knew well enough that he could catch up to her in no time flat.

He made the difficult decision of starting with the pancakes, slicing them into larger than acceptable portions and inhaling the delicious segments. Before they had hit his stomach, he had already dug into the steaming pie, knowing that his stomach was only so large, and that he was now on borrowed time before he felt full. The pie went down easily enough, and as he let it settle into his belly, he filled a mug with orange juice, downing the liquid in two massive gulps.

Asta finally lifted her muzzle from her plate, syrup dripping from her maw, and seemed to take his starved assault on his plate as an open invitation to a contest. She matched his pace with renewed vigor, with Blaze being all too happy to oblige in a little fun.

Blaze and Asta soon both had faces smeared with food, either bits of apple pie stuck to the former, or fruit juices to the latter. As they had their competition, the others soon seemed equal parts amused and concerned by the siblings' behavior, though the gathered ponies watched nonetheless.

Lapping up the remaining food from his snout, Blaze lifted his head to grin at Asta, who was busy burying her own in a bowl of fruit. He chuckled to himself, then glanced over to Scale, who looked to be his opposite in that moment.

Her frown was rather disheartening.

"What?" He asked with a meek shrug of his shoulders while refilling his juice glass. The mare just stared at him as if he had broken some unspoken law that decreed eating like an animal forbidden. He downed the drink swiftly without breaking eye contact, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of the Sage.

All she did was stare at him in stone cold silence, for about a minute: then the smallest smile he ever did see broke through her defenses, leaving him with a victorious feeling while he poured a third glass. He set the glass and pitcher down, before finally breaking visual communication with Scaled Equilibrium so he could put some more food on his plate. His stomach was telling him that he was in desperate need of more pie; and in all honesty, who was he to deny his stomach?

Packing his plate with half of an entire damn pie, he made it clear to everypony around that he intended on being the victor of any eating challenge. Even Asta seemed to have stopped, wisely so, it seemed: her stomach was bulging with a food baby, and the groans she was making were those of the mixed pain and satisfaction that only came from one's over-stuffing themselves during a meal.

Muffin and Sweet Flower were gaping at the sheer amount of food that Blaze had put down, which made him feel immensely satisfied the moment he noticed. "I spent the last four days eating soup that was less than phenomenal. I'm loving having proper, good food to eat."

It seemed that his explanation enlightened the entire gathering, as there was a large number of ponies nodding and murmuring their sudden understanding. After his explanation, though, conversations seemed to return to normal as the various ponies finished eating their breakfast, eager to begin the actual celebration of Hearth's Warming. Blaze heard a great many foal begging their parents to go and open presents.

It was a heart-warming experience that he knew would never get old: hearing foals excitedly annoying their parents to do something fun. It was an annoyance that he was grateful for, even if he weren't the one being annoyed. . .

A nudge in his side brought his attention back to the ponies around him, and stopped his heart from growing too heavy at what should have been. He glanced to his right, where Asta wore a small, sad smile, her hoof gently resting on his wing. He didn't realize that his emotions were showing that clearly, but he was still grateful that she was there to support him.

Wrapping his wing around her, he pulled her in close for a quick hug, being even more thankful that he had his family here to keep him sane. The room seemed to quiet down a little, but he just attributed that to his little moment with Asta, at least, he did until he pulled his head off of her mane, hoping to secretly grab a napkin and wipe the pie remnants now stuck in her mane. At that point, there was a conveniently floating napkin, held just in front of him by a sparkling golden aura: an aura he was vaguely familiar with, but uncertain to the source of. He sat straight up in his chair as he reached forward and grabbed the fabric, glancing around the area, seeing each and every other pony staring at a point just behind him. The sight was more than enough to make him sigh.

"Good morning, Princess." He said tiredly, wiping his muzzle clean as he turned in his seat, finally remembering the source for the golden magic. Sure enough, Princess Celestia herself stood behind him, an amused grin on her face as her loving pink eyes sparkled in joy.

Perhaps it was just that today they were all gathered to celebrate the holidays and Celestia was just being emotional, or perhaps it was that she really loved seeing him be a brother to Asta. Either way, the occasion had made the Princess of the Sun's eyes sparkle more from unshed tears than anything else. Blaze turned to look at Scale, to search for any reaction of smugness or other happy expression, but all he saw was surprise: indicating to him that the pony responsible for this unexpected occurrence was the mare beside him.

"Good morning, Mr. Burn." Celestia replied, her tone definitely emotional, but also carrying the weight of authority expected from royalty. The two day guards that had come with her stood at the door to the main entrance, leaving the Princess with space, but not out of sight. "We hath been requested to accompany thee for this most fine event by an anonymous pony."

Without asking for an invitation, she moved to the seat to Blaze's left, staring hard at Scale, who shrunk before her gaze. The purple mare finally gave after a moment, quietly leaving her seat and allowing the Princess to sit at the table.

Blaze contemplated calling Celestia out on her brunt disrespect, but held his tongue when she scowled at the table before her. Her horn lit up and the plate of unfinished food Scaled Equilibrium was eating vanished in a bright pop, leaving an empty space that was swiftly occupied by an enormous cake. "What sort of celebration doth thou enjoy that lacks the most necessary of delicacies? What pony in a proper mindset would sacrifice such luxury when it becomes so readily available?"

"Um. . . Princess Celestia?" Asta spoke up, catching the named Alicorn's attention, a golden knife levitating just above the unblemished cake. "What the-"

Before she could finish her thought, Blaze shoved a hoof in her muzzle, effectively silencing her so he may have the privilege of calling Celestia out on her behavior. "What in the actual buck do you think you're doing; just coming in here and acting like a total asshole like this? I wouldn't mind if you had stopped by, but this behavior is unacceptable!"

Her posh frown faded after his short rant, replaced by a bashful smirk as the knife cut into the cake, putting a slice onto a plate. Her first response was not to reply to his questions, but to offer the cake to Scale, who was standing off to the side, still in shock at her actions. The cake floated just below her snout for a couple of seconds while the entire housing was either watching the Princess or waiting for a reaction from the Sage.

"It would appear that my intentions were not overly obvious, but the delivery was perfect." She summoned a small white flag, a rarely seen act of surrender, waving it for the gathered ponies to see. "But I must confess that this entire act has been nothing more than lighthearted jesting, and I admit that I wanted to surprise you. Scaled Equilibrium: you may have your seat back, as well as the slice of cake. I brought this large cake, which I must says looks utterly divine, for all of my wonderful little ponies to enjoy.

"Asta invited me over so that I may show you all how much I've appreciated your various contributions to society, and the reconstruction efforts across the city." She explained as she worked her magic to put Scale back in her original seat, smiling as she stood behind Blaze, a happy, golden shoe-wearing hoof on his shoulder. "And now that our precious Blaze Burn has returned, I found it fitting that we all enjoy this fine occasion with the pony who brought us all together."

A round of nervous chuckles later, and Celestia seemed to deflate just noticeably to Blaze, it seemed that her efforts to cheer the crowd up from a failed joke or prank or whatever the buck it was that she had tried to do were failing. In an effort to regain the mood that had been bouncing around earlier, Blaze reached over to the cake, and instead of cutting himself a slice he got the attention of everypony in an entirely different way.

A hoof-full of vanilla cake was scooped straight from the table, and time slowed for all ponies gathered as Blaze slyly swung the cake over his shoulder and directly into an unsuspecting Sun Princess' face.

The room fell so silent that they could hear snow falling outside. Everypony there, save Blaze who now sported a splitting grin, incredulously gaped at the proceedings, completely unsure how to respond to that. It took Celestia blinking several times before even she understood just what happened, though she took the hit well enough to lick the entirety of the cake off of her muzzle and swallowed it all in one go. "I always did enjoy food when it came from the most unlikely of sources."

Her reply distracted Blaze from the slice of cake until it was too late; the sound of something flying towards his face did nothing to prepare him for the splatter of frosting now littering his mane.

"FOOD FIGHT!" A colt yelled, and followed up by chucking his entire plate at one of the adults, quickly becoming the origin of total chaos as ponies either hid under the tables, engaged in warfare using food as weapons, or did their best to pacify the engaging ponies. Blaze had been tackled to the ground by Celestia, who was smearing the remnants of her cake in his face.

Asta had attempted to aid Scale in keeping other ponies from joining in the eruption of edibles being launched as projectiles, to little success.

Several of the older ponies had laid back at one of the farther off tables, enjoying the show while munching on whatever meals they had saved from the ensuing conflict.

From his vantage point underneath the larger mare, Blaze was able to squint, and noticed that Sweet Flower had Muffin pinned underneath the table. The two were sharing a slice of cake. . . in a very inappropriate fashion.

There was a loud clatter, and an explosion of food distracted everypony enough that the general hubbub of noise died down as Twilight sat in the middle of the room, glaring at everypony and nopony in particular. "This was supposed to be a relaxed, warm, cozy afternoon party. We were supposed to enjoy being here and whole. So why is it that instead of celebrating Hearth's Warming like normal ponies, do we all insist upon throwing our food at each other like a bunch of foals?!"

"But I am a foal." One brave-minded colt replied, and though Blaze couldn't see who said it, he was willing to bet money that it was the colt who started the fight in the first place. At least he was able to see Twilight glare daggers at the guy, though that didn't stop many others from chuckling.

"Now can we please act like civilized beings and not throw our lives into further chaos?" She sounded more exasperated than irritated, but it was funny nonetheless, and Blaze chuckled as Celestia finally gave him permission to rise, her own coat now spotted with specks of frosting and cake. The chaos was over faster than it had started as various ponies helped each other clean up.

Blaze glanced over at Celestia, who was busy licking off every fleck of cake on her coat, chuckling at the absurdity of what had just happened. He followed her example, though, and cleaned off the remnants of cake as best he could. Unfortunately, there was a significant amount of it fixed in his mane, and he knew that it was going to be there for some time, at least until he had the opportunity to take yet another bath. A price well worth paying for the fun of having the open engagement of food warfare with his family, and Princess Celestia to boot.

"You've never cease to surprise me, Blaze Burn. You know that?" Celestia commented as she helped several of the other ponies in cleaning scraps of food from the floor. Blaze hummed his reply, offering his own assistance in clearing silverware and wooden platters from the area. "Not that I'm one to complain: these are the kinds of breaks from running a country that I enjoy. It is not often that ponies in our position find the time to enjoy a relaxing holiday, less so when it is with the ones we love."

Blaze didn't look up from the heaps of food, as he never had to: he could feel her directed gaze boring into his side. It made him uncomfortable, but he did his best to hide it by tossing a large stack of ruined pastries onto the table, at the direction of an elderly unicorn.

The plan seemed to be to put all the food on the tables so they could all go to the tree and dish out the presents for everypony. Somepony would deal with this mess after the festivities, surely.

"Hey, Blaze!" The high-pitched voice caught his attention, so he pulled his head towards the owner, Sweet Flower, who was motioning towards the stampede of foals running towards the wrapped gifts flooding the tree's base. "Hurry your flank up: some of us want to get to our presents before the snow melts!"

"I'm moving. Calm your flank." He retorted, standing straight and looking to find Asta. The brown pegasus was already trotting towards the tree, leaving him to wonder as to the warm body pressing itself against his side.

The large white wing comparable to his own draping over his side relieved him of any wondering. He put on a brave face for the holidays and ran with it, leaning into her shoulder as she led him over to where ponies were beginning to gather. A clear spot was marked for the Princess and her "date" to sit at the front of the gathered ponies, right in the middle where all could see.

He would have preferred if they had sat in the back, but with Celestia rubbing up against him like she was, there was no way that he was escaping their attention. As the two waded to their spot, he stole a quick glance at a very smug-looking Asta: giving her yet another of his signature hot glares.

Celestia's heavy wing forced him into a sitting position and his attention was diverted back to the tree and the thick line of eager foals bouncing around the presents, looking for their names.

In a matter of minutes, several adults managed to worm their way to the front so they could properly hoof out the presents, lest the foals claim them as their own. Blaze settled into a more comfortable position laying himself on his stomach, a pose that Celestia was all too happy to conform to. Her wing was pressed possessively against his back whenever one of the mares pressed by, though she never appeared to realize she was doing it: her face was always blissful.

She may have been doing it subconsciously, but she was leaning heavily against him; to the point that he was certain he could move away and she'd roll onto her side. He figured that she was just grateful that he was back home, a feeling that he was ready to share with any and all.

As the presents were being delivered, Blaze's oldest friend in the community approached carefully from his side, appearing fearful of how Celestia would react to his presence. Blaze watched in earnest confusion towards his apprehension, but all he received from Celestia was a happy smile and brief glance at the small box in his hoof.

When it seemed like she had given him the go ahead, the elder stepped up to Blaze, placing the weighted box in his waiting hoof. A smile crept onto his grayed muzzle while he explained: "I figured that your trip away was the right time to try to find this thing; give me enough time to make sure it was all there for ya. Considering that you've been lazy in taking care of yourself, I figured it'd be a good idea for you to learn how to use it, keep the tradition going."

Blaze glanced down at the box with a curious frown, then deciding that the suspense was not healthy for the Princess, tore open the wrapping. The box slid open to reveal a folded shaving razor, a cream brush and a bottle of what he presumed was shaving cream. "Really?"

"I noticed that you've started getting a bit of peach fuzz on that young chin of yours."

"Now that you mention it; it does seem like you're starting to get a bit of facial hair, actually. Just the slightest hint of red bleeding into your white fur." Celestia commented, a bemused tone in her voice. Blaze was anything but bemused, rubbing a hoof against his muzzle, trying to decide whether or not he actually needed to shave. The slightest hint of stubble growing there decided that he had lost the argument, so he opted to let this slide this one time. He replaced his frown with his previous grin as he nodded his thanks and slide the kit closer to him. "And I just know you all will make sure that he doesn't rip all that luscious coat with it."

"Just give it some time: it'll thicken into a proper beard." Blaze rolled his eyes in an melodramatic fashion. His attention was drawn to a slight movement across the grouped ponies, where his eyes fell upon a nervously shifting lavender unicorn. She didn't meet his gaze, something Blaze contributed to the fact that she seemed pretty damn intimidated by the Princess sitting next to him.

"I may not know everypony in this city, but that mare must be the infamous Twilight I've heard so much about, is it not?" Celestia whispered into Blaze's ear, and though her head was directed towards him, he knew that she was sneaking discreet glances towards the mare.

Blaze opened his mouth to respond, but a tiny filly walked up to him, looking a little sleepy but also shared a shred of apprehension. He cocked his head as she walked up to him nervously, offering a kind smile to ease her a little, knowing that his stature and proximity to the Princess was enough to demoralize most ponies. He patted the ground in front of him, trying to get her to come closer, and after a moment to think it over, the filly slid between his hooves. She circled twice before laying down and promptly falling asleep. He smiled warmly at the sight, gently running a comforting hoof down her side.

"Yeah, that's her. Not that it really matters right now: we're all here to have a good holiday with the family." He responded slowly, eyes glued to the warm bundle snoring peacefully in his grip.

"I'd say go get shaved, but that filly is just the cutest thing napping in your hooves like that, and I would be remiss to wake her. So," Celestia turned to look at several of the ponies ripping into the presents, her eyes sparkling with a contemplative gleam. Her eyes settled on Asta, who was blatantly watching the two largest ponies in the room. "Excuse, Asta. Would you mind coming over here for a moment?"

If the direct question surprised the pegasus, she didn't show it, opting to simply comply and trot over. She bowed as soon as she got next to them, though the stiffness of the formality made Blaze cringe. "Yes, Princess?"

"Please, Asta; there is no need for all these formalities while I'm here. Just call me Celestia, I'm not the Princess for the day." And to emphasize her point, she stood from her position, her horn glowing its typical bright gold. All at once, her large golden tiara levitated off of her flowing mane, and her breastplate eased off of her chest. In a loud pop, both vanished under her magic. The general commotion surrounding them died off as they all stared in open curiosity at the strange sight currently happening.

Four delicate steps, each punctuated by a golden slipper gently tossed of its owning hoof, and the last of Celestia's clothing was teleported away. While everypony else was agape at the casualness of their daylight ruler, Blaze was speechless at the bashful smile that she struggled to wear.

He had seen her act casual, as it had been part of her efforts to get him to be somewhat comfortable around her, but the fact that she seemed so shy about acting like this in public. . . he thought she had extreme ease dealing with just about anypony. But this was something that he wasn't quite sure how to process: maybe it was that she had always been in control of her interactions with others. Perhaps it was that she was just not accustomed to acting like a normal pony to so many others before.

Either way, she resettled into her previous position, with her wing tightly pressed across his back while she did her best to retain an air of composure. She did giggle a little at the expressions the ponies were making, but other than that, she allowed them to adjust to her new look.

"What are we all waiting for?" She asked playfully, putting in the effort to look at as many of the surrounding ponies as she could. She kept that bashful smile, and Blaze thought he could see the faintest of embarrassed blushes spread across her muzzle, even as she looked over at the adults in the room. "There are still presents to open, and I'm sure that all of the foals would love to be able to play with their new toys!"

The reminder set off most of said foals, getting them to bug their parents and guardians into returning to the task at hoof.

While many of the ponies snapped out of their stupor, Celestia turned to Asta, who was regarding her in something Blaze would associate close to hope. Reverence, perhaps? Awe? Celestia met her gaze head on, though she remained mute until most of the others had done their best to act as if it was a more normal day than if they had royalty visiting. She smiled warmly towards the young mare, motioning for her to come closer.

Asta's steps were hesitant and halting as she slid up to the Princess, anxiety and hope burning in her emerald orbs. "Yes, Princess- I mean Celestia?"

"I was just curious, with all of these presents being divided out, as to what your family's plans were for the remainder of the day? Due to recent activities, I wasn't really able to find something suitable for a family with such renown as your own, and my quest for the perfect gift is still intact. I came here without any real plan for the day, and I would love to know how it is you all intend to celebrate this late holiday?"

"Oh. . ." Asta dropped her head as she chose her reply carefully, trying to best convey what it was that their family did over Hearth's Warming. A bit of that thought went into actually remembering what it was that they _did_ during the holiday. "Well. . . usually we open presents in the morning, and then we spend the better part of the morning and some of the afternoon relaxing. Spending time with each other, watching the foals play with their new things. I haven't really been her to celebrate that many Hearth's Warming, mostly because it was scarcely celebrated at all. We eat lunch and talk, share stories and just enjoy each others' company."

The explanation was more than satisfactory to the Princess, who smiled her thanks and returned to gazing blissfully at the stallion beneath her wing, who was still comforting a content, napping filly in his hooves. Her eyes glazed just a bit as a thought ran through her mind, an idea to solve her little issue with another inhabitant of this lovely community.

The Alicorn turned to say something to Asta, but the mare was otherwise occupied with the sudden arrival of Scaled Equilibrium. The sage was giving her a small wrapped box, passing a brief, knowing smile to the Princess before she backed away, blending into the crowd while the pegasus tore into the gift.

"Asta, I think that a relaxing day of stories sounds absolutely wonderful." Celestia said, rocking Blaze with her wing. "And since it appears that most of the gifts are finally being unwrapped, perhaps this would be a wonderful time for me to get to know even more of my subjects."

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Asta chipped happily, a grin splitting her face as she gazed happily upon the two ponies on the ground. She looked down at the torn paper, her smile growing larger as she delicately took out a small painting.

Practically glowing, she carried the painting close to her chest as she turned and trotted away from them, gathering ponies and dragging them towards the main area. Blaze wanted to chuckled at her antics, but the filly in his hooves was starting to wake. He cooed to her softly, rocking her back to sleep as he gently rose to his hooves, keeping his movements fluid and careful.

Celestia rose with him, though her attentions were focused elsewhere, even as multiple ponies tried to earn her attention as they passed her. She smiled to them, keeping her demeanor soft and kind, but she walked passed each one: heading directly towards Twilight.

Much to the worry of Blaze, of course.

"Twilight Ions." She stated evenly, her smile never leaving her face, even though her tone carried a harder bite to it than before. "Before everypony gets comfortable in the living area, I'd like to have a short conversation with you, in private if you don't mind?"

The unicorn spared a brief glance at Blaze, worry and open fear shining in her eyes, though they both knew that she was in no real position to deny the Princess, despite the casual appearance of her visit. She looked back to Celestia, sweat beads forming on her brow as her heart beat slightly faster, and dry-swallowed. Putting on a brave face, she nodded, offering a nervous chuckle at the Princess' sudden laughter and short explanation: "You have nothing to worry about, Twilight: I merely wanted to ask you a couple of questions and maybe clear up some misinformation that's reached me."

With wing draped over her shoulder, Twilight was led out the front door by the Princess. Celestia's preferred method attracted more attention than she might have wanted, something attested by the mass of murmurs coming from the surprised ponies. No doubt that rumors were going to spread all-too quickly.

Blaze took the small filly with him as he followed Asta onto the large couch, easing himself and the filly onto the middle of it. Asta took a seat to his right, sitting on the inside half of the couch, leaving the obvious spot for Celestia to sit to his left.

Unsurprisingly, nopony even dared to claim the spot, with everypony knowing full well that the Princess would lay claim to it. He could worry about it later, because the filly didn't take to the movement too well, stirring in her sleep. Speaking softly, he eased her back into the world of slumber. Asta, on the other hoof, was more than happy to worry about what would happen to the mare outside. "Are we just going to ignore how the Princess just nabbed your marefriend? Or are we going to discuss the implications of what is going on?" 

"Asta. . . I've got two things to say to that." Blaze sighed. "First off: Twilight is not my marefriend-"

"But you wish she was."

"-nor has she ever been anything more than a friend. Sure, we helped each other with a similar issue, but it was never anything more than that." He finished, choosing to ignore her addition to the conversation. "Secondly, it's just like Celestia said: she just went out there to have a chat, and to clear something up. Both mares will be back, and I've got no doubt Twilight will be fine."

"Except that piece of information about Twilight being a little bit of competition for the Princess, regardless of what you say. She's bucked you, and you liked her-don't deny it-effectively making her competition for Celestia." Asta countered, smirking lightly at the situation. "Blaze, I know you hate it when we bring it up, but Celestia _does_ care about you, and she is interested in you. Thus, Twilight is competition."

"They will be fine."

"Scale," Asta chuckled, turning to the named mare. "At least he's stopped denying it, maybe someday we'll finally get him to admit that he is meant to be with Celestia."

"One can only hope, Asta. One can only hope." The sage replied, shaking her head in humor at the pair of pegasi.

The numerous voices all talking over one another about the Princess' request all died off pretty quickly once said Princess walked back into the building, a safe, whole, and happy Twilight in tow. The sight of the two returning together in what resembled piece was enough to earn Asta Blaze's smug expression her way. Resulting in her sticking her tongue out at him teasingly and slapping her wing against his side in a playful manner. Blaze tried his best to get a good look at the two entering, but with a blissful filly in his hooves, he was kind of locked to the spot.

Her grand entrance complete, Celestia made short work of getting across the building and planting her royal flank on the open side of the couch, sidling up as close as she could get to Blaze. Once she had made sure that her side was pressed firmly enough against him that she could feel his breathing, she settled her wing across his back, as was her favorite position.

"Now that we've all assembled, what would you suggest we discuss to pass the time?" She asked sweetly, glancing between the two other occupants of the couch. Blaze and Asta locked eyes, working out who was going to be the one to ask the gnawing question, remaining silent for a second as the battle waged. Eventually, Blaze was the one to crack first, sighing as he looked down at the filly in his hooves, though he just needed something to look at as he conjured the strength to beat this test.

"Celestia. . ." Not off to the best of starts, he fumbled nervously for the right words to choose, needing to be careful else he trigger an unwanted conflict between mares in the household. "Most of us are-or rather _were_ wondering just what it was that inspired you to speak to Twilight in private?"

"Oh, that. Nothing really; just a couple of ponies who needed to clarify a misunderstanding, but that's neither here nor there. I shouldn't mind talking about it later, but I'd hate to ruin this fabulous day by talking about myself, when there are so many other interesting ponies in here that I would love to get to know." Celestia's answer came quickly, though the workaround to the issue was something he saw coming a mile away. Of course she was going to avoid the issue, and unless he pushed hard for an answer, she would probably just keep trying to keep the truth about it a secret. The fact that Twilight had snuck off to the back, actively avoiding looking in his direction only confirmed Asta's suspicions. Blaze sighed and nodded, accepting that he would try again at a later point, though he knew it was useless confirming what was already a given; and he hated that life had gotten so complicated. Her calm, soothing voice snapped him out of his contemplations, and he raised his head to listen to what she had to say; "Now, I'm aware that many of you are familiar with me, but I hardly know more than the names of most of you. Perhaps we could begin today with a relaxed introduction, having some of you telling me about yourselves?"

There was a prolonged silence as the group of ponies all looked between one another, trying to find a volunteer to talk about themselves to the Princess. Sure, the idea of Princess Celestia getting to know you sounded great, but they all felt a profound intimidation at at trying to sound complete while not kissing flank.

Celestia scanned the crowd with a critical eye, trying to find the source of their discomfort, completely ignorant to the aura of authority she exuded over the common pony. Her scan was interrupted by a single stallion stepping forward. It was somepony that caught Blaze, Asta, Scale, really most of the community by surprise, as he had seemed to like to keep his secrets to himself.

The eldest pegasus in the building, senior by countless years, stepped out from the crowd to stand before his Princess, offering a light bow. "If you don't mind, your highness: I think it's high time that I properly introduce myself to you. And to the rest of these guys, I guess.

"I. . .I realize that I should have done this a long time ago. . . But. . . But I never really knew how to bring it up. So, thank you, Celestia. My name is Goldheart Dune, I've been living here in the city for the last. . . fifteen or so years, though I'm a native Saddle Arabian. You say that you want to know some more about your subjects, and I know that all these ponies had been extremely patient in hearing about me. So, yeah, that's why I guess I decided to finally break the silence.

"I grew up in a small village in the young deserts in Saddle Arabia, back before things got really bad for us." He explained, picking a spot near the front of the couch so he could sit down and tell his story. The ponies around clearing a space for him. "I'm sorry if my story isn't all that entertaining, but it's all I've got. My parents were cloud farmers, as Saddle Arabia was too far from Cloudsdale to receive assistance. Due to the conditions, weather management paid well enough that we never wanted for anything.

"I grew up learning the trade, and eventually, my two twin baby sisters and I took over the business. We worked at it for years, until I fell in love with a beautiful mare from the village over. I'll spare you the details, it was storybook and predictable: we fell in love, I gave her family a large supply of clouds and offered personal assistance in their maintenance, then we got married. Had a foal, taught our lovely little colt how to manage the trade.

"My parents died of illness shortly after I married, leaving me to manage the trading aspect of the business while my sisters farmed. I helped where I could, but we were hitting a rough patch, and things were looking pretty bad for us. My sisters each left to do their own thing, dropping the business down on me, until it officially became an asset tot he village, and my wife and I were no longer in control of the farm clouds. Things got worse over the next year, with us struggling to find a living, something to provide for the village.

"Then we had our first and only foal, a beautiful little colt. He was spunky, agile and a speed demon, though he never seemed to want to leave his mother's side. We found work, finding a way to pay the village for our supplies, and things finally started to look up for us, especially when it seemed that our little Desert Storm would grow up to be the best flyer the village had ever seen. He had a way with the wind, and could do things I never thought possible at such a tender age: incredible maneuvers and aerobatics that even I had struggled to do when I was younger."

A glazed look came over him as he continued to talk, as if he was soaring through the clouds of dreamland, where memories came to life.

"We were so happy, and the village had gotten out of a rough harvest year, Desert Storm was flying higher and higher then anypony else, he was pulling more and more weight on the farms, and he was even running deliveries to other settlements." He sighed, that happy look fading from his eyes. "Then my wife got sick. At first it seemed like it was just a normal bout of Sand Fever, nothing our local healer couldn't handle, but then she couldn't handle it. The fever got worse, and it was clear this was no Sand Fever, but something far worse. . .

"We. . .We weren't able to save her in time. My wife died before our son's tenth birthday, and I don't think any of us really recovered from that." He paused for a moment, tears threatening to drip from his eyes. "Years slipped by, seeming to disappear before they even came, I took to drinking, hoping to drown my sorrow, Desert Storm grew distant, shallow, even angry. I suspect that he was confused and depressed, though I can't say I blame him: every day was agony. When he became of age, instead of joining the village as a stallion, he left. I later learned that he had found a new life in a larger city, working as a guard; at least he found something to do to help ponies.

"After my son left, I ran out of hope: I had nothing left for me in that village. My parents were dead, my wife had died, and my son had abandoned me, and even the village itself was nothing like I remembered it, the life seemed drained out of it. I left for a new life, finding it here in Equestria: a place I had barely even heard of. A place where anypony could get anywhere, so long as they put in the work. Problem was; by that point, I was too old to work, and I had no money.

"I ended up here because I had realized that I was going to die here, alone, starved and far from anypony that knew who I really was. However, I guess fate had decided to play a cruel joke on me, dropping a young pegasus and his baby brother here, inspiring hope in all of us again. It is because of you, Blaze, that I decided to go out and try to find somepony who also held from my village, or at least knew how it fared." He smiled then, a warm smile that had arrive so suddenly, it seemed like he had seen his son again. "I found somepony so much more important to me than just any random pony who could tell me how my village was."

Blaze came to the conclusion, as did everypony else, rather cheerfully, that he had finally reunited with his son, and that things might finally be looking more like they had before his life had fallen apart. "The main reason I wanted to bring this up is because I met a pony I hadn't seen in years in the market yesterday, a pony who I struck up a conversation with. I met with one of my baby sisters at the market, and we talked for hours."

The revelation stunned the entire group of ponies, for that was amazing news that could have been seconded only by his reuniting with his son. They were still ecstatic nonetheless, and made their support know by all shouting over each other that they were happy for him. Chaos seemed to break loose as the ponies jumped around all calling to get his attention and trying to ask a hundred questions at once. In the chaos of bouncing ponies, Celestia quietly slipped off of the couch. Blaze turned to her curiously.

"It seems that you all have a lot of questions for our dear friend here, and I wouldn't want to take away from the wonder of this news. I'll return after some time so that we may all enjoy each others' company, but for now it seems he deserves far more attention than I." She explained as she quietly made her way to the entrance, allowing the ponies to revel in the happiness being passed around with joyous abandon.

 _Author's Note: Due to still being a bit of a novice writer, I'm trying to find my writing style, and all the quirks that come with that, so I beg of you: please hold in there if things start to shift, please?! I'm trying to find out what works and what doesn't, including things that may not even affect the story. For now, a lot of things I've got right now are pretty solid, and I like how I write, but if there is something that any of you think I need to improve on, please, please, PLEASE tell me. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I'm not a "writer." I'm just a guy who likes to build worlds. I've got a shit-ton of room for improvement, but I can only detect so many issues myself._


	22. 22 Intentions Aflame

Chapter 22: Intentions Aflame

Having found themselves with a host of information, the entirety of the building had swarmed over Goldheart, bombarding him with question after question. It was so bad, Blaze nearly felt bad for the guy. Nearly.

As it was, he would not deny that he was exceptionally curious about whatever else he could learn from the pony who had supported him so much growing up. He sat in the back as various questions were tossed around, mostly because he knew that the horde of ponies bombarding Goldheart would ask all of his own questions. And as the morning dragged into early afternoon, and the questions never ceased to dry up, his assumptions proved correct. He had learned all that he wanted to know, that Goldheart's wife was a snow-white pegasus by the name of Oasis Jewel, the two had courted for a year and a half before Goldheart had gone to Oasis' father with a fortune's worth of storm clouds, and loads more details.

Honestly, the foals were keen to learn ridiculously typical things like his favorite cloud formation-the infamously difficult to manage cumulonimbus-or what the deserts smelt like. Everypony else would try to keep a chain of serious questions going for the sake of learning, and then one of them would jump up and ask an adorable question.

Afternoon slowly shifted into evening before the questions finally stopped coming in, the time sitting on the couch being emphasized by the spontaneous arrival of cramps for everypony. As the group faded into silence, the motherly mares took it upon themselves to prepare something for dinner, seeing as how most of the food had been tossed around during the breakfast battle. They gathered the scattered dishes and hurried into the kitchens to work some kind of miracle magic.

While the chefs were busy in the kitchen, most everypony else occupied their time by cleaning up the mess surrounding their feasting place. While Blaze was happy to work in silence, others were chatting amongst each other over everything they had learned.

He wasn't too worried about discussing it all right now, since he knew that they would all have plenty of opportunities to talk over the next week or so. Something that he was curious about, though, was what the picture frame had in it that Asta received from Scale. So, he did his best to slide over to her while he was sweeping shards of shattered ceramic plates off the ground, though his lumbering size did nothing to help his stealth capabilities. She stood tall as he approached, flashing a winning smile.

"Hey, Blaze!" She chirped, holding her forward half up with a broom, though the object of his curiosity had been tucked tightly underneath her wing. "Need something?"

"Hey, Asta. Nothing much, just been a little curious over that present that Scale got you, and since I couldn't really find a time to ask you about it earlier, I was wondering if I could see it now?" He asked with a warm welcoming smile, casually sweeping up some of the fragments under his hooves. He was careful to keep his eyes on his task, trying hard not to appear as obsessed with seeing the item as he actually was.

His curiosity had been dying to see what was being held by the frame; a painting of some kind, obviously, but what kind?

Asta sensed his overwhelming emotions despite his attempts to mask them, and simply rolled her eyes with a playful sigh. She leaned forward and offered the downward-facing frame with her wing, opting to use her fore-hooves to continue sweeping. She offered a slightly bashful, leaning on embarrassed smile as the frame was taken, her eyes dipping to the ground for a moment. "Just don't make too much fun of it, okay?"

"Why would I make fun of it?" Blaze asked, his curiosity nearly boiling over as he carefully turned the frame over. The sun was already dipping close to the horizon, so some of the ponies had started to light candles inside, casting a warm glow on just about everything. The gentle orange shading on the oil painting did enhance the gloss finish, but not enough to distort the beautiful image before his eyes. This was a painting made by a master hoof, no doubt, of both Asta and himself, outside in the snow.

Blaze smiled at the painting: in it, Asta seemed to be having a merry conversation with him, with snow covering the ground and gently coating the table they sat at. He was wearing his signature white and red cloak, the one that they had to resize him for every year, though in this painting, he also sported a brown and green scarf. In his hooves was a steaming mug, held up to his grinning muzzle. The effort put into making this image as much to his liking as it was astounded him, and the quality of the environment around him only made him more curious as to what details he could find in how the artist portrayed his little sister. His eyes slid over across the detailed table to the young mare whose vibrant emerald eyes sparkled with adoration, a trait that was clearly intensified in the painting.

The first detail he noticed was how the artist had chosen to clothe Asta, who had never really taken to wearing much of anything usually: in the painting, she had on a pristine white skirt and vest, decorated with a single red stripe running down her entire side. Despite being a painting, she seemed to be in animated discussion of some topic, as her mouth was open and she had a hoof displayed to emphasize a point. Her posture leaning in closer to him, it seemed that this painted Asta had forgotten her own mug of refreshment in favor of conversing with him.

Much like he was depicted, Asta wore a scarf in similar fashion as Blaze, only hers was an unsurprising white and red, complimenting the exchanged color schemes. Blaze glanced up at her, hoping to glean something about the painting from her expression, but all he was met with was her furious blush and extremely docile appearance. Her ears were tight against her skull, and she had shrunk in on herself, gently pawing at the ground as she waited for her gift back. Something from his own expression must had embarrassed her.

He wanted to give it back to her, but he still had more that he could soak up from the image. . . that and he figured he might as well embarrass her a little more: what else was a brother supposed to do in a situation like this?

They were seated in the backyard, in a wintry setting, though the distinct lack of anypony else made it clear that this was meant to be a private occasion for them. Truly a fantastic piece of art, from a master of the craft, and something that Blaze knew was conveying more than was apparent. After taking in every little detail, he offered it back to Asta, who immediately stuffed it back under her wing and took off. The fact that she had bolted fast enough to leave the broom standing upright for a moment longer was too much for Blaze, and he started cracking up. That painting was going to be a fun object for the future, and something he could use to cause her untold amounts of anguish.

Yes, Blaze was going to have some fun with that, the gears already forming in his head.

He smiled to himself as he picked up the work that Asta had yet to finish, leaving her to her own devices as he figured how he would enjoy the remainder of the day.

In the span of an hour, ponies were being herded back to the dining area, which was finally clean after this morning's bombardment of food. The cooks had finally taken care of the feeding issue, and thus had a meal cooked up and ready to go. Blaze tried to get a seat next to Twilight, as he hadn't seen her a whole lot, but she seemed determined to avoid him, and try as he might, he couldn't deny that it hurt a little to see her so determined to evade him. The sting was something he had hoped to escape entirely.

Still, he knew that she could only hide for so long, and that eventually, he'd get to talk to her about what happened between her and Celestia, because he knew that the Princess would not talk. Unless he pulled something clever, she'd do everything she could to avoid the topic: it was her way.

Asta had also taken that moment to hide from him, though he knew that that was because she was embarrassed about the painting, which was its own host of problems. He figured that at some point, he'd have to actually talk with her about her little fascination problem, but he had kind of hoped that it had run its course and she would be over it. He guessed that was what he got for hoping a problem would solve itself.

As dinner was served, he sighed to himself, wondering just what he was going to do about that problem; there was a tick in the back of his head that it ran deeper than something a simple conversation would solve.

Dinner, after being hurried and completely unprepared, ended up being a simple vegetable soup, though with better ingredients. It helped that Equestria was finally getting her hooves under her once more, and that the remnants of the Chaos Wars were fading fast, and now that things were moving smoothly, it wouldn't be much more before ponies could be raised in an entirely new era. He already knew that his, and Asta's by extension, were the last of the city's generations to feel worst impacts of the war.

And he was determined to keep it that way.

He shook his head, partially grateful that he was capable of distracting his mind, but still needing to find some kind of solution to Asta. He could probably find a proper solution eventually, but he was certain that a good, honest talk would suffice in deterring her long enough for him to find something. Eating the warm meal in silence, he tried to find the words that he wanted to say to her, mulling over exactly how he needed this to go.

After dinner was done, Blaze wanted to go to Asta and have a private conversation with her, hoping to get this talk over with as soon as possible. It seemed, though, that the universe had other plans that came in the form of a different mare approaching him, one that was neither of the ones he felt like he needed to talk to; this one wore the appearance of a purple earth pony with near perfect knowledge on any alchemical subject. She wore her happy face as she walked up to him, though her aura just felt stiffer than before. "Hey there, kid!"

"Evening, Scale." Blaze gave a quick nod.

"Mind coming with me for a moment? I've got a few questions that need clarifying, and maybe a bit of advice to offer." She asked kindly, though the unspoken demand behind it was there in the depths of her eyes, slightly hidden behind a masked worry that Blaze was barely able to make out. Either way, he was in no real position to argue, so he complied quietly, motioning for her to lead him to her room. Once they had made their way into the safety and isolation of the Sage's cauldron room, she was able to drop the brave face she was carrying, displaying open worry that touched Blaze's heart.

"So. . ."

"Hang on there a minute, Blaze." She interrupted, trotting directly over to the gently bubbling cauldron. She took a large ladle in her mouth and began to stir, the green mixture fuming with a nauseous smell. "I noticed the state you were in last night, and decided to pay a trip to the Princesses, hoping to gain an idea of the ordeal you went through. Well, they offered me what you told them, and I knew that Jace went along with you: which meant that what you learned may not be everything there was to learn. I brewed a small bit of the sight potion you've seen me use before, trying to talk with the man himself last night upon returning."

"But. . .?"

"He was insistent upon waiting for everyone else to get here so he could explain himself to the other Spirits, who might I add were not very pleased to hear what had happened." She finished explaining, pouring a bit of the brewed tonic into a mug and pounding the entire thing immediately. "And now that you are awake and here, and we have no further distractions; we might as well get this over with."

Just like the other times he'd seen this, Scale seemed to draw energy right into her as the potion took its effect on her. This wasn't some sort of prophecy thing like that first dreadful experience: she was simply wishing to observe the Spirits that wished to be seen. She offered him the same mug, now freshly refilled with the vile green liquid. "Why does it always have to be this disgusting green?"

Still, he knew that this was an important event, and that not being able to see or hear this conversation might be bad for him. Down went the absolutely horrendous green substance, nearly inciting his gag reflex, but passing quickly enough that the liquid didn't find itself on the floor.

After a brief moment of nothing, his vision started to warp as the colors around him seemed to shift and change, blending together and separating on a whim, as if reality was nothing more than a choice. He glanced at Scale, who seemed to glow a brilliant violet, as if she was lit internally by a fire, though her hues pulsed just a bit, an effect from the magical potion. Looking around a bit more, he finally caught a full glimpse of the Spirit that had inhabited his body and mind. The man himself: Jace.

The figure was sitting on the air, as if seated in a chair, and he had his cloaked arms crossing his chest. Blaze always wondered why the human Spirit always seemed to radiate a light blue color, but nopony ever really explained it to him. He just figured that it was the same reason that Scale glowed violet: it was just his color.

The sound of someone clearing their throat to his left earned his attention, and he turned to investigate; seeing three Spirits, Scale's Spirit's specifically. They appeared as little more than colored orbs floating through the very air, but he was not one to question just how the buck they managed to make any mundane noises. Two blue orbs, pulsating in a near hypnotic fashion, and a constant pink orb. Had he not received a semblance of self-control from Scale, the sight would have terrified him beyond reason.

"Just what have you done, Beleren?" A disembodied voice asked, with something akin to fury in its tone. "We agreed that you're presence should be limited to observation only."

The comfortable figure of Jace seemed tense at the voice, before leaning forward in his chair, arms bracing against his limbs. From beneath his hood, his eyes glowed a fierce blue that exuded raw magical power. "Had this not been such an emergency, that would still be the case: be that as it may, I had to ensure that another of my 'old friends' had not walked into this plane. If she had arrived here, that would have spelled certain doom for these ponies, especially with the necromancy reports coming in. I had to intervene for the sake of keeping the balance."

"That is a shit excuse and you know it." Another voice interjected, though less disembodied as the three orbs slowly expanded into the general shapes of three separate species: a human, a pony and some bird/bipedal creature hybrid thing. Neither of the living occupants of the room truly understood that one. The pink pony spirit opened its maw once more: "We had a pact that you would stay out of this, lest that demon discover your presence here and take advantage of the situation."

"Excuse me. . ." Blaze said, raising a hoof into the air to catch their attention, though a quick snap of Scale's hoof silenced him further. As surprised as he was by her appearance, he had little time to mull it over before the Spirits continued their conversation as if he wasn't even there.

"Yes, but we still have to answer the question of why he is even here in the first place? Or how about what his little stone-trapped puppet was trying to accomplish?" The bird-man-thing asked in a raspy voice not meant to speak this language. It gestured with it's wings and a few spectral feathers fluttered through the floor. "I understand that being tied to this plane of existence means I never understood the entire scope of this threat, so you need to lay it bare: what the actual Tartarus is this thing up to?"

"It certainly is possible that he is here for power." Jace spoke, standing from his invisible seat and walking over to Blaze, who gaped in terror. The human Spirit simply passed him by as he approached the door. "But I think that he has a different motive, one that is more in line with his previous attempts in another time."

"In either case, I'll not let some demonic dragon run rampant across my home: I say we act sooner rather than later." The pony stated with a nod, turning to the blue human, who had remained steadfastly silent until that point. "What say you?"

"This is far more important than any one of us." The words came slowly, hesitatingly, as the human seemed to mull over each word, tasting it in it's mouth before delicately introducing them to the others. "Without proper information, a rushed action may spell doom, while inaction may spell worse terrors. If what Jace has seen is true, then circumstances always seem to play into this thing's favor. My sole advice, coming from my stance as the rookie, is that we gather intelligence while we have the advantage of anonymity. If he doesn't know we are here, then we can learn things, and through that knowledge; we can form a plan of attack."

"Wise, as alwa-" Jace started to state, though his form flickered in front of of Blaze's eyes, the potion seemingly finally wearing off. Blaze groaned as he realized he was missing even more crucial information than he already was. "-of attack, just like last time."

There were a number of hesitant nods before the group of spectral beings agreed on whatever they were discussing. While Blaze was certain they intended on studying this new threat, one that seemed bigger than pretty much anypony to him, he was totally in shock of the revelation. His mind buzzing with thoughts, he tried to piece together what he knew: 'First off; Jace and this group are aligned to protect Equestria, which is nice. But protect it from what? What was so big of a threat that immortal Spirits are hesitant to directly confront it? That led to his second conclusion: whatever they were facing, it was something that had already begun to initiate it's plan of attack.

'What kind of puppet were they talking about? They mentioned it was encased in stone, but only Discord is in such a state, and he surely isn't what they were talking about: he's been in Equestria far longer than whatever threat they were dealing with. How bad of a threat were they talking about?' Blaze's head hurt the more he thought about it, so he waited until the vision of the Spirits faded before he turned to Scale, hoping for answers.

Instead of answers, all he could deduce was that she was scared so totally shitless, that she had literally frozen in fear, and turned pale as a blanket of snow, paler than his own coat. Her eyes slowly faded back to their normal jade green, and after a few gentle shakes of her head, she turned to Blaze.

Though her expression had softened from utter terror to mild terror, there was still a blinding portion of confusion, leading Blaze to the conclusion she had fewer answers for him than he had hoped. "I've never felt such raw mental power as this. Blaze, that spirit of yours is truly something unique, whatever he is."

"What?" Blaze jumped slightly at the drastic change of topic, having absolutely no clue as to what the actual buck she was going on about, until Jace decided to once again break his vow to silence, for the benefit of his puny little pony brain.

 **I must apologize for the sudden shift in discussion, as there was a lot of sensitive information that I had to omit from you both hearing.** He spoke solemnly once he was safely inside Blaze's mind again. **I had to ensure that our secrets remained that way until we had more information regarding this adversary. In short: I used my powers to pass time rapidly for you and your pony friend, making the transition from the start of our conversation and the end seem abrupt. I apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused, but this was a necessary action.**

"What powers?" Blaze shook his head, still confused by what was happening, but grateful that things were starting to clear up. He waited patiently for a response, like any civilized pony, or any creature really, would; so when nothing more came from the mysterious human Spirit, he became a little frustrated. "I get it: you don't like to talk with this oath and all that, but this is getting really bucking old. You can't just decide that it's okay to talk one moment, but then shut up the next, especially when clarification on your previous comment would be greatly appreciated!"

"Blaze!" Scale gasped in horror, realizing that he was starting to bad mouth a Spirit, one that he had volunteered to become a conduit for no less! She jumped at him to shut his muzzle before any rude comments, though he reacted with a quick sidestep, easily evading her efforts.

"Forget it!" He growled, frustrated that the one source he actually had for answers to a multitude of questions, that he still hadn't fully fleshed out yet, had gone mute on him. "Scale, please tell me you know what the buck is going on?! Please?! I'm so completely lost!"

He collapsed to the floor in a heap, his head aching at the knowledge that there was so much going on that he was out of the loop on. This was vital, he knew it! If only he understood what was going on, maybe then he'd have an idea of how to better protect his family. If he was lucky, it'd be more than just them he was protecting, but all of Equestria; and his minute sense of honor forbade him from retreating with such an important task.

With his shift from hysteria to mental break-down, Scaled Equilibrium sighed, scooting forward until she flopped onto her stomach next to him. He was shaking a little as his mind whirred with activity, and his distraction was enough for her to try to think of something to help him.

She sighed, knowing that despite everything he had done and gone through, this pony before her was still so young, and that he lacked the proper methods of dealing with these things. She nudged him in the shoulder, then secured his attention with a kind, understanding smile while she patted his foreleg. "I'm about as lost as you are in terms of what may have occurred between the Spirits, but I might be able to answer a question or two.

"So how about I start with what Jace did to us; which is something that I am greatly surprised by." Her offer to explain things calmed Blaze down immensely, so much so that she was easily able to feel his heart-rate relax just by lying next to him. "If what I think to be true is actually reality, then we have a lot more information regarding this Spirit than ever before, and it comes with sweet, succulent glee for me to know more than other Sages. You see, Jace seems to be something we know as a 'Telepath,' or a mind mage. He is capable of manipulating, controlling, and tricking the minds of others; which includes the spell he cast that altered our perceptions of time. Telepaths are extremely rare, but their power is unmatched in raw potential."

". . .Okay. . ?" Blaze inhaled deeply, looking at the ground beneath his hooves as he steadied his breathing and tried to calm his nerves.

She began talking excitedly, as the prospect of having such information over an elusive species in an elusive and highly secure form was overwhelming. "This is just such a huge deal, because we Sages so rarely get anything useful from the other realms' inhabitants! Ooh! And then you come along and this Spirit from a different world, with a very peculiar relationship among the other Spirits we know about, has a great interest in you! And then I get to learn the name of a Spirit! And then I get to learn that this particular Spirit, whose name I have learned and whose conduit is a pony I live with, is a Telepath?! Ooh, this is so AMAZING!

"Is there something I should explain further?" She asked sweetly, pausing as she realized he didn't seem anywhere near as excited as he was. She toned it down, and pulled his head towards her so she could observe his eyes. As she looked into his sparkling blue orbs, she saw the depths of his fear and confusion as clear as day. While she waited for an answer, she found herself captivated by his fractured blue eyes, so much pain and sorrow and fear, yet they struck a chord within her innermost being, shifting her gut in an unfamiliar fashion.

While Blaze also seemed captivated by her eyes, he gathered the willpower to return his gaze back to the floor, and an uncomfortable silence fell between them for a moment. "No, I think I get that: it's just that I don't understand why I'm being left in the dark about so much, especially when I know that I can be of use."

"Blaze-" She tried to sound as sympathetic as possible.

"Jace doesn't want me to know something, simply because he doesn't know enough himself? What kind of excuse is that? I have resources he could use, if only he'd include me: but nooo, he refuses to accept my aid and stubbornly resists."

"-like somepony we all know and love." She commented with a smirk.

"But the worst part is that. . . well: I'm absolutely terrified that whatever this is that they are dealing with is something that I can't stop. If I'm unable to protect you all. . ."

Scale reached around one last time and put a hoof to his lips silencing him before he said something that she was certain none of them wanted to hear, especially after such a perfect holiday. She gently shushed him and began to rock him sideways, pushing against his shoulder with her entire body. "I know. I know. But it is not our place to question the Spirits, and if they choose to withhold information, take comfort in the fact that they deemed you worthy to share any with at all. It sounds bad, but very, very few ponies even know the Spirits exist, and fewer still ever have contact with them.

"Would you believe me if I told you that the Spirits have refused to appear before both the Princesses?" He shook his head, loosening up a little, allowing Scale to reclaim her hoof, though she didn't stop rocking them. "Well, it's true. I've asked the Spirits on multiple occasions if they'd like to have a discussion with the Sisters, well the one human really, and they were denied every single time."

"Hmm." Blaze sighed, coming to terms with the fact that Jace was resolute in his silence, and finally bringing himself to stand up, though the movement caught Scale unawares, and she rolled under him. The half-roll was enough to earn a startled squeal out of her, though she recovered swiftly and acted as though nothing happened. Blaze still chuckled at her momentary panic, relishing in something-anything-to lighten the mood.

"Thanks, Scale. Accepting that I can't do anything is going to be really bucking difficult, but I think I'll manage." He gave her a playful push with his wing before turning to give her some space. "Wasn't there something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Hm? Oh, yes." She smiled briefly, trotting to the other side of the room, lighting a few extra candles that had been blown out by the approaching spectral beings. Once her task was done, she motioned to a bench near a brewing stand, having the pair of them sit to talk. "Ever since you decided to go off on that fool's errand questing in the north, I've been thinking about just how we are going to deal with Asta's problem."

Blaze looked at her with clear confusion.

"Her obsession with you, and this brainless desire to see the two of you mated." She clarified, inciting recognition over his features. "I think I understand why she feels the way she does, but that still doesn't justify her actions, and while she has gone a long way towards making amends and resolving the issue, I'm well aware that the desire is still there."

"Do me a favor and remind me what it was that had stirred her to thinking we should. . . you know, do the forbidden dance."

"Yeah. . . well, I'll try my best to explain it in actual words." She sighed, gathering her thoughts and forming the right words to convey her suspicions. "You see, Asta doesn't have a normal family, because while we try our best to be a cohesive family unit here, there are just so many ponies gathered here. Tradition families taught their foals how to behave properly in society, as we have here, but the problem is that Asta. . . she sort of missed a point somewhere.

"You see, we explained that because the two of you were basically siblings, she shouldn't be feeling the way she does. The way she worded her response sounded like she didn't quite follow the same familial ties that we do: she treats us not as a family, but more as a group of friends and housemates, and thus the ties that should bind us do not."

"I mean: technically she's not wrong." Blaze interjected with a groan. "Goldheart is kind of a father-figure, but not really, you're somewhat like a sort of half-maybe-kind of sister to me, and that about sums up our 'family.' I can kind of see where she's coming from, in that we aren't actually a family, but even that is a weak excuse."

"Ah, I had thought about it that way, but I wrote it off as just too fallible, and not a good point to start an argument. I did bring it up in our initial conversation, though at the time it was less logically worded and more fueled by emotion at the time." Scale nodded, frowning as she remembered the incident. "I suspect that the larger reason is something more foalish, and that our collective disapproval is making the urge more desirable to her, which I sincerely hope is not the case: that'd only make things much more complicated. I was hoping to get your opinion on the issue, now that you've had quite some time to think of something, and having this issue resolved before the next estrus cycle begins for her."

Blaze dropped his gaze, thinking about what he could possibly do to get Asta to reconsider, doing his best to form the best possible argument against her emotions. He pursed his lips, finding the difficulty in the situation: if they had already explained that he and her were forbidden from engaging in those acts, then he would have to try harder. "I'll admit that I hadn't put a lot of thought into it, as I was trying to forget the occurrence, but if I've got to come up with something, I'll put more effort into the resolution attempts.

"Perhaps what we need to do is start looking into other outlets for her emotions." He suggested. "Not sexual outlets, but other relationship-style ones. I know that puberty in general is a bitch to deal with, so perhaps we should start putting her into the typical settings, find her a coltfriend, or at least get her mind away from me, and start separating her associations with me and sexual release?"

"That's. . . not that terrible of an idea." She wanted to object to the proposal, but a complimenting thought had arisen now that his idea had been planted in her mind. A small, victorious smile spread over her muzzle. "And I know just how to start working on it, because we've got little time to remove you from that part of her mind before summer."

"Great!" Blaze also smiled, grateful that this issue would finally be put to rest. "I'll let you refine the details of whatever plan you have whenever you can, and maybe in a little bit I might stop by to offer some assistance. Perhaps you can figure out exactly what you want to do soon, and let me know then: right now, I've been itching to have some peace to myself in the air, away from all the violence and death and stress that's been surrounding me over the last few weeks."

Scale nodded weakly, her mind already working out the details of her perfect plan for Asta, motioning for them to stand and move to the front end of her room, the cauldron bubbly mildly with whatever tonic remained. In a moment of what he could only assume was a sudden burst of drowsiness, she gave him a quick hug, nuzzling his neck lightly before slowly backing away. "I'll have to spend the night dreaming about my plans to deal with your stubborn sister."

"And I've got some peaceful flying to do, so enjoy your fruitful night, and I'll see you in the morning."

Wishing him a good night's rest, Scale sleepily stumbled into her bed, hidden behind some curtains in a makeshift private bedroom. Glad to see himself out, Blaze decided that the cold weather outside was nothing to deter him from a relaxing flight around the city. Jace's revelation was another thing he had to add to his list of shit to take care of, but that could wait until he was out of the bucking house.

He opened the door, greeted with a burst of snow, and an aggressive front of cold air, though after being stuffed in a room with four Spirits the fresh air felt amazing. Not wanting to invite any more snow inside, he quickly crossed the threshold and shut the door behind him.

The snow had definitely gotten thicker throughout the day, as a massive blanket of dark clouds blocked the skies, so without proper moonlight, he couldn't see far. If it wasn't for the torchlight from the buildings around the area, he would have been enveloped by darkness completely. Not that his stark white coat did anything to help hide himself. He inhaled deeply before unfurling his wings, relishing the feeling of a breeze flowing through his feathers.

Snow pelted his face as he rose into the skies above the city, obscuring his vision the higher he went. He wasn't too concerned by it: he'd grown up in this city, and he knew where he was in relation to the streets below.

Enjoying the unmatched feeling of flight he warmed his body by quickly ascending through the skies and doing a few loops, spins and barrel rolls. He exercised until his heart was pumping enough to keep the cold at bay, though the snow collecting in his eyelashes and across his snout. Once the blood was flowing, he dove down until he could properly see the lights of the buildings below him, following the marked streets until he was circling above the closest marketplace. Naturally, the shops were all closed and locked up, and due to the weather, he was certain most thieves were elsewhere. His experience told him the creed were disinterested in cold jobs with little payoff, unless a lesson needed to be taught.

The absence of any shadowy figures lurking around the empty space meant no lessons were here. Something about the region did catch his attention, though, interrupting his plans of doing a lap or two around the city, and he flew even closer to the streets, though any observer below would have a hard time of differentiating him from the heavy snowfall.

Three circuits around the opening later, and nothing really popped into his mind as to what was there, so he decided to go on down and see what there was to see. Dipping his wings down, he let the barrage of snowflakes hit him as he descended, the feeling reminding him of where he was, heightening his senses. He was closer to the ground, passing between two larger building just outside the edge of the proper marketplace, and still; nothing. He paid close attention to his surroundings, for a queasiness had settled into his stomach, though he still couldn't find the source of it.

Landing in a shower of snow, he stood still, just at the boundary of the first stall, squinting his eyes to get a good look around. His ears were swiveling like mad, searching for any sounds other than the light thuds of millions of enlarged snowflakes. Ignoring the painfully loud crunches of each step, he began to carefully enter the official marketplace, head constantly twisting to find anything. The snow here was untouched, a perfect blanket that obscured the world beneath it in a veil of ice. He figured the snow was falling thick enough to cover any recent tracks, and sure enough; turning around, his landing crater was already getting filled with snow. He mumbled to himself: "Whatever was here, it's got to be gone by now."

He was now standing in the middle of the area, in a larger open space obviously meant for groups of ponies to gather. The stalls surrounding him formed a sort of barrier to the outer buildings, proper buildings meant to last. It felt as if he was standing in the middle of an arena, and the spectators were merely awaiting the competition to show itself.

That comparison only made him even more uneasy. He turned around in a circle, trying to find something, anything to relieve the growing insanity in his head, though the blast of wind and snow in his face as he did so did little to help. Flicking his ears while snorting the rapidly melting ice out of his nostrils, he thought he heard a crashing sound. The noise was barely audible over the howling wind, but clear enough that he jumped and spun around to face at where he thought it came from. Though the direction made him face the incoming snowfall, he steadfastly ignored it.

Several tense seconds passed as he stood perfectly still, rigid as a board while the snow began to collect on his snout. His silent vigil was broken when the gathered snow was obstructing his sight, and he had to shake his head clear.

In his typical fashion, he stubbornly stayed put, staring headlong into the darkened alleys, the torchlight becoming less and less reliable as the snow seemed to intensify. He was certain that he had heard something, and refused to allow it to sneak up on him, what with everything that happened in this city. His eyes bored through the veils, hoping to find something, anything that was hiding in the darkness.

Minutes slowly passed, and though his head started to hurt from the significant lack of consistent breathing, he refused to believe he was wrong. However. . . he had been staring at absolutely nothing for a while now, and it was starting to get a little bit chilly. . .

He sighed, losing the will to continue this up; his heart may have been racing, but it was starting to slow down and his blood was cooling off. He doubted that he would be able to finish the laps, and he started to reconsider returning home and getting some sleep. He turned around to look somewhere else as he weighed his options when another loud crash came from the shadow-stricken streets.

He whipped around so fast he felt his brain slam into his skull. He glared into the torrents of snow, lowering his stance and deeply wishing he had his sword with him. The sounds of crashing were replaced with something charging through the snow like a plow, rushing straight for the opening. Blaze slowly backed up, giving whatever was charging room to enter the market without slamming into him, though the sounds coming from the streets sounded like a pony.

Uncertainty was raging too strongly for him to ignore, however, so he kept giving himself space to react until his initial observation was proven correct, as a cloaked pony came barreling out of the street. He blinked in surprise at the mindless charge the pony was making, and he opened his mouth to grab their attention when the wind shifted.

From the deepest, most primal parts of his mind, terror ruptured over every other sense, pumping his body full of adrenaline and instantly turning his blood to molten fire. The snow began to ram his face at a steeper angle, but the worst part was the horrid stench that followed. A stench he thought he'd never have to experience again: the appalling stench of rotten flesh, of digesting meat. The stench that presaged the most terrifying creature in Equestria: a Reaper.

His attention was overturned from the rushing pony to the dark patches in the street, eyes scanning every shadowed form looking wildly for anything moving. As if things weren't getting bad enough already, it seemed the wind and heavy snowfall had decided that the limited remaining torchlight was unneeded.

One by one, the few torches began to blow out, leaving a horrifying advancing wall of impenetrable darkness, and the horrid stench was only getting closer.

His mind starting to kick into gear again, he was suddenly very grateful that his sword was back home: it'd of slowed him down as he rocketed into the skies, getting just over the tops of the buildings as the wall of blackness hit the market. But his relief was soon rewarded tenfold, as every signal indicating a Reaper was nearly upon him faded, and his nose was free of any intruding offensive odors. In fact, the only real senses he was getting was the biting cold wind above the city, and a flurry of snow around him. He glanced down at the far end of the market, where that pony had dashed towards, only to find that the tracks were rapidly disappearing.

Having half a mind to inspect the mysterious pony and make sure they were okay, he opted to use his rational brain and return home.

Not trusting his directional awareness in this intense of a blizzard, he began to dip back to the ground, using his wind advantage to warn him if the Reaper was in front of him. He had barely touched down when a scream in the distance found it's way into his ears. The scream came from behind him, directly opposite of the street, and in the general direction that crazy wandering pony had gone. He glanced in that direction with a wary gaze.

Every fiber of his body was on edge, and his heart was refusing to let up at this point, so he had two choices: go home and pretend that he didn't hear anything but the relentless snow, or go and see if this pony needed his help.

Blaze groaned internally; because while it was true that the city had an astounding number of thieves and other undesirables, not everypony was bad. He'd met a number of goodhearted ponies, helped many of them, and this was a part of himself that he'd refused to destroy. He could not let this pony go unattended with a clear conscience.

He hadn't turned a step when a significantly larger crash came from the same general area as the scream, followed by horrified shrieks and cries of pain.

The panic fully set in, and Blaze made a mad dash across the market, following the quickly fading hoofprints in the snow, hoping to the stars that this pony wasn't already gone. There was a part of him trying it's damned best to remind him that he stood absolutely no chance of facing off against a Reaper, because nopony lived to tell the tale of an encounter with one, but he refused to listen to anything right then. He followed the panicked prints as they turned and bolted erratically. He focused solely on that, though the screams were starting to get closer.

After following the prints for a block and a half, he hit a corner bend that still had a surviving torch, displaying a scene fit for a murder investigation: the snow was churned everywhere, big areas swept aside by something giant, and splashes of blood covered areas that seemed relatively untouched. He somewhat doubted the red blotches were Reaper blood.

There was yet another scream and cry for help, this one coming from the side street leading directly to the wall, a darkened section of road that obscured everything from sight. He hesitated then, and was grateful he did so, as the front half of a wagon was launched from the darkness and slammed into the ground next to him. The impact was proceeded by another shriek of pain, and that seemed to be enough to stir Blaze's courage a bit more, as he shook his head and jumped into the air, hoping to use his vantage point to pin down the beast. Unfortunately, that horrid stench hung thickly even in the air, even with him up wind. The screams shifted, as if the pony had been launched, and Blaze flinched, expecting the wounded pony to be thrown in his direction.

Only when the wails continued to move, almost like they were being carried, did he realize exactly what was happening. This creature, the Reaper, seemed to snatch its victims and carry them back to their dwellings, which meant that at least one limb was occupied, potentially.

He used that as a glimmer of hope and sprung into action, diving headlong, and very foolishly, into the darkness and hoping to catch this creature by surprise. He underestimated the raw power of this reeking scent, and it nearly felt like he had hit a physical wall.

Still, he knew that if he didn't do something, that this pony was going to die, and while he wasn't so certain he could even help, he knew that he had to at least try. So he pushed forward, ignoring his burning nose and slammed into the ground where he figured the beast would have been, only to see a shadow darker than darkness in front of him. His terror official warped into full-blown dread. He was shaking on the spot, though the blood pounding through his veins was making him unbearably hot right then, and he wasn't positive, but was sure that he might have even pissed himself.

The looming shadow ignored him, choosing the steadily climb the wall using extending shadows, and had the snow not been falling so damn hard, he would have made out more. As it was, he knew it was a massive creature, the size of a building at least, and the most horrifying thought to enter his mind was that each step it might have taken, which given the size would have been lethal to be under, was a silent as a falling feather. This lumbering, eldritch monstrosity was as silent as a sleeping tree.

He watched the warping form reach the pinnacle of the wall, much to the surprise of an inspecting guard, who yelped in horror at what he was most unfortunate to see. With two ponies in tow, the abomination disappeared fully in the cover of night and a blizzard, though the wails of agony were audible for minutes afterward.

Blaze stared at the wall, frozen in place in utter fear, so complete and consuming, he would have stayed there had he not received assistance from Jace. The Telepath used some magic to dissipate some of the overwhelming emotions, leaving him slightly numb as he stumbled away from the spot. He backed off until he was back in the torchlight, where he turned fully and bucking _bolted_. He fled back to the safety of his room that the snow seemed to evade him as he flew through the streets, and his mind never registered the building appearing, nor his entrance until he was safely locked inside him room, everything he owned in there tossed against the door.

His abrupt appearance and subsequent total barricade in his room woke most of the remaining inhabitants, who had rushed to his door to try to figure out what was going on. He could hear a multitude of voices on the other side of his make-shift barrier, though he was unable to focus on them. His mind was stuck repeating that fearful encounter, replaying his harsh landing beneath a lumbering beast the likes of nightmares.

The door budged a little as the others started ramming the door, but he didn't notice. He looked down at his hooves, which were shaking uncontrollably, trembling with a combination of fear, adrenaline, and a pounding heartbeat.

His eyes were locked on his trembling hooves, though his gaze was faded, his mind occupied with repeating his near death encounter. His ears twitched as a couple of items fell from the piled things, but he still remained transfixed to the fresh mental wounds. Several more attempts were made to besiege his room, resulting in his floor being littered in more items as they got the door further open. There was a patter of hoofsteps, then the door was flung open and the barricade scattered across the room.

The explosive entrance of whoever it was only triggered his adrenaline-fueled response: leaping backwards and reaching for the first thing he saw, his sheathed sword. He ripped the blade from the scabbard and threw the empty scabbard at the intruder, his vision blurred in his haste.

The scabbard flew across the room, whipping a hairsbreadth from Asta's head, before clashing harmlessly against the wall. His sword dipped slightly as he saw that it was a pony who cautiously inched closer to him, and as he saw his little sister, the sword fell from shaking hooves and clattered to the floor. The invitation was not lost on the younger pegasus, and she dashed forward, into his unsteady clutches, hugging him tightly, even as he tightly squeezed her back. His shaking eased a bit as he inhaled deeply into her mane, though it persisted weakly.

"What the actual buck is going on?" Goldheart grumpily mumbled, barging into the room, nightgown and cap awry as he wiped sleep from his eyes. He glared daggers at Blaze, until he saw the shaking pegasus desperately holding onto Asta. "Blaze, just what the hay were you thinking, barricading the door?"

Blaze didn't respond for a moment, but after a moment, he lifted his gaze, with horror-stricken eyes, to gaze at the elder pegasus. "Tried. . . getting. . . away."

"Blaze, it's okay now; whatever was trying to get you isn't coming in here. You're safe now. It's okay, brother." Asta said, repeatedly nuzzling his chest in an attempt to slow his breathing, to little effect. She refused to move, however, and insisted upon latching herself to him, even as he rose on unsteady hooves. She managed to keep herself planted firmly to his chest, the two standing in forced unison so that Blaze could face the approaching mass of concerned ponies.

Scale trotted into the room, frowning at the disheveled pegasus, but kept silent as she approached him, never stopping until she was right next to Asta. The Sage offered a short, simple hug in her own attempt at calming him down, but she pulled away so she could speak. "Do you think you could explain to us what happened? Maybe we could help you."

He looked at her with uncertainty, his eyes still wide and his pupils dilated, and for a few moments, she thought his mind have been too energized to slow down. Eventually, he let out a shaky breath and nodded slowly, towards the group of ponies gathered at his door, and used a single hoof to point to the sitting area out front. She understood him, and barked for the others to clear some space, then she reached to get Asta to give him some space, only to find that the mare was pulled tightly against Blaze. She gave him a questioning look, but the blind fear in his eyes caused her to change her mind, knowing full well that this was something she couldn't reason him out of.

Asta and Scale led a shaking Blaze out of his tattered room, and the mass of ponies cleared the halls and gathered around the empty couch, leaving the three a clear path. Blaze clutched to Asta like his life depended on it for the entirety of the trip, and even as they sat down, each mare taking a comforting position beside him, he kept a death grip with his wing over her, squeezing her against his side.

Asta was grateful for the contact, but her mind was more focused in worry over what could have happened to leave him in such a state. The group waited with baited breath as he tried to get his shaking under control.

After a moment of silence, Twilight cast a quick spell and lit a fire in the central fire pit, helping to warm the atmosphere. Scale gave her a short nod of appreciation before all attention returned to Blaze, who had finally gotten most of his shaking under control, though it was clear that his heart was still racing to all who could see him.

In an attempt to ease his mind a little, Asta grabbed hold of one of his hooves, squeezing it to let him know she was there, the gesture going a ways towards helping him calm down. Scale also assisted by running a soothing hoof down his back, which he could only give silent thanks for, for that helped his nerves far more than anything but Asta's presence at his side. He dry-swallowed, trying to manage his breathing before he worked out the courage to relay his experience to those around him, the trepidation being forced down.

About two solid minutes of silence from all assembled ponies, Blaze finally released a significantly calmer breath, smiling to the two mares soothing him down. He looked around the room, to see the worried, concerned, and slightly irritated faces of the exhausted ponies gathered. He felt guilty for waking them up, but he forgot the emotions as he opened his mouth.

"I'm sorry for barging in here like that. There was just. . . just something absolutely horrible that happened out in the city tonight." He began with a shaky voice, though neither Asta nor Scale stopped for him. "I suppose it would be best if I explained what happened from the beginning, that way you can try to get help as soon as possible.

"I wanted to get some fresh air, you know? I'd been dealing with crazy things the last few weeks, and I thought that some time to myself, out in the open air would have helped ease my mind and given a chance to properly process everything. So I went out, because I knew the city well enough that there was nothing to worry about: all I was going to do was get in some light flying for a few minutes, give everything a chance to settle, then come back and sleep it off." He inhaled deeply, holding it for a moment and then releasing the pent up emotions with it. "The plan was to just do some casual warm-ups and the the actual flying, because I could tell the snow was starting to set in a little heavier. Still, that was nothing to really worry about, I'd flown in the snow before, and this wasn't that bad at first. . . but that was hardly the biggest concern of the night.

"After I'd done a few exercises to get my blood flowing, I started to fly around, getting to the market north of here, that smaller one I go to from time to time with the enchantress. Only, something didn't feel right. . ." And with frightening levels of detail that made even the adults gasp in fear, he explained how he had nearly ran into a Reaper in the snowstorm, starting with the uneasy feelings, and then the mysterious pony.

He could tell from their initial reactions that the others had thought that this pony was either Al Capony or somepony else that was there to stir up some trouble. Had he not been so bucking terrified himself, he might have slightly enjoyed seeing them fearful of his news that there had been an all-too familiar, and dreadful, scent in the air. The foals didn't catch on quite as quickly as the adults, but when he mentioned that a Reaper started chasing the random pony, the foals squeaked and hid either behind their parents, or under anything they could find.

Even Asta and Scale seemed taken aback by the appearance of such a monster within the city, so close to him, and so close to grabbing him for good. Unsurprising to pretty much everypony present, the moment Asta realized that he could have been taken forever, she latched onto his side with renewed vigor, thrusting her head into his mane and mumbling through it. "I'm never letting you go now, you realize that, right Blaze? Never again are you allowed to leave my sight, not until every last one of those monsters have been taken care of, and most definitely not until I can get both the Princesses to assign an entire army to watch over you."

Her declaration might have carried more weight had Scale not posed a much more serious threat to his peace. The look of unbridled horror and determination seemed equally as bad as the prospect of facing another Reaper, though on an entirely different level. Hers was the look of a mare about to deal passionate words to him.

"I don't necessarily think that an army is what Blaze needs, because we aren't entirely sure what Reapers are still." Her words were mild, but he could tell her passion was still approaching. "Regardless, Blaze; no matter what ever thinks to threaten you, we are going to stand together to protect you, as you have us. We all love you, value you, and admire you. Not even a Reaper would prevent us from doing everything we can to stop anything from harming you. For now on, unless you are with one of the Royal Sisters, either Asta or Goldheart are going to accompany you wherever you go.

"But that shouldn't really be much of an issue, because we are never going to let you leave this house." Her declaration was met with a surprising amount of agreement from the others, something that upset Blaze. While he had no way to out-argue the entire house of ponies, that sure as Tartarus wasn't going to stop him, so he opened his mouth to respond to her declarations of imprisonment. She beat him to it: "And don't you dare think to argue with me, mister!"

Asta decided now was a good time to make him suffer eternally, even though he had just suffered a major mental wound. "I love you more than the world itself, Blaze Burn. And I will not let you endanger yourself ever again, even if it means that the Princesses themselves have to come to our doorstep to seek you out. Don't make this difficult on yourself, brother, because everypony here will ensure that you do not go anywhere, not for a long, long time."

"Then I suppose that it's a good thing that I didn't even finish my story, huh?" He quickly learned that that was the very worst thing he could have possibly said, as the concern on the two mares' faces twisted into horror at what he could have implied. Apparently, just nearly running into a Reaper wasn't the worst thing they could imagine, and he hadn't wanted to fuel their nightmares by revealing the truth, though that point was minute when compared to the prison they were surely going to lock him in when they heard the rest. 'Sometimes I really need to learn to shut the buck up.'

"What. Else. Happened?" The short, biting words filled not with malice, or anger, but with fear and sorrow stung worse than his original fear. Hearing Asta so mortified by the implications that things were worse than her imagination made him feel uneasy about what would happen after he finished the accounting. Settling in for a very rough night, he sighed, using his wings to pull both Asta and Scale in, trying to negate the most of the impact this was going to have by reassuring them that he was still here and alive.

"Well. . ." He shuffled in his seat before continuing. "Before I do go into the finer details, would you two please promise me that you won't be upset?"

"Why would we need to promise?" Scale asked.

"Tell me what happened, Blaze Burn." The venom in Asta's voice was a little bit frightening at that point, so he decided to end his suffering and get this over with.

"Okay. Fine, let's just finish this. The Reaper seemed to have lost interest in me, instead deciding to go after that random pony, which I was somewhat grateful for: it meant that I had the chance to escape. Well, I had planned to do exactly that, until that poor pony started screaming." The darkened scowl on just about everypony's faces told him everything he needed to know, so he tried his best to shrink inside himself, to hide from their varied gazes. He knew that they ranged from Asta's anger, to Scale's untested disappointment, to Goldheart's shock. "There was just no way that I could leave somepony to the grim fate that accompanies a Reaper attack.

"So I did a very, very, _very_ stupid thing; and I rushed back towards where I figured that the pony had taken off to." The sharp inhales coming collectively from across the room made him wince. "Well, needless to say that it was a difficult decision to make, but I wouldn't not try to do something; what kind of pony would I be if I had left them to that kind of death?"

"A wise one." Scale said, her tone deathly cold, and her eyes were burning holes through his skull, and he thought he felt some of the heat leeching itself into his brain.

"Do you want me to finish this account, or can we go ahead and move on and act like nothing happened?" He asked, trying his best to assume an innocent appearance, complete with a hopeful smile, one that was quickly crushed by the animalistic growl coming from his little sister. "Well, to make a long story short; I tried to help the pony, who was grabbed by the Reaper and carried off over the wall and into the blizzard. I almost got a look at the monster, but with all the snow pouring down, I had a hard time making out the shape."

Glares from all around was the general consensus, which was better off than he was expecting.

"I'm going to go out and say what we are all thinking right now, if that's okay." Asta said after a second to process just what she thought she had heard. "Blaze Burn, we all love you, we all think you have a heart of gold when you want to. But that has to be the stupidest, most idiotic thing I think I've ever even heard of somepony doing! Like, I think the ponies who worship Discord have more sensibility than what you tried to do!"

"I concur, " Scale added, her tone lightening just a touch, her scowl remaining a permanent fixture to her features despite it, though. "that what she says is true. Kid, that has to be the worst idea I think I've had the displeasure of seeing from you, moreso than bucking Twilight over there."

"Hey!" The named unicorn blurted out.

"And we hope that you learned your lesson for good this time." Asta finished Scale's thought for her, as a multitude of ponies around started nodding in agreement. "Whatever the circumstances are; do _NOT_ go rushing after somepony if you know that a Reaper is around, especially if that pony is some stranger that you don't know. For all you knew, it could have been some lowlife who was simply receiving their comeuppance from the universe."

"And while we are all very grateful you returned here safely, our doubts for your safety have only risen significantly due to the reckless behavior you demonstrated tonight." Scaled declared with a nod, looking over to the gathered ponies for their support, which came nearly instantly. "It is with a heavy heart that I must declare you a danger to your own well-being, Blaze, and as such, with the power given to me by our peers; I hereby order you to spend the next seventy-two hours safely within the confines of your room."

Blaze opened his mouth once more to argue the judgment, only to have Asta shove her hoof literally in his mouth. The taste wasn't good, and as he tried to reach up to pull it out, she slapped his hoof away with her remaining one, giving him the death glare. "Uh, uh. We all think that this is the best option for you right now, mister. I'm going to take my hoof out, and then Scaled Equilibrium and I are going to escort you aback to your room, where we are going to have a very private conversation about your abhorrent actions tonight."

He tried to come up with a response around her hoof, but all that came out was something similar to a groan of frustration. Which Scale replied to in kind; "Don't complain about this Blaze, you brought it upon yourself."

Asta's hoof came free, and he inhaled, thinking of the best way to respond to their poor decision. A thought came to his mind, and he hoped that with all the pushing they'd done before, he might be able to make something of this situation. "Look, I know you are all upset right now, and you have every right to be, but please think about what you're doing."

"We have."

"For less than a minute! I've still got things to do that require me to leave my room; like all those training sessions with the Princesses that you had all insisted so much for me to do. How do you plan on having me train with Luna if I'm stuck in my room?"

"We can discuss this while we are in there, though I do believe that we already mentioned that if either Princess wanted an audience with you, they are perfectly capable of coming down here themselves." Asta replied with a smile, hopping off the couch and pulling him with her. "Everypony can go back to bed, seeing as how the incident is already long passed, and Blaze has safely returned to us, mostly unharmed for now. . ."

He deadpanned at her for a moment before Scale gave his flank a motivational slap to keep moving, though the startle it gave him was more effective than the action itself. He shot a brief look to the mare, who had a frustrated, albeit relieved, look on her face. Perhaps he could worm his way out of anything serious.

Holding onto that hope, he obediently followed behind Asta, keeping pace with the smaller pegasus quite easily, as they marched silently to the back of the hallway. Blaze's room was still a mess as they entered, but Asta made short work of pulling the sideways bed frame back to where it belonged. She plopped down on the trashed mattress and patted the space next to her, smiling happily as she did so.

He sighed, knowing this was going to be a long night.

Submitting to his fate, he shamefully walked over to the bed and sat his fat flank on the frame, not caring that Asta had intentionally forgotten the mattress. The moment his ass touched the bed, Asta was on him, grabbing his face with both hooves and pulling it uncomfortably close to hers, though it did bring a perspective to her emotional state that he hadn't had much time to really consider.

Her vibrant green eyes were glistening with tears that threatened to shed at the slightest disruption, displaying a whole new level of fear and worry she had been concealing. The proximity was broken the moment Asta had ensured that he understood exactly what she was trying to convey: that his revelation and acts of complete disregard for his own safety had scared her beyond belief.

"I know I've said this before, but in the span of a meager few hours, you have managed to scare the life out of me twice! And both times were completely out of my control or influence. Blaze Burn, it really feels like you don't even care about me, and that you are determined to destroy yourself over some of the worst possible incidents." She led out a choked sob as she fell onto her haunches, tears starting to shed down her cheeks. It hadn't been his intention to make her cry, but he was smart enough to recognize his guilt at causing this through his inconsideration of how she may have felt. He gently reached over and pulled her into a soft caress, rubbing a hoof through her mane in an attempt to stifle the sobs. "It just feels so terrible whenever you do shit like this, Blaze! Sometimes it feels like I'm just here to be something that you claim as a trophy, like some stupid treasure that should be concealed and hidden away, that I'm just some item to be locked away and horded from the world, as if I am incapable of feeling anything towards my owner. Whenever you risk yourself behind my back, it feels like you don't think I'm worthy of being associated to you."

Blaze stopped stroking her mane, paralyzed by the stinging words that seemed to strike a chord. His gaze lost focus as his mind shot back to the moment just hours before.

He truly understood what she was getting at, how he had acted with no concern over his own well-being, or how anypony here would have reacted had he just disappeared in the middle of the night. He thought back to how he had ignored every part of him that begged him to return home, to be back here, in the safety with Asta and Scale, with Goldheart and Muffin, Twilight and Sweet Flower.

His mind shifted back to every time he had interacted with her about her wanting to follow his path in life, to join him on every adventure, up until she had snuck behind his back and started studying with Celestia. He thought about how he had completely disregarded her feelings and thoughts on the matter, and how he had treated her exactly how she had said: like some fragile object, to be stuffed inside and wrapped in cloth.

Inhaling deeply, he felt now the perfect time to inform her of what he had been mulling over in the back of his mind ever since the events in Grogar's cavern.

Leaning back, he smiled sadly as he met her gaze, using a hoof to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. "Asta, I completely understand where you are coming from, and I must admit that it was extremely wrong of me to treat you like an object, and not like the beautiful, wonderful mare you've grown into. It seems that even at such a tender age, you've proven to be more mature than I.

"I must confess to you something that I have been thinking hard on the past few days, something that I hope will go some distance towards making amends with you." He said, letting go of her so he could emphasize the importance of the message. "Dealing with Grogar was a bad experience, but a necessary one. I learned that you can't prepare for everything, and that some things must be dealt with in the moment.

"Pair that with tonight, and I have finally come to the right conclusion, the one that finally allows me to accept you truly as a full-grown mare in your own right." He whispered softly, placing a wing over her shoulder. "Because tonight I learned that we all have to be able to deal with anything and everything whenever something comes up, I won't always be right at your side whenever you may need me. So, in acceptance of you finally maturing enough, though your previous actions have proved resistance futile, I have come to fully accept that you are going to be training with both Celestia and Luna, for whatever path in life you choose.

"Because of that, and because I know that nothing I say will ever change your mind on the matter; you have my blessing to do whatever you want, and that no matter where you choose to go, I will support you completely." His declaration confused her for a moment, until she fully grasped what he was saying, and the tears turned from sorrow to joy, and a massive, happy grin split her muzzle.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. You were always going to go wherever you wanted, and nothing I said or did would really change that. And after seeing just what dangers there are out there, I would only feel comfortable having you by my side, but that would mean you would be there when I dealt with those dangers, which could put you in harm's way, unless you _were_ the harm." He explained with a cheery nod. "So I give you my blessing to study under Celestia and to train with Luna in complete confidence."

"Oh my goodness! You're the best, brother!" She leaped forward, wrapping her little brown forelegs around his neck and pulling him in for a hug. Before Blaze could really enjoy the fact that he'd just made amends with his sister, she pulled away from him, her eyes sparkling with joy but her frown said otherwise. "At least, for one part of the problem you are, but there is still one big issue we need to talk about, Blazy."

". . ." He stared at her for a moment. "Did you seriously just call me 'Blazy?'"

". . .Yeah?"

"Please don't ever call me that again." He said coldly, staring incredulously at the mare in his hooves.

"But I think it sounds cute, and we really needed to give you your very own pet name, considering you've given one to Scaled Equilibrium here." Asta retorted, pointing a hoof at the named mare, who held up her forehooves in defense.

"Don't bring me into this; I've got something to bring up after you two have reconciled."

"Aw, don't be such a grump, Blazy." Asta said in a cutesy tone while she batted her eyelashes at him. "Beside, we still have a very big issue we need to resolve, and the sooner we fix this dilemma, the sooner you can return to being my very own big Blazy again!"

"Fine, what is this issue we need to talk about?" He surrendered, hoping with all his might that this was going to be something trivial or at least not that big of an issue, because the adrenaline from earlier was fading away, and he was feeling utterly exhausted from a day of total excitement.

"Okay. So, since you already took care of the little lessons Celestia and I were having, then we need to discuss another thing that I've been doing on the side." She said, though the words were hesitant and that got him slightly worried. Still, if it resolved everything between the two of them, then he was going to power through whatever worries he had to to make things right. "Well. . . you see. . . I-I was working on some lessons that Celestia had given me but I'm not quite understanding them, and I w-was kind of hoping you'd be able to help me?"

The way she went all submissive was reminiscent of a particular behavioral pattern he'd seen from her before, but this wasn't exactly related, so he was greatly confused by the need for her face to turn bright red. "Um. . . is that really it? Asta, I literally just said that I was okay with you taking lessons with Celestia, and that you were able to practice with Luna. Why would this be such a big deal for you?"

The young mare glanced very quickly at Scale, and to Blaze it seemed like she was anxiously waiting for the earth pony to leave out of disinterest or something. When the Sage refused to move, Asta shifted nervously in place, unsure of how to proceed to ask the question that was burning on her mind for weeks.

"W-well, it's actually like th-this. . . you see. . ." She seemed extremely uncomfortable wording her request with Scaled Equilibrium standing there, so the mare did her best to give the siblings some privacy by tactfully excusing herself from the room for a moment.

"What was that?" The mare called in the general direction of the door. "You need me specifically for something? Alright, I'll be right out. Sorry, guys, but it sounds like somepony is in serious need of my super awesome services right at this very moment. I deeply apologize that I can't be there for you both for this, but I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."

Followed by a hasty retreat.

While Blaze was grateful that Scale seemed aware of the situation enough to give them some room to talk, he was worried about what specifics Asta needed to talk about that were too embarrassing to speak of in front of her. He returned his attention to Asta, who seemed significantly more relaxed now that she had total privacy to speak her thoughts in confidence. She smiled shyly at him, pawing at the mattress frame while she shuffled her wings, stirring up a small amount of dust. "Okay. . . I can do this. . .

"Blaze, I know that I've made it perfectly clear how I feel about you until this point, but I just needed to clear up everything between us, right here and now." She declared in a firm tone that surprised him by the sheer dramatic change it had: this was not the same, shy filly worried about embarrassing herself in front of her family. "I wanted to talk to you alone because, well, I think we both know why. . . I want you to tell me you love me-"

"I've already told you that I love-" He tried to say, raising an eyebrow at what she was hinting at.

"NO! Not like that, Blaze. I meant, I. . . I want you to tell me that I mean something to you, something more than what we've been. Something, truly special." The last sentence came out as barely more than a whisper, but the weight of her demands hit Blaze like a brick, and he had to stand up from his seat and take a step away from the bed, rubbing a hoof over his face. He knew that this was something far more serious than he previously imagined, and his face must have shown it, for Asta reacted quickly, jumping up to stop him from freaking out. "WAIT!

"Oh, I didn't mean for it to sound like that, I just. . . dammit I just wanted to hear you say that I actually meant something to you." The desperation in her voice was raising many alarms for him, but this was something that he was completely inexperienced to deal with, and so he stood there like some stupid idiot, staring at her like she was a stranger wearing Asta's skin. Which was something that Asta took the wrong way, as she leaped forward and tackled him to the ground. "Buck it! Blaze, I want you to understand that I still think that you and Princess Celestia should get together, but. . . well, I just wanted to hear you say that I was special to you, that I actually meant something to you."

"Asta. . ." He managed to choke out, despite his many instincts telling him to run away and ignore the issue, for matters of the heart were things that he didn't even want to pretend to understand. But this was his sister, so he'd try his damned best to solve this. "Asta, of course you are special to me, my little sister. You don't just mean something to me, you are everything to me. Scale and the rest of our twisted little family are all second to you, and then the sorrowful citizens of this city, but nopony, no; nothing will ever be more important to me than you. Asta, you are my everything, you are my sister, you are my motivation to keep going, and you are my hope that things will turn out for the better.

"I'm sorry that I can't bring myself to love you the way that you love me, but know that I _do_ love you, in my own way." His confession was nowhere near as passionate as hers, but that was something he was prepared to accept: theirs was a difficult position to manage.

"No, it's alright. It's just with. . . with the arguments we'd had, and with your extended trip to the Crystal Empire, and then this. It just felt like you were trying to avoid me, even if it caused you harm, and if I did something to upset you, and then you got hurt because of it. . . I don't think I'd be able to forgive myself."

"Asta, please listen to me very closely. Okay?" He pulled her close and grabbed her chin so that he had her full, undivided attention. "Nothing you ever do will make me leave you, even if you tried to sleep with me every bucking night. Sure, we are going to fight, there are going to be days where we get into arguments and hate each other, hay: Star and I did that from time to time. But just because we don't see eye-to-eye doesn't mean that we won't love each. However, as a warning, should you actually try sleeping with me every damned night, I will lock you in your room and throw away the key. Okay?"

"Understandable. But that was only when I was in heat, so that shouldn't count." She pointed out defiantly. "It won't happen again, I promise."

"It better not, that was awkward and terrible for all of us-" He started to badger her on how bad it was, but the mention of that night brought back lovely, sensual memories for her, and she was temporarily lost in the wonders of memory lane, where she was free to fill all of her desires. She focused back as he finished his lecture, one that she had received from multiple ponies ever since that happened, and just like each time before, she pretended like she understood what they were saying.

Well, she didn't necessarily pretend, but she simply didn't agree with them, and arguing with Blaze now wasn't about to change anything, so she chose the easy path and nodded in agreement. She desperately wanted to ask him one final question, to ask a single favor, a single request: one that would mean the world-no more than the world to her. But she held her tongue, because as desperately as she was already craving his touch, she knew that he wouldn't accept her, so she'd have to try to think up a more subtle approach to securing him. She needed some time to form a plan, so she copped out, faking a yawn and separating herself fully from him.

"That was a lovely chat, Blazy, but I think it's finally time I hit the hay, because you weren't the only one who had a busy day."

"Alright then, good night." Blaze replied with a happy smile and a very quick hug, one which she gladly returned, mind buzzing along as she formulated her newest battle plan. Once she had separated, she trotted out of the room, wagging her tail like an excited puppy all the while.

Blaze watched her leave, curious as to why she was acting like a dog, until he suddenly remembered that this wasn't the first time he had made that comparison. Deciding to just let Asta be Asta, he shrugged and simply decided to wait until Scale returned so that he could inform her of what had transpired, though he had a sneaking suspicion that she already knew. So he say his happy little flank back on the bed frame and waited it out, until the purple mare finally waltzed in the room, humming a chippy tune while shutting the door with an exaggerated sweep of her hind leg.

The way these two were acting, he had a very brief though that maybe the weather ponies had gotten the seasons wrong, and that this was actually the dead of summer, and that both Scale and Asta had gone into heat. He was still thankful that he wrestled that thought down and returned his brain to its normal function.

"Finally. I've been waiting ages for you to get here!" He explained with a smirk.

"You have no right to complain, Blazy." The way she said that crawled under his skin, making him want to itch, but he let it slide because he was a nice pony and had already had far too many arguments for the day. "Besides, I'm getting tired and it's really late, so I just wanted to get this quick little conversation over with, because I know it's not going to take that long."

"Alright, then. I'll go first by stating that I'm pretty sure Asta's 'affection' towards me is significantly stronger than we initially thought. This is going to completely blow up in our faces unless we find a very effective way of either undermining her attraction, or we manage to steer it towards something or somepony else." Scale's ears flapped against her skull as she received the news. "So yeah, I hope you're prepared for a difficult road."

"It's no matter, though you'll still have to give me some time." She said while she waved a dismissive hoof through the air, doing her best to not appear utterly exhausted and as happy as she could. "But that's not what I came here to talk about: you'll remember that I didn't exactly have a whole lot of time to perfect my original plans.

"No, I came here to talk about another pony in your life, one that I think you'll find a lot less stressful to discuss." That intrigued him enough that he leaned forward, his features easing at the prospect of avoiding distressing conversations regarding his dearly loved sister. "I was hoping to get your opinion on what you think happened to Twilight; because when I talked to her about it, she seemed pretty damn dismissive over her little chat with Princess Celestia. Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary?"

"I mean, other than the fact that she seems completely immune to my masculine charms? I haven't noticed anything else of concern, though that might be because her resistance has been bothering me all day." Scale rolled her eyes at that.

"Funny. But I'm being serious; was she acting profusely strange? Did she have any physical alterations?" She barraged a multitude of questions at him, and he gave a sweeping negative across the board, because he really hadn't noticed any serious changes. The only change he could think of was that she did glance at him a few times without that sultry, hungry look in her eyes. He mentioned that to Scale, who sighed and shook her head in disappointment.

"Alright, then. Thanks for the help, I suppose. Maybe I'll have to try to get her to answer my questions some other way, so add that to the list of things that I must accomplish here soon; along with finding a distraction for Asta, brewing a potion for Princess Celestia, and dealing with a few other side requests." She sighed, turning around and preparing to leave, sparing him a quick glance.

She opened her mouth, but then shut it pretty quickly, as the sentence seemed to die on her tongue, so she simply trotted over to the cracked door, propping it open. "Good night, Blaze. Hope you have some peaceful dreams, though I'll be surprised if Princess Luna doesn't make a surprise visit to interrogate you about the encounter with that Reaper."

"What? Why?" She refused to answer, as by the time the words had left his lips, she was already gone, letting the door slowly shut itself, and leaving him in a darkening room. The candle off in the corner, that had luckily avoiding his panic-induced construction, was spilling molten wax over the floorboards while the wick slowly ran out. He sighed to himself, feeling like he was repeating himself far too often, but having little else that he could really do. He waved off the mare that was already long gone, opting to put back together his room, which took a surprisingly small amount of time, something that was certainly aided by the fact that he kept so few physical belongings.

In half an hour, he had everything back the way it was, with the floor swept and scrubbed, his few clothing items stored securely in his dresser, most likely never going to see the light of day again. He rested his sheathed sword against his nightstand, along with his hidden blade, which glinted in the rapidly fading candlelight.

Falling heavily onto his bed, he allowed the consistent sounds of the wind howling against the wall to lull him into a more peaceful state of mind, which was immediately followed by sleep overcoming his resisting mind.

The world of the waking no longer welcomed him for the remaining day, instead, passing him like some coin purse into the land of dreams, where his subconsciousness was allowed free reign over his senses.


	23. The Destiny Pyre

Chapter 23: The Destiny Pyre

 _Blaze trotted through the open fields beneath Canterlot, thoroughly enjoying the light breeze under his wings, and even moreso loving the little filly on his back, who was squealing with glee. He chuckled at her enthusiasm, though his heart ached for the most sufferable misfortune that had befallen her: she was born with one of the very few, very rare defects that prohibited proper wing growth._

 _This poor filly, a pegasus, would never truly know the wonders of flying through the open skies so long as she remained untouched by the influences of magic, which she had steadfastly refused. So the next best option that he could think of for her was to offer to take her for a flight of her own, riding on his back as he soared through the skies, giving her a taste of what it meant to be a free pegasus._

" _You sure you got a good grip up there, eh Scoots?" He asked sweetly, giving the filly a light jostle by jumping into the air for a second, resulting in squeals of delight, the sounds foals made that never ceased to bring a smile to his face. She giggled her answer, using her forehooves to grab onto his mane tighter, while her back legs did their best to crush his bare back._

 _He found it extremely endearing that she put so much effort into this, as most other ponies he found hated the idea of being used as a mount. He didn't mind giving a ride or two to the foals, only because it made them so happy, which in turn made him happy._

" _Come on! I wanna taste the clouds! I wanna feel the wind blowing through my mane!" She shouted excitedly, whipping his mane like a crop, her eagerness to be in the air filling him with a warm, fuzzy feeling the likes of which he could only assume were what fathers felt. Still, a foal had demands, and he was not the kind of pony to deny those demands, especially when it resulted in gleeful noises from said foal. So he flared his wings slowly, giving her the chance to do any last-minute readjustments, all the while finding the best path through the open skies to show off the wonders her wings should have given her. "Let's go already!"_

 _He knew that this was the kind of energy he needed from the foals in his life: without it he would have shriveled up and become a hardened soldier with no empathy or compassion. That was a fate he deemed far worse than death, and so he would do anything to give her the thrill of her life._

 _One thing he remembered as he stretched his wings to their limits, was that this new age had so many wonderful advantages to it that his own time lacked. Another important thing that popped into his head, not entirely unwelcome, was that the other foals Scoots here was friends with had practically begged to also get a chance to fly around town. He would have taken all three at once, and given them a grand display of what flying could do, but when he realized just what condition poo little Scoots here was in, he had to give her something special._

 _Perhaps it was the nostalgia kicking in, perhaps it was his own desire to replicate flying with Star back when he, himself was a foal. Either way, it didn't matter: here he was, giving a gift to a foal who would likely cherish the memory for the rest of her life._

 _That was all that mattered right then and there, that she was happy. He looked back to make sure she was secure, and once he was sure that she was, he took off, lurching into the air at a fast enough pace to thrill her, but not so fast as to rip her off of his back. Giddy shouting nearly ruptured his eardrum, but it didn't matter; Scoots here was happy, and a little pain was never going to outweigh that._

 _As he rose higher, he settled into a shallow but steady climb, deciding to go more in circles as he rose the air currents than actually fighting gravity. Luckily, Ponyville seemed to get so much air traffic that the weather ponies had made clear air current columns for use at his leisure. Once she got used to the sensation of sitting on a flying pegasus, Scoots loosened her grip and gaped in awe at the view, something she had obviously never had the pleasure to experience. While she stared in open wonder, he began to hum a little tune pulled form the depths of his mind, something that seemed fitting for the situation._

 _Bobbing his head in tune with the music he climbed closer to a cluster of clouds floating just outside of town. He banked right against the wall of fluffy material, allowing Scoots there a chance to experience what fresh clouds felt like. She giggled like mad at the opportunity, even grabbing some and stuffing it in his mane, which tickled him like mad._

" _Sweet dreams are made of this." He sang quietly, giving a quick shake of his mane to clear it of the intrusive material. "Who am I to disagree? I traveled the world and the seven seas, everypony's lookin' for something."_

 _Scoots seemed to distracted with her manipulations of the clouds to really pay attention to the lyrics he was singing, though the rhythm eventually wormed its way into her head, and she started thumping her legs against his torso in rhythm to the song. The deeper bass thumps that were produced matched the words so well, he was certain this was what perfection was like._

 _This is paradise._

 _He pulled away from the clouds, though not before Scoots grabbed a hoofful and began compressing material into little cloudballs, which he presumed she would then barrage against her friends when he passed over them._

 _Not wanting to humor her completely just yet, he began to pick up speed. "Hold on tightly, I want to show you something amazing."_

 _She did as he asked, stuffing the cloudballs between herself and his back, while her tiny little orange forelegs grasped at his neck this time. He smirked as he dipped further down, reaching a fairly steep angle and gathering a lot of speed, hearing the wind gently whip passed his ears and flow through his folding wings. "Some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you._

" _Some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused." The whispered words came out, thankfully the wind overpowered the words and little Scoots didn't hear a thing. He waited until they had dropped a large chunk of his available airspace before he flung his wings wide and pulled up into a very steep dive. The filly on his back couldn't contain her joyous screams, and he wouldn't even try to stifle the laughter that this happy little pony brought him. He pulled back, and kept doing so until they had inverted fully, then they were suddenly facing the ground again, and the force of the wind whipping passed them was pulling hard on both of their manes._

" _Sweet dreams are made of this; who am I to disagree? I travel the world and the seven seas, everypony's lookin' for something."_

 _After doing a loop, he flattened out and carried on flying Scoots across town, passing several weather pegasi and delivery ponies along the way. Scoots waved to each and every one with ecstatic glee, and each wave was returned with equal fervor. The close-knit relationships that this town produced warmed his heart to an almost unbearable degree, it was as if all of his dreams for Equestria had come to fruition in this tiny little hamlet town south of the nation's great capital._

 _Sweet dreams are made of this._

 _He gently banked to the right, following the roads below to get closer to the center of town, where the large town hall sat, shining in the afternoon sun. He locked his wings and coasted on the warm air currents that the town produced, allowing Scoots the ease of relaxing as he floated above the happy citizens below. "This is amazing, Blaze Burn! How do you ever stand staying on the ground?!"_

" _It takes some getting used to I suppose, and even with my enhanced endurance, I still need to rest from time to time, and many of my friends and family were incapable of flying. So while I love being out here, without any limits, being on land isn't that bad, so long as you have ponies to share it with." He answered, closing his eyes and letting instinct tell him what he had to do, though the lack of any real obstacles meant he was mostly relaxing as well._

 _Who am I to disagree?_

" _Hay Blaze?" He cracked an eye open and glanced back at the questioning filly. "What was that song you were humming and singing along to? I really liked it."_

" _That one? I'm going to be honest with you here, Scoots: I've got absolutely no idea. It just sort of popped into my head, and I decided to go along with it. I find that music can really enhance one's emotional experience, and while I can't speak for you; I really loved this little flight, and it's going to suck when we have to land."_

" _Yeah. . ."_

 _After that, neither pony really felt like saying much more, as the joy they both felt at having the other there was such an amazing feeling, they were equally worried that anything else that was said might ruin the atmosphere. So Blaze silently powered on, giving an occasional pump of his wings to keep them soaring peacefully above the quiet town._

 _It took a moment for Blaze to realize that the best part about spending time with Scoots was that he had no worries; no Reapers threatening to eat him, no Chaos fanatics trying to murder him in retaliation for his attempts to destroy them. No super-villains trying their luck at conquering Equestria, nor any beast or other unholy monster rampaging across the land. Just a guy and his charge enjoying a soothing flight over a beautiful town, relaxing without the worries he had grown up with. But the absolute best part: having an adoring filly on his back, relishing in the joys of flight that she would never be able to personally experience._

 _He was her vicarious wings, he served as her means of obtaining that which life deemed her unworthy of. And it was that sentiment that highlighted the problem with this Utopia: even when things were perfect, nature would always find a way to prevent everypony-nay-every_ one _from enjoying life to its fullest._

 _Poor Scoots was the victim of fate, and there was nothing she could naturally do about it, and while magic could solve that issue, it wouldn't really be her victory. No, her destiny was sealed when existence itself deemed her landlocked. And that was where he came in, serving as a pair of wings for a pegasus who was robbed of the chance to grow and nurture her own. So, instead of mulling over what suffering was happening, he decided, as he had once long ago, that he would be a solution._

 _He would be the wings for everypony who lacked them, the path which everypony could walk when they were lost. He was_ destined _to be this: a shining beacon burning brightly through the night, a signal for all the lost, who so desperately needed guidance. He would have the opportunity to use his curse as a gift, and show others that happiness was not a trap, that fate had no lasting clutches of anypony._

 _He would be the greatest-_

 _Blackness?_

 _The sudden transition of total bliss, of warmth and friendship and happiness, to the emotionless void was just a touch jarring for the stallion, and though he knew his hooves were firmly planted on what should have been what constituted the dream realm's ground, his wings were still flying, and he lurched forward. Had there been an actual ground, he would have gotten a face full of it, but devoid of anything remotely resembling reality, all he did was loop several times as he approached the Princess of the Night._

" _Thou appearest to hath enjoyed thine slumbering visions." Luna's casual voice commented, a touch of sarcasm layered with just the barest hint of mirth, though the spice in her voice definitely sounded new. Had he not known better, he would have attributed that spiciness to either bitterness or jealousy, but because this was the more, well, the Princess who tended to avoid those kinds of feelings, he knew better. "And wouldst thou hath not already obtained a most fruitful and adventurous day, we wouldst hath left thee alone to drift among the dreams of perfection."_

" _Okay, Princess. I get it; dream world and whatnot. Can you please do something to stop me from spinning like some kind of wagon wheel? I feel like I'm going to throw up if this keeps up." Blaze stated matter-of-factly, indicating with irate hoof gestures that his somersaulting in the black void, with only a rotating Princess to look at was making him nauseous._

 _Luna smirked at him, and after a moment to enjoy his suffering, her horn lit up and Blaze found himself looking at the Princess right side up. He nodded his thanks before looking around the desolate inky landscape, admiring the lovely view of the curving blackness, the striking detail in the blackness, and how the flowing blackness heavily accented the almost geometric blackness._

" _Way too black for my taste." Was his simple statement, and before Luna could beat him to transforming the landscape, he turned it into his usual room, albeit with an extra couple of chairs. He indicated for her to take a seat, which she graciously did, before he took the remaining chair. "So, is there any real reason why you're speaking so headache-inducingly formal, or is it for the simple fact that you enjoy watching me suffer and this is your preferred method of psychological torture?"_

" _We art offended that thou wouldst accuse us of being so hideous!" Luna actually sounded taken aback for a split second there, but then her muzzle cracked and her demeanor shifted from shock to amusement._

" _Ah, so it's simply that you enjoy giving ponies headaches, despite all the efforts I've put into getting you to talk like a normal bucking pony? I suppose it makes sense; I'm only allowed nice things when it causes me either physical, emotional, or psychological pain. So I'm going to have to deal with this shit inside my own head?" He stared at her with his disinterested face._

" _We apologize. . . it is difficult breaking a habit that one hath-has spent thousands of years perfecting." Her smirk transitioned into a bit more of a saddened smile, but bounced back after vanishing so quickly Blaze wondered if he had actually seen it. "Though it would appear that thine own speech patterns remain as vulgar and barbaric as ever, despite o-my sister's attempts at ascending thine mannerisms to accommodate that of nobility."_

" _Ha! Is that what she was trying to do?!" He barked, his spontaneous laughter echoing around the room, working it's way into the Princess' demeanor enough that she let out a light chuckle. "Well, we all saw how well that went! There is no way she's getting me to act all prim and proper, and I'm way too comfortable in my own mindset to want to try something 'higher.'"_

" _Perhaps not to the degree she wishes, but refining thine-your actions would not truly be that difficult a task to complete. We believe that it would ease you into discussing matters with royalty that much easier if we all spoke with similar inclinations." She nodded, though it was clear she was not entirely agreeing with his stance. "If you are to become my sister's beloved, then perhaps adopting some of her more prominent citizen's attributes would be of assistance, would you not agree?"_

" _And who says I even plan on becoming Celestia's beloved?" Blaze shot back, his demeanor recoiling with slight distaste at the very implication, especially from Luna, who he figured knew him pretty well at this point._

" _Nopony in particular, but we are both fully aware that she has every intention of pushing the issue until she succeeds."_

" _Or I die." He retorted. "I don't know why you wanted to bring this up, because we both understand that I'm not going to fall for her any time soon, and that it would just be best for all parties involved that she drop these pointless feelings."_

" _Easier said than done, I'm afraid." She sighed, leaning back in her chair and staring as deep as she could into his eyes, though he refused to give ground and returned the contest with equal vigor. She was searching for something, he knew it; so why not make it as fun as possible? There was a moment of silence before she deigned to speak again. "I apologize for intruding upon thine space. . . my sister's emotional attachments are not mine to consider, but I do care about her happiness. You have, let's say made it difficult for her, putting much more resistance into her charms than any before._

" _It has made me curious, considering the circumstances, as to why are so determined to avoid committing yourself to her, when nearly everypony else would literally kill to earn either Celestia's or my attention. It is so very rare that we have the opportunity to be normal mares, and so we take to each fleeting moment immediately, and that seems to have been enough for most stallions. So why are you the outlier?"_

" _Because I have higher priorities." His response was immediate, with no hesitation in his mind for a justification. "Because everypony else is either looking for wealth, influence, or even something noble like compassion for her; I have no doubt she will be fine without me. What I_ need _to focus my sole attention on is protecting my family. I've lost too much to care for anything else."_

" _Even when courting my sister would allow you even greater power to do just that?"_

" _Celestia would be a distraction." He nearly spat his words out, carelessly speaking his mind. "Luna, I was away from home, busting my flank to earn enough bits to protect these ponies that became my family. I was doing just that: working away so that I could even more efficiently take care of my family. Then I got the news that Star had just walked on out of there, and I've yet to see him again! Star left, and I was unable to stop him, because I was away._

" _I hated that trip to the Crystal Empire, and the only reason I ever agreed to go is because I knew that everypony else was going to make damn sure that Asta stayed put! I never want to leave them alone like that again; not when I know that there are bastards like Al still out there; bad ponies who are willing to do anything for any reason. If I courted Celestia, then she'd have me locked up in the castle, doing heavens know what to me while my family suffered out there. I won't let that happen!"_

 _Luna was quiet for a moment, deep in thought as she considered how to respond to his short, albeit passionate, speech. After a length of time, she thought of a solution, and stood from her seat then willed it away. "So your opinion is that family comes before anything else?"_

" _Correct."_

" _Then I have a proposal, one that I believe my sister would be more than willing to accommodate, should you accept: I propose you and any member of this family permanently move into the castle, where they can be safely housed without fearing ponies like Al Capony ever again."_

 _Blaze opened his mouth to immediately refuse, but he held his tongue, as it was a valid suggestion that might hold ground in an argument. He didn't like that aspect, as he was desperately trying to horde every excuse to deny Celestia for as long as he could. This new proposal would make several of his logical reasons wash away. He settled for a default answer that he hoped would satisfy her growing interest. "It's something to consider, and have a discussion with the others before I make any permanent plans._

" _And Luna: I understand you are looking out for Celestia here, but do you honestly think that we would even find a way to make it work? Between her running her country and the new friends I've been making while trying to deal with Al and his goons; I doubt there is any time we'd have for each other." She smiled at the question, as though she had an answer already lined up for that very question._

" _You both have hearts of gold and a deep compassion for those beneath you: for her it is all of Equestria, while you watch out for your family." She replied calmly. "Not only do I think you two would make a fitting match, but I believe doing so would provide a great many benefits for everypony. Equestria would have a Prince with the best military training in history, one who would consider everypony his family, and thus would do anything to protect them. We would be able to give those ponies in your home a wonderful life full of luxury and comfort, and our combined might would be unstoppable._

" _On a more personal level, Celestia already cares deeply for you, and with your heritage; she's even got everything you would need prepared for. I am willing to train you in combat and protection, while she would be able to refine your tongue into a sharpened blade of negotiations and politics."_

" _Neither politics nor negotiations sound like my kind of taste. Don't get me wrong; I've gotten good at talking my way out of situations, but doing it while speaking for all of Equestria just doesn't have the kind of rush I look for in an argument." He said, waving a hoof while trying to prevent her from breaking down his attempt at ruining this idea of hers. "But before would could even get to that point, I'd like to remind you that I am going to have to stay here. You see, we have a large number of ponies living in this building, and a good portion are either unwilling, or unable to move out._

" _There is a delicate system of existence we live in, and upsetting that could be harmful; such as the foals who need somewhere constant to live, and a few who are at a point in their lives where moving may be harmful for them. Another thing to consider is that while living in the castle would have some advantages, we both know how Celestia seems to feel for me. And judging by past behaviors, I'd say my presence would only distract her from her delicate duties._

" _So I say we let things run their course, and deal with the issues as they arise. I know that many things simply can't be prepared for, but others are able to be, like one thing that I know for certain you came here to talk with me about." He said with a straight face, though inside he was glad he was finally getting away from that dreadful conversation. "I'm sure you've spoken with either Asta or Scaled Equilibrium, and that that was what brought you here in the first place. We just talked earlier, and it was clear that all I really needed was some good sleep and some time to unwind. So let's discuss what happened that couldn't be prepared for, and how I should plan to prepare for it in the future."_

 _Luna deadpanned at him for a moment, displeased that he was ignoring the subject regarding her sister, but she let it slide, knowing that this was important enough to warrant the Sage asking her to speak with the Gold Blood. "Yes, we were slightly concerned when we had heard that you had wished to save somepony from a Reaper. But that concern faded into obscurity when we realized you were so totally stupid that you would actually act upon those desires."_

 _Blaze just knew that the groan she gave off would be loud enough to be heard in the real world, just bleeding out through his physical ears and seeping into the world. "Whatever idiotic idea made you actually believe you'd be able to stop a Reaper? A creature that had never been seen by a living pony, whose very presence is enough to instill complete dread in the most hardened soldiers?"_

 _He shrugged._

" _I'll admit that the sheer bravery is admiral, and it is that positivity that brings me to my next point." She added with a smile. "We have much to discuss, but I believe one of your largest reasons behind refusing help from anypony else with these kinds of matters is your insecurity. You feel like you failed those you loved, that you didn't try hard enough. I desire to see you grow into the best pony you can be; the best soldier, the best brother, the best Gold Blood, the best Prince._

" _And with that desire, I ask that we reconsider our training sessions, so that we return to a more active sparring schedule, not as intense as before, but impressive nonetheless. I want us to train every other evening in the castle sparring ring; improving thine swordsstalionship and becoming the best fighter to grace this land. We can work on this form, thine power, and thine overall skill with a blade."_

" _Huh. That would be pretty nice, but I don't see where you are going with this. Where is the harsh criticism that everypony else gave me on it?"_

" _We hath decided that thine punishment came in the form of thine angry family, so we hath no need to admonish thou over it. Moving forward is the best approach we found appropriate. So, with this enhanced training continuing, thou shalt regain thine confidence of thine abilities in combat, thus improving thine disposition. It shalt be one small step towards thine courtship with our sister." The slip happened quickly, though he was distracted by the tempting offer to get back to training. "And with thine sister partaking in more exercises at the castle, thou hath no complaints, no?"_

" _Hm?" He shook his head as he realized there was a direct question being tossed his way, then he did a quick replay of what she said. Once he'd re-listened to everything, he frowned, knowing that she considered Asta to be the only pony he cared about here. "Luna. . . while I appreciate the enthusiasm towards getting me more highly trained, I can't just abandon everypony here to their own devices. I'll take you on for something more intense, but it's gotta give me time to be here more often than that. How about every other evening, and then you can have me in here, the dream realm, whenever you want?"_

" _Thou drives a point, but we must admit that our sister and Asta already deliberated plans for daily lessons, and with their visits at the castle growing all the more frequent, we hath formulated a schedule for thou."_

" _That sucks." He replied. "I'm not making the same mistakes as I have before. I lost Star, then I nearly lost Asta and everypony else. I will not regret learning under you when it was a national emergency for the Crystal Empire forcing me to train harder than before, but this is not the same thing. I nearly destroyed my relationship with Asta when we were training like that, and I can't lose her, no matter what. I will not be gone all day and all night just so that you can turn me into a guard dog that Celestia can ogle over whenever she wants to."_

" _Thou misunderstands. We wish to see thou grow as a soldier, and as a guard who can better protect thine loved ones, not to use as a sparring dummy that flaunts thine flesh to our sister while she watches." Though Luna did keep a cool appearance that betrayed nothing of her thoughts, Blaze had a sneaking suspicion that that sentence made her want to crack a smile._

" _If you're just in this to help me grow, then how about this: rotating sparring sessions with endurance and strength flights every other day, and we can have nightly fun in the dream realm. During the evening, you'll either be beating the shit out of me, or running me ragged in the air, and at night, once everything else is done, we can perfect my fighting techniques. It'll be like what we had, just toned down so that I'm not dying all over again. I'll still have mornings and most afternoons to spend with the family, and I'll even be able take Asta with me on flights. The deal here is that evening sessions are shortened so I don't get torn away from my family."_

" _If thou will uphold thine end, then we find this proposal acceptable." She said with a slight pause, offering a hesitant smile as she extended her forehoof to seal the agreement, which he was quick to respond to. "Then it is agreed, and we await evening for thine proper flank-whipping!"_

 _She didn't care that he flinched at that, because by the time he had a chance to react, she was gone, disappearing into the night in a puff of smoke, presumably to complete her other tasks. Which left him sitting in a dream world replica of his room, wondering what the buck he was supposed to do now. He figured that he might go back to dreaming, but since he was already fully conscious, he doubted that he really wanted to do that, and because only Luna had that interesting dreamwalking ability, he was stuck in his own head. So he did the only thing he felt motivated to do: fly onto his bed and see just ignore everything so he could pass the time before he woke up._

Blaze opened his eyes when a persistent nudging to his side brought him out of the depths of slumber. The sudden transition to the bright world of the waking meant that at some point, he had slipped back into the presence of thoughtless sleep, which he was grateful for, but now he had an annoying pony to deal with.

Groaning with displeasure at being ripped from the safety and comfort of his sleep, he rolled over, attempting to flee from his intrusive annoyance. The pony waking him didn't like that very much, and loudly told him so, though in his mostly delirious state so full of sleep that he was on the cusp of going back under, he didn't hear a thing. He pulled the blanket up over his head, curling up into as tight a ball as he could under the covers, using whatever shelter he could to maintain the comfort. And with every poke and prod, that comfort slid further and further from his grasp until he was coherent enough to recognize that there was actually a pony talking to him.

Unfortunately for both parties involve, the skill required to comprehend what was being said was still miles beyond what Blaze was capable of, so the stallion decided that ignoring them so he could go back to sleep was the best option. The other pony disagreed.

For him, there was a moment filled with utter bliss as the pony stopped barraging him with a hoof, and he was readjusting his position to fall asleep again when a loud whooshing sound interrupted his thoughts. A heartbeat later, his most primal instincts told him to move, and in a startled panic, he tried going every direction at once. That only resulted in him getting caught up in the blanket as a very heavy object crashed on top of him, shoving all of the air out of his lungs in a massive grunt.

"GET UP, BLAZE!" Asta's voice cut straight through with striking clarity, lending him the panic-induced strength to throw her down to the hoof of the bed while he ripped the blankets off of himself, gasping for air. Once his burning lungs were satisfied, he glared at Asta, who recovered enough to leap forward and grasp him in her clutching hug. Her cheerful attitude wasn't going to spoil his ruined morning. "MORNING!"

"Asta. . . just what the buck was that?" He mumbled as he worked a hoof free to wipe the remnants of sleep from his eyes. She nuzzled him tightly, and though he was slightly uncomfortable, considering the ways things had been looking for him, she did seem to be genuinely happy, so he permitted it. "Why don't you ever wake me up like a normal pony?"

"For starters: I tried. I've been in here for like, five minutes, shouting into your ear and practically punching you trying to get you up. All that I got was a few mumbles and you to roll over. I had to do something. Besides: it's always fun to mess around with you, that's just how siblings work, remember?" She answered sweetly, using a hoof to wrap one of his wings around her while she nuzzled herself closer into his hold, a small yawn escaping her lips. "And now that you're up, I can finally get some sleep, and you can watch over me!"

"What?" He blinked at her shift in tone. "What do you mean 'finally get some sleep?' What were you doing all night?"

"Silly Blazy. I was standing outside your door, making sure nothing came to get you!" She giggled out her response, shuffling her wings and subtly wagging her tail. "I wanted to make sure you were perfectly undisturbed overnight, and that you should feel completely safe when you were home, knowing that your proud little sister was making sure you had a good night sleep."

"While I'm touched by the sentiment, I really think that you should have just gone to bed; I would have been fine either way, and you wouldn't be acting all weird like you are now." He said, though the statement didn't stop him from squeezing her as tight as he could, gently nuzzling the top of her head. Before he could get another word in, she was snoring softly in his hooves, out like a light. And though she may have succumbed to her exhaustion, she still clung to him tightly. "Guess I really sent you through the rungs pretty hard, then, huh? Well, I can promise you one thing: I'm never going to leave you alone again, not until I'm dead and gone."

He kissed her leafy green mane softly then twisted in place to give her his bed so she could get some proper sleep. He somehow got himself free from her grip, but not before gently coaxing her grabby forehooves around one of his cloud-stuffed pillows, soothing the agitating limbs lest they wake her up. Sliding silently off the mattress, he bit down on the blanket and pulled it up to cover her.

Once he was confident that she was going to be cozy while she slept, he carefully stepped over to the dresser he had. Draped over the top, and expertly folded with meticulous care, was an aging blackish blue blanket littered with the stars and constellations of a bygone era. The mere sight of the blanket, Star's little blankie, brought rough memories to the forefront of his mind, and he allowed them to sit and stew for a minute or two. He would have been remiss to deny that the suffering brought him a tiny, twisted amount of pleasure, as if the pain was validating his life, that the whims of the universe were acknowledging his existence.

Once he felt sufficiently battered for the day, he rubbed his eyes completely clear and stepped away from the stand, deciding that a fresh bath and a hot meal was what he needed. He carefully left the room, and tried his best to move silently down the hall until he had reached a safe distance.

He relished the steaming hot bath, especially after a night in the snow and the excitement and terror that accompanied it. He even allowed himself a longer soak than usual, taking time to relax his body, letting any residual stress leak from his muscles. He did know that he'd have to get out eventually, doing so with a great sigh and silently wishing he could just spend the day in the steamy tub. Still, there was work to be done, ponies to talk to, and things to prepare for, so he grabbed a towel and thoroughly dried himself off.

Upon exiting the hall and passing through the main seating area, it appeared that most of the ponies around were tense, nervous, and a little on edge. He knew this was going to be the case for a few days before things calmed down again, so he just ignored the equally pained and hopeful glances sent his way and continued pushing towards the kitchen. The way he saw it, they would recover faster if they saw he wasn't as bothered by it. Brave faces always did the best to motivate others to be brave, after all.

The kitchen was pretty empty, aside from a few ponies dotted around nibbling on whatever food they could stomach, not that he could blame them: had he not had several chats over the last several hours, he'd be just like them.

While his mind was on the time, he'd noticed that the sun was most definitely up, so he turned to one of the ponies sitting around. "Hey, mind telling me what time it is?"

"It's about two hours passed noon, why?"

"Nothing. Just wondering how late I slept in, is all." He nodded his thanks and turned to the cabinets, hoping for a bottle of mead to wash down the residual trepidation from the last couple of weeks. Instead, he found a distinct lack of any alcoholic beverages, something he was instantly ready to blame on his lovely, perfect little sister. . . he was definitely going to have to find a way to stop her from ruining his drinking: it was bad for his mental health. So, without much more of a plan for the day, he just shrugged off his displeasure and grabbed a bowl of food to inhale.

Not that he really wanted to do anything today, with all the travel his hooves were taking over the last week, he was more than happy to sit around for the day. Though he knew that he didn't deserve the luxury, not until he took care of a few pesky things around town.

His food teleporting into his stomach via an insanely powerful vacuum, he never even bothered leaving the kitchen, choosing to instead "eat" his breakfast right next to the sink and drop off the used dishes instead of the tedious task of finding a seat. Once he had his hooves clear of obstacles, he trotted out into the main area, wondering just what to do, but internally knowing that there were several things that had to get done. He simply didn't want to do them.

So he trotted over to the fire pit and plopped his flank in front of the flickering flames, absorbing heat and energy to get himself ready. "Ah, you're awake. I was starting to wonder if you were going to ever come out of your room after last night."

Goldheart took a seat next to him, offering a smile before turning to face the flames. "Just a bit of an upset that wasn't really that big of a deal: I did survive after all"

"But the fact that you were so close to possibly the most dangerous creature in existence would lend a hoof towards any anxiety you would have felt. I would have thought you would experience one of two outcomes: so much emotional turmoil and at such an energized state that you would have fallen off the adrenaline in a hard crash causing you to pass out immediately. Or you would have that adrenaline pumping through you all night and keeping you too jumpy and rigid to rest." He shrugged. "I guess talking it out did wonders for you, which I'm more than glad to say: with all the stress you'd been through recently, I was getting worried. You know, not even the Princesses fully knew what was happening to you during your trip up there. Asta was freaking out the whole time, breaking down after the first few days. She tried to keep it hidden, but we all knew it was happening.

"If it would be so bad that the Princesses were in the dark and not a word would come until either you returned or a message from the Crystal Empire arrived, I think you deserved that break." He said, his gaze lingering on the flickering tongues a moment longer before turning to the younger pegasus. "I'm surprised you didn't partaking in wringing answers out of me yesterday; is something the matter?"

"Hm? No, nothing really." Blaze replied, returning his mind back to the conversation after a brief lapse in concentration. "I've just been super busy and have had a hard time slowing back down, something that will happen soon, I hope. And as for why I didn't ask anything then; I knew that every question I had, we as a group would already ask, so I didn't want to waste our precious time getting to know you."

"What do you mean "precious time?'" He scoffed.

"You're like, what, a thousand years old? Dude, you're so on your way out-" Goldheart gasped at the jesting, though Blaze's smirk quickly informed him that the words were just that. "-and we need to spend as much quality time together as we can. I just don't want to get in the way."

"Well, this old stallion has a few thoughts on the matter, and they all add up to you being a young colt who cares too deeply for his family to be any kind of hindrance." Goldheart gave Blaze a gentle shove of his wing, though the size difference made the elder slide away instead. He readjusted his position and reconsidered his tactics towards the younger pegasus. "And I happen to believe some time to relax will be just what you need; surrounded by friends and family, in a place where you never need fear being attacked or ridiculed. Unless somepony reminds you that you are, indeed, completely reliant upon the ponies around you to keep you acting somewhat intelligent."

"Better to be stupid and happy than old and crotchety." Blaze retorted. "At least I've got the spunk to keep it up when I see a mare I like."

"You want to bring that up?" Goldheart scoffed while raising a hoof to his chest in surprise. "I am offended that you think me some kind of barbaric lunatic to not ensure my mare is well pleased! I'll have you know that this last mating season alone I mustered the strength to please more than one mare!"

"Your two hooves don't count, buddy." Blaze smirked, earning himself a glare from the elder, whose face was scrunching up like a foal about to pout. Before either pony could continue, Scaled Equilibrium walked in between them and shoved Blaze to the side, sitting her flank between them to stop the competition.

"Ladies! You're both pretty, now shut up and let me tel you both something that you need to here." She laughed at the offended looks both guys were sending her way, their game interrupted. "And for the record: you've got a few winters under your belt, Goldheart; but that doesn't make you ancient. I'm sure the mares back in Saddle Arabia just went head over hooves for you, and you have kept some of that charm about you.

"As for you Blaze, you're still young, so don't be going around talking crap like this, especially to a pony who was married." She scolded him. "Whether or not he sleeps around is none of your business. Now that we've got that settled, I wanted to ask you both a question regarding a particularly stupid action by a holier-than-thou pony in this household."

"I'm not holier-than-thou." Blaze muttered.

"Who have either of you been able to talk to since then? I spoke with Luna about the issue after several of us made a dash for the night guard captain on duty." She turned to Goldheart first, knowing that Blaze's answer was going to be fairly short.

The elder shrugged. "I wasn't able to talk with anypony except from Princess Luna when she interrogated me in my sleep. We were all too worried for that holier-than-thou pony's safety to want to leave. The Princess did want to know every little detail about what he told us, and gave us some advice towards keeping that certain pony contained, but nothing else came from the conversation."

"Alright, that was all I needed to know, since the guards also asked for every little detail we could bring up. And you, Blaze?" She turned expectantly to him.

"Same, I guess. I talked with Luna last night, just like Goldheart said: she asked a bunch of questions regarding the incident, trying to get a complete rendition of what the buck happened. She didn't mention that she was going to help you guys lock me inside here, though. I figured you would have known that, considering the efforts you've all been putting into holding me in here." He said, looking pointedly at the two, who only wore matching smug expressions. "But to ruin your hard-thought plans regarding my detainment: Luna and I spoke a bit after my fun dream and we came to a bit of an arrangement about those shackles you sought to put on me. So after some negotiations, we decided that continuing my routine training was for the best, and for that, I would need to leave the building. I won't be needing an escort, because Asta has my permission to study under Celestia, and as such will be joining me on my evening trips to the castle."

The two frowned at his confession, Scale being more invested in glaring at him and his methods of undermining their plans. "You thought this was a good idea because. . . ?"

"Don't bother trying, Scaled Equilibrium; he's the very same pony that thought charging at a hungry Reaper was a good idea." Goldheart commented, tugging on her leg to keep her from leaping at the younger pegasus, though both pegasi could tell she was getting close to wanting to strangle him.

As amusing as it was for her to be upset at him, Blaze figured that continuing to upset the Sage would only result in a manifestation of physical pain on his behalf. Using the few brain cells he had left, he smiled, thanked them for their time, and tried backing away, only to be caught with a firm hoof. He glanced back to find that Scale had latched herself to his leg, her usual determined look that informed him she wasn't done. "Hold on, I didn't come here to just ask you both a quick question: I've got some updates regarding what happened last night that I thought you might want to know about, Blaze."

". . . I'm listening."

"So, last night a group of us tried to find the city guard night captain, like I said we had." She began, resettling into her original spot and allowing him to do the same. "It took a bit of searching in the completely other bucking side of town, but we managed to find the guy; though I suppose it may have been bad had he been the poor guard you said was grabbed on the run. After we explained what had happened, he gathered as many night guards as he could and we all began to search the area you indicated.

"Due to the snowstorm we had, it took some time for us to get the marketplace you told us it happened near, and even longer to figure out which road you all had recklessly charged down. Once we finally did, well, nopony could have prepared for what we saw." She actually shuddered at the memory, which meant for Blaze that his rush had lead him to miss several important things. Or he was totally numb to death now, which was considerably worse. "Blaze. . . we knew we were at the place where the Reaper grabbed that running pony, because the snow had failed to cover the blood splattered against the walls. It was also incapable of covering the smashed wagon tossed against one of the buildings, though it had done a damn fine job of trying to fill the deep tracks in the darkened alleyway. But, oh dear Princesses was there a lot of blood; I see now why ponies are always screaming in total agony when they are grabbed. It's never just out of terror, but also pain.

"Anyways. . ." She inhaled sharply before continuing. "I-I tried my best to follow the tracks after they ran up the wall, but the second dose of blood along the ramparts was too much for me. I left the investigation to the guards while everypony that came with me joined me in returning home. I truly hope we catch that monster and seal every damned hole in and around the city. we'll all be so much better off without having to worry about some mysterious predator hunting us down and picking us off like sitting rabbits."

"Agreed." Both Goldheart and Blaze replied.

"I'm sorry you had to experience that." She grabbed him in a quick hug, a single tear falling into his chest fur before he was able to wrap his wings around her, returning the hug. "I really think that you should stay in here until we can deal with this problem."

"I'd die in here, without ever going outside again." He softly said, pulling away so he could look her in the eyes. "Scale, these things have been a menace to the city for as long as I can remember, and probably longer. I bet if I asked Celestia, she'd say that they were an issue ever since they built this city: those things don't seem like they would have followed ponies here. And if they were here for that long without us being able to stop them, then I'm certain they'll be here for just as long."

Scale sniffled, but sat taller as she wiped her eyes clear. "Yeah, probably. I just feel so horrible knowing that at any moment a monster could just sneak up and grab somepony here, and we'd all be powerless to stop it. Perhaps it would be best if you and Asta started really training with the Princesses, and then we could gather as many ponies as we could to wipe this city clean of those things."

"Perhaps. . . It's still going to be awhile before I want Asta actually training with Luna, though."

"That's for the best, maybe. She's still a filly by all accounts, and barely getting a taste of what it's like to be a mare." Scale conceded. "Yes, for now Asta should probably just do what you did and stay inside the castle and study under Celestia's tutelage. At least we all know that in light of this most recent upset, the Princesses will take extra precautions to keep both of you safe."

"Well, Luna's actually going to be beating the ever-loving shit out of me whenever we train, so I doubt I'll actually be safe, in every sense of the word." Blaze chuckled, earning similar responses from the other two, though it appeared that Goldheart was far more enthusiastic about the promise of a proper flank-whooping than Scale. Blaze wasn't going to hold it against him: they were all allowed to be assholes to each other, so long as they continued to love and support each other. As was their law. "But I'll be damned if Celestia doesn't make my little sister isn't treated like royalty."

"I wouldn't go that far, but the sentiments are shared." Goldheart stated as he rose with a stretch. "But I'll leave you two to do whatever it is you want to: I've got some important things to take care of."

True to his word, the stallion trotted outside, taking to the airs to manage some personal business, leaving Blaze and Scale sitting in comfortable silence. As the door opened, a front of icy air and a bit of snow attempted a pathetic invasion before the door cut off their reinforcements and the warm interior crushed the temperature difference. The peace was easing Blaze's mind out of the stress of the night before, and he sighed while sinking further into his spot next to the flickering fire. "This is nice."

"What?" Scale asked, scooting next to him to share some warmth, to which he responded by tossing a wing over her, and he felt her frosty side rubbing up against his ribs. After a moment to shudder, he looked down on her with a relieved smile on his face.

"Just being home, not running around chasing zomponies or dealing with any political bullshit. I'm still worried about Al Capony, but that's something that can wait until after I settle back in and make sure that Asta is taken care of: I"m afraid of how that confrontation is going to go." He said, returning his gaze to the fire, his mind captivate by the momentary tongues of pure energy, whose life comes and goes in less than a second. He felt Scale rest her head on his neck, so he adjusted his position so that she would be more comfortable, though it seemed that she was warming up by the second. "As much as I love being out in the open skies, or performing something like my tasks as a Gold Blood for the Princesses, I will always prefer being here at home: where I can spend my time with those that I truly care about. With my family."

"And we will always be so happy to have you here." She cooed, which did strike him as odd, but he figured she was loving having him to act as her pillow and blanket on such a cold day. That burst of cold air that came in when Goldheart opened the door was unpleasantly drastic compared the the fire next to him. He simply grunted a reply, letting his mind wander over whatever too his fancy while he let the day properly welcome him.

The first thing that came to the front of his mind was that happy dream he'd had overnight, before Luna had popped in to ruin it. He wondered just what it was about, and who this "Scoots" filly was. It wasn't anypony he knew, as they were in a town he had never heard of before; and the fact that he felt so much older in the dream lent credit to a possible predictive dream. Was of his annoyingly ambiguous dreams foretelling something that may or may not happen in the future, in the vaguest and most inconsistent way possible.

A part of him was actually hoping that this last dream was a prediction, because it really did seem like it would have been nice to share an experience like that with the foal. From his fading memories, it seemed like she also would have appreciated it; though that also awoke the other part of him. The part that was hoping this future wasn't happening, because a foal who suffers like she did would be a terrible fate for one to suffer.

He had to shake his head before it dragged his mood down too far: because worrying about it now wasn't going to change anything, if there was anything to change at all.

He cast his gaze around the room, trying to get the general impression of the mood of the ponies around. It seemed that a large number of the adults were either nervously moving about or were gathering and whispering amongst themselves. The foals seemed mostly oblivious to the dampened mood, though he was certain they had been worried for him last night. Everypony was taught about Reapers at some point nowadays, with all the recent activity they've shown. He was forming a theory that perhaps those damned Chaos fanatics were behind the activity: it wouldn't seem to be behind a cult like them to incite utter chaos by awakening a monster like the Reaper, or bringing the entire species up from the deep.

The thought made him shudder, which happened to be enough to get Scale to notice his ruminations. "What's the matter, Blaze? You're thinking about last night, aren't you?"

"No. . . just trying to figure out why the Reaper activity seems to be increasing lately, and I'd finally put together a theory, one that is terrifying if true, that might be able to explain it." He said, giving her a quick squeeze of his wing as warning before he slowly rose to his hooves, giving her ample time to rise with him. "I'm going to raid the kitchen and see if there are any surviving bottles of mead that escaped everypony's wrath. You're welcome to join me."

"I think I will." She nodded, giving his wing back as they walked into the wonderful room of food, where several of the older mares were busying themselves with a late lunch for newcomers. He gave them a quick nod and trotted into the storage pantry, hoping to find survivors in there, while Scale waited at the propped open door. "What is this theory you have?"

"Aha!" Blaze exclaimed in victory, for there were a couple of remaining bottles of sweet spiced mead hidden behind a sack of cheese on the top shelf, just out of reach for most normal ponies, and where his forehooves could get to easily. He popped the cork off it and carefully bit down on the lip, using his free hoof to grab her one, which he offered from the ladder. She rolled her eyes but nodded, extending a hoof to catch it, which he gently dropped over her. He slid down the small ladder once the dropped bottle was safely in her purple hooves, and the two casually trotted out of the pantry, holding two forbidden bottles that would be sure to annoy Asta should she find out. A fact that Blaze was counting on. "And to bring you the bad news; my theory revolves around those stupid bucking Chaos fanatics, and what they would accomplish by controlling or at least dispersing the Reapers."

"Do elaborate." Scale pressed for an answer as she pried the cork out of her bottle, taking her sweet time sipping on her bottle.

"Well, I'm not sure just how much you know about those crazy ponies, but they all worship Discord, and they wanted to see him break free from his stone prison and overthrow the Princesses, thus returning to power." He began after a couple droughts of the divine beverage in his hoof. "Well, the bastards believe that if they can sow enough mayhem and chaos in Equestria, they'll fuel his power enough for him to actually break free. My theory is that these Reapers were either asleep or trapped down in the ruins beneath the city; and they found a way to get them to start coming up here.

"The result so far has been one or more massive creatures that terrorize the pony population and cause huge amounts of chaos with every appearance. If these fanatics are indeed behind the Reapers, then they very well may succeed in their endeavors; because we just don't know how the buck we are supposed to stop them." He pulled out the seat at a vacant table, offering a place for Scale to sit first, which she graciously accepted. He took another pull of his mead before sitting, waiting until they were settled so he could continue.

"And if it turns out they aren't behind this, it'll still be in their best interests to keep it going as much as they can. The whole affair just seems to be so convoluted and complicated that I'm certain this is a mess that's going to take some time to figure out." Scale was thoughtful for a moment, her eyes glued to a random fixture in space while she carefully chose her words.

"Well, I'm sure that between you and the Princesses, some kind of solution can be found, especially now that you're getting a bit of experience." She started slowly, finding the proper words to put him at ease. "But I must agree that this might get out of hoof if things are left unchecked; so perhaps a more aggressive approach would be optimal? It is my understanding that the Princesses have a variety of tools at their disposal, so there should be something that we can do to rid our lovely city of this problem."

"As much as I'd love to agree; I fear that this might be something larger than the Princesses, if everypony that I've spoken to about it have anything to add. Add to that the general impression I've gotten from both Celestia and Luna about Al Capony and his goons, and what the assassins were saying with the fanatics' organization deal: I'm worried that this is something that is truly going to spiral out of control." He sighed, slamming back the bottle and finishing the last of his mead, deeply hoping he could just drown everything under that sweet drink. "Just because despair and suffering are the leading aspects of life with these fanatics running around doesn't mean I'm giving up. I swore to you all that I'd protect you, no matter the cost: and by the heavens, that is exactly what I plan to do!

"I told Luna that I was going to meet up with her this evening so that I could continue training with her. And since I'm kind and loving, I stupidly agreed to allow Asta to either study under Celestia or consider training under Luna; though I'm not going to let her pick up a sword just yet." He said, placing the bottle down as he caught her heightened attention. "Which means that she'll be accompanying me when I head down to the castle, and if Celestia isn't in the mood to teach her anything, then I guess she's going to watch Luna beat my flank."

"Might I offer a suggestion?" She asked, to which he nodded. "Asta is too young to fight, but perhaps you could have her learn some other things from the Princesses; something like basic evasive maneuvers, like what you learned while flying with the guard. It wouldn't have to be related to flying, but I understand that this was the whole point of having her study. If she can get away from a fight, she won't have to learn to defend herself."

"I like where you are going with that, and it's definitely something to keep in mind. . ." He paused, tilting his head as he reconsidered the thought. "Actually, that's better than what I had in mind for her. I don't suppose it'd be too much trouble for Luna to find somepony willing to help Asta become a stronger flier, though I wonder how fast she'd outpace any other trainees: her cutie mark came from her flying abilities."

"Just please ask her what she'd think about it: I'm sure she'll be fine with it, but I don't really want to make it a habit of doing stuff like this behind her back." Scale sighed, finally finishing off her own bottle. "I'm only humoring you here because recent events have me worried for her safety as much as yours."

"I'll die before anything happens to her." The conviction in his voice shouldn't have surprised her, but it did; though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Then I'll let you have the remaining day to yourself: I've got some orders for silly potions coming in from a few of my wealthy clients that need to be started soon. Perhaps you should go around and let everypony know that things are going to settle down now, we both know they could use a boost of confidence." She stated as she rose from her seat, taking both their empty bottles before he could mimic her actions. Without any counter to her suggestion, and finding himself in agreement with her, he did just that: slowly making his way around the building, making short conversation with just about everypony he came across.

It took longer than he had expected, as many of the ponies seemed to require more reassurance to ease out of the stress of the night before than he figured they would. Realizing just how worried everypony was made him reconsider his own thoughts on the matter, because he had decided that it was better to just move on. Nopony else seemed to have reached that conclusion, which gave him pause to worry.

He wanted to believe that he was fine, but upon closer inspection, he finally felt that little cold, hard lump in his chest. A part of him that had gone apathetic towards the violent side of life, a small nugget of anger that he hadn't realized was helping him cope with these new experiences.

The realization that there was something keeping him from snapping from the death made him stop completely, inciting a wave of fear and anxiety. Had he really turned to tuning out his emotions so readily? What else would happen if he continued going down this path? He had to shake his head, knowing that worrying about it was not going to get him anywhere, and that this was something that he was going to have to deal with. Even if he didn't like it, though, he knew that this was something he had to do: he'd make damn sure that Asta, and everypony in his extended family, was protected and safe.

This was the path he'd chosen, and he was not going to submit to any weakness just because he was afraid of changing.

In an effort to rid himself of these troubling thoughts, he trotted outside, where the snow had let up, but was still coming down in a light blanket. Thankfully, the snow leading to the road had been shoveled and the roads had been completely cleared of the stuff. He glanced around, slightly confused by the dim appearance of everything, until he gazed off to the west, where the sun was nearly touching the tops of the trees. His surprise was immediate, though he did remember that the days were shorter during the winter, and that he had taken a few hours to talk with everypony.

He shuffled his wings when a soft breeze started blowing across town, sending the falling snowflakes cascading around in a new direction. Blinking his vision clear, he returned inside, hoping to get something more substantial to eat before heading to sparring practice with the Princess.

Asta was already up when he arrived in the kitchen, much to his delight and displeasure. "Asta, what are you doing up? You went to bed a few hours ago."

"Hm? Oh! Evening Blazy!" She replied chirpily, much too energized for a pony who got at most four hours of sleep. "I just thought that I'd better make sure to keep an eye on you, since you've decided that running around like a maniac sounds fun. And to answer the unasked question: I stopped by Scale's room and grabbed one of her amazing energy potions. I feel like I could run a million miles and fight off a horde of dragons!"

She emphasized this by jumping up and down, clearly more hyper than anything, which only made him worried about her; especially since he'd never heard of Scale brewing energy potions. If this was the effect they had, he was worried about what they'd do to a pony. His cocked eyebrow and skeptical expression must have given away his thoughts, because she started laughing while trying to walk up to him. He stepped towards her immediately, unsure how she what she was planning to do, but worried nonetheless. She gripped his extended hoof while she struggled to contain the persistent chuckles. "Don't worry, Blazy. Scale said that these potions were easy to make and perfectly safe for occasional use, not that it matters: I only need it for the rest of today, and the potion wears off in a matter of hours. I'll be sound asleep before midnight."

"Still, you should have just gone to sleep. I could wake you up once you had more sleep." He said, pulling her in for a quick hug. "So how do you feel about heading with me to the castle so you can watch me train with Luna?"

He knew the answer even before her eyes lit up with glee, but that didn't prepare him for the squeal of excitement that burst from her maw. "Really?! Oh, I did absolutely love it when Celestia and I would take breaks to watch you two sparring before you left! It looked like so much fun to be practicing with Princess Luna herself! I'm so excited to be able to get an up close and personal view of it; though, honestly the best part was seeing Princess Celestia get all anxious that Princess Luna would seriously hurt you!"

Blaze stared flatly at her, somehow not surprised by that tidbit of information.

"Well, when do you have to go meet with the Princess?" She asked excitedly, bouncing up and down like a filly about to go on an adventure, which he supposed was exactly what she was about to do. She may not precisely qualify as a filly anymore, but sometimes he wondered whether or not she still had that mentality.

"Actually, we kind of agreed on here soon, close to when she would be up and awake anyways, but before her royal duties would call her. So the sooner we can head there, the sooner you can enjoy the show of her beating the ever-loving shit out of my flank." He cracked a smile at her utterly excited grin, happy with the knowledge that she was going to be having a blast, though he equally dreaded what his body was about to endure. "I just need to grab my sword and then we can head over before it gets dark."

He was going to head back to his room to grab aforementioned sword, but his lovely little sister beat him to it; making use of her extensive energy pools to bolt into the halls. She returned seconds later, scabbard hold in her mouth, only reinforcing the image of a happy puppy. Had he not been relieved to almost be back to normal, he would have asked her why she was acting like this.

He was still tempted to bring up the topic, as he had been planning on for some time now, but it didn't really feel all that necessary when he had so many other things going on. If there was some time after tonight's sparring with Luna, maybe he'd be able to talk with her on the walk home.

However, it was something that had to wait, as he was certain that Luna would be up by now, especially with winter being the season of much longer nights and as earlier dusk. He took his sword from a patient Asta and belted it over his shoulder, though without his usual cloak it felt a little awkward. He made a mental note to go about refitting himself into another one, as the last had taken a bit of a beating during his scuffle with Grogar, on top of taking a beating during his hastened training with Luna.

His sword secured to its most comfortable place, and with an excited Asta at his side, he bade his farewells to everypony around. There was a general round of wishes for a good night's rest and many ponies wishing him safe travels before he freed himself from the gathered ponies.

Asta shivered at the cold air once they had extricated themselves from the refurnished warehouse, quickly acclimatizing to the winter chill. "Shall we be on our way?"

He replied with a curt nod, pushing into the harassing winds and down the main thoroughfare, hoping to be at the castle as soon as he could. Nightfall would have long passed by the time his sparring with Luna was finished, but he was hoping to mitigate their trotting through the city at night, and the quicker his session was completed, the sooner they'd be home. Though, he probably figured that the snow wouldn't really help them much if the weather reports he'd gotten meant anything: Somepony had mentioned that Cloudsdale had sent out preliminary warnings about heavy snowstorm clouds being moved around the general area.

Something about making a fresh attempt at reigning in the wild weather above the Everfree: the city had its weather under control, but those darkened woods refused to be tamed.

After a particularly rough front of cold air sent wave after wave of shivers down both their spines, Asta took it upon herself to huddle up as close as possible to him, the act being reciprocated with a slight pause. He conceded once the weather showed no signs of easing for them, draping a wing across her back in hopes that their shared warmth would keep the chills away at least a little.

Fortunately, the bailey walls came into view a minute later, and the guards posted beneath its cold stone arches let them pass without a second glance. Blaze guessed they wanted to get back under the shelter of the battlements as soon as possible, but he wasn't going to complain.

Once inside the inner walls, he was greeted with trampled snow absolutely everywhere, evidence of the ceaseless patrols of guards stoically braving the elements to perform their duties. The fact that he'd seen them all out here, constantly pacing or tracing paths regardless of the weather had been a bit of inspiration: his hopes that he could maintain such vigilance in protecting his own like they did. It was one of the few motivations he retained to keep his drive going.

"I don't think I'll ever get over this place." Asta said softly, gazing up at the large frosted stone walls of the castle proper. "It's just so huge when you compare it to literally anything else in this city."

"Yeah, though I've got to say: the tower in the center of the Crystal Empire is much taller than this place. Nowhere near as large of a space on the ground, but just so bucking tall." His tone had none of the wonder and enthusiasm that hers did, but he did give her a quick hug with his wing for support. "Come on; let's get inside before you catch something."

Asta rolled her eyes but followed him as he stepped down the main lane towards the welcoming doors. Thanks to the large stone overhang, the steps leading up to the steel-studded doors were clear of any snow, though the occasional speck would drift down, melting soon enough. Blaze nodded to the two day guards posted on either side, who returned the gesture tiredly, while Asta followed a routine she had started a couple weeks back of tracing the mortar between the stone bricks as they went up the sides.

The wooden doors opened with the assistance of the unicorn guard, and the two pegasi passed through into the large entryway, a foyer that held a great many memories for Blaze.

If he were to be honest, this entire castle had a bunch of fun memories that he would have loved to take a trip down memory lane to revisit. Unfortunately for his yearning heart, one of the longer-standing maids had entered from the left-hoof hallway door, flashing an exhausted smile as she approached. It seemed like his was not the only group of ponies having had a long day, though something in her demeanor spoke of something heavier than a long day wearing her down. "Ah mister Burn; Princess Celestia And Princess Luna were just preparing for your arrival in their personal dining hall. Would you care to join them?"

He paused for a moment, trying to remember the last time he'd heard this buttery yellow pegasus talk; though with her unassuming stature and shy tone of voice he was certain that he'd likely never remember. He glanced at Asta before nodding; "Yes please."

"Then follow me." The maid uttered the words softly, and though her voice was faint, he knew he recognized the rough tone of a throat coarse with grief. He was tempted to ask her the matter, as her unkempt mane and sloppily adorned attire were enough for concern, but he held his tongue. It was something that he had no business in, and though he felt the strong urge to assist her however he could, he bitterly pushed it down. The Princesses really shouldn't be kept waiting.

The rest of the brief trip down the halls was in silence, the only sound in the entire castle, and still hushed at that, was of their soft breathing, as even their hoofsteps had been muffled by the thick winter carpets.

Upon reaching the guarded doors to the Princess' private feasting quarters, the maid trotted off, heading to do maid things and leaving Blaze to wait for the guards stationed at the doors to announce his arrival. They did so monotonously, clearly wanting to just get this over with so their shift could end and they could all go home and get some proper rest. It was a mood that he found all too agreeable.

The doors were opened nearly instantly via a golden aura, and Blaze could see the eagerly waiting Princesses seated at opposite ends of the table, their food already served and half devoured. Celestia's half of the table was, quite naturally, filled with cakes and pastries, while Luna had taken a more reasonable approach to breakfast, with what looked like poached eggs and buttered toast. Both their eyes had stayed fitted on him until he stepped through the entrance; where they shifted, quite comfortably, to the mare following behind him. Luna seemed indifferent to his sister's presence here, though Celestia look pleased that he'd brought her.

He was hoping that the wonderful celebration the day before would have relaxed them from the shit happening recently, that way when Asta broke the news to Celestia, all Tartarus didn't break loose.

He wasn't so fortunate, as the Princess of the Sun seemed to be absolutely glowing with worry and disappointment, something not even her relief at his presence before her could alleviate. Her jaw set and her tone hardened once the two pegasi had stepped into the dining hall, her mood reinforced as she forcefully shut the door behind them. She used enough force that both he and Asta to flinch. "That was a foolish thing to do, Blaze."

"Please don't!" He exclaimed, hoping to stop her before the tirade began in earnest. Putting up pleading hooves as he tried to pacify her long enough for him to get his thoughts out, knowing full well that once she started, he wasn't going to be able to placate her. She glared daggers at him, but her mouth stayed shut while she waited. In half a blink of an eye, he was standing before her, bowing his head as he began to explain to her his situation. "I've already been lectured about last night by four different ponies, and I've learned everything I can about not repeating that mistake. It was just a one-time occurrence that I shan't replicate again."

If nothing else, his particular use of "shan't" gave her enough pause that he was able to step out of her reach. "I hadn't taken into consideration then, and I have realized the error of my ways."

"Alright. Blaze, this once I will permit you escapement from repercussions." She stated with a nod, returning her attention to her cup of tea while the two pegasi turned to Luna, who wore a conflicted expression. Celestia stared at her cup for a moment, resisting the urge to indulge in her desires anyways, before suppressing them and nodding at her sister. "Luna and I had a long discussion on ways to properly ensure you don't do anything with that level of stupid ever again."

"And whilst we art to continue our sparring sessions, Gold Blood," Her formal tone bit into his eagerness for tonight. "This prominent one shalt taketh place under different constraints; many thou art destined to discover upon claiming this arduous task. However, to ease thine mind preceding tonight, we hath inclined to inform thee that thou art to do battle in honest with another."

Her pointed stare at Asta made both him and her blink in surprise, as the mare hadn't ever really trained to fight, and having them duel it out would only end poorly for her. Luna stood from her seat, wiping her muzzle with a napkin and passing them to the door. "Let us begin this session early, for we hath other responsibilities that require tending."

Blaze and Asta shared a concerned look before slowly following the Princess, unsure whether or not she was joking. They were certain that she wasn't as her tone was pretty damn serious, but then again, she understood that Asta was fully unprepared for this.

There was a brief moment of silence, with Blaze looking worriedly between a passive Luna and Asta, who seemed deep in thought. He wanted to say something about this, but he wasn't sure what he could say that would change Luna's mind. He didn't have much time, though, as Asta beamed, as if she had found a solution. "I remember now!"

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for the explanation to her outburst. "That maid that brought us to the dining room? I remember where I saw her from: her foal went missing a few days ago, just before Hearth's Warming, and that's why she was all super sad. She was super upset when she came to the castle, but the guards stopped her before she could go anywhere, Blaze."

"How. . .what?" He shook his head, wondering just where this was coming from.

"I had forgotten about that until just now, but it also reminds me that there was something Celestia and I wanted to tell you." She declared happily, nodding at Luna, who had taken a slight interest in their conversation. "Scale told me a while back how you had a suspicion that Luna was behind those foal-nappings so long ago. There were some rumors floating around the community about it-"

Luna actually looked mortified at the accusation, though Asta didn't allow the emotion to faze her. "-and several ponies remained that way until this last incident. You see, Blaze; we disproved that Luna was behind them!"

"How?" Blaze asked, more curious to hear his sister's story than interested in judging Luna's reaction to the revelation at his personal feelings on the issue.

"Well, the maid, I forget her name, gave a time that she had lost the foal, which did happen to be at a time that Luna was up. Now, I know she was up, because that happened to be the exact time that I was with her; meaning that Luna was incapable of doing any foal-napping, because she was with me the whole time!" Asta beamed, shooting the Princess a happy nod of approval, which Luna returned, though Blaze held his muzzle in check.

"Doesn't mean that she couldn't have prepare beforehoof."

"Do you truly doubt me so?" Luna sounded morose, her ears actually fell flat against her head, and her wide eyes convinced him of her pain that he'd actually think she'd done such an atrocious act. "It is disheartening to know that, through all this time, and through all our bonding, that you think so lowly of me such that you'd believe I was capable of doing such a thing."

"But now that's all gone and any doubts can be erased, Blazy! Princess Luna here has been proven innocent by my own two eyes!" Asta bounced up to the blue mare, who merely patted her with a shaky hoof.

Her thanks delivered, Luna returned her attention to leading them to wherever they were going.

She seemed to pick on his confusion, as she answered the unasked question without turning around. "Due to the weather outside, we are to conduct this spar in the dueling courts, before we go through your combat forms and honing precision."

His curiosity sated, he turned inward, doing his best to suppress the painful memories that battered against the edge of his thoughts like a persistent tide. Unfortunately, they remained, beckoning him to succumb to their will and remove himself from reality, taking a trip to that frightful time just after Star had disappeared. He refused, looking at his sister in hopes of renewing his resolve to fight onward.

Then, like a blade in the dark, the more recent memory of his near encounter with the Reaper washed over him, reminding him that he was still mortal; that they all were. Just like Star had disappeared for him, he could vanish for her, and she'd be in the same agonizing position he was in. That was enough to send him over, and he felt the darkness in his mind, the pain, the sorrow, the bitterness, the _rage_ , just wash over every sense. He felt sapped of his strength, and he realized that there was nothing he could do to save anypony the pain of a loved one's demise. Life felt so pointless, so worthless that it could be so easily lost, taken: stolen.

He blinked, arising from his depressive state to find himself standing on one side of a large, polished wooden stage, standing before Luna. She was speaking to him; "Draw your sword, Blaze Burn."

He blinked his head clear, wondering just why he was doing this right now; he had nothing to gain. As he reached for the hilt over his shoulder, a vivid image of Asta's painting, one where they were happily sitting on the snowy bench, discussing something fervidly. Sure, life was short and painful, but he had others to care for, others to protect. That was why he was doing this: for them.

He pulled his sword out, noting that Asta had taken a position off to the side, sitting in anticipation for the bout she was about to witness. Luna took a step towards him, her sword held in hoof as she was about to explain something to him when her eyes snapped to the sword in his own hoof, frowning when she saw its condition. "Have you never reapplied the edge to you blade?"

He looked at her for a moment before turning his attention to his blade, which was still showing signs of his last conflict with it in Grogar's cavern. The blade itself was usable, but the edge had several nicks and dings running down its length, and a couple of scratches along the flat of the blade were also plainly visible.

"We suppose 'tis time, now that thou hath tasted proper conflict, to teach thou how to maintain thine equipment." She sighed, her own blade disappearing in a flash as she looked at a point just above his shoulder, going hazy as she thought of a new plan. There was a pause before she came to a conclusion, finally nodding and lighting her horn brightly. In a flash, another sword from the armory appeared, one beaten and in obvious need of repair, then several small, round stones of various textures appeared. The sword floated over to Asta, who took it in hoof with a confused look on her face, while the stones landed on the ground next to him. Luna spread her wings as if she were about to fly off, tapping a hoof on the ground impatiently. "We shalt return momentarily."

And like that, she poofed away in a flash, staying true to her words and reappearing seconds later with her sword, now encased in its scabbard and wrapped in several different strips of leather.

It became known to the pegasi that she planned on teaching the pair of them right there, as she pulled Asta up next to Blaze and began her instructions on buffing out the nicks along the edge. She taught to pair about reapplying an edge and how to use the oiled honing stones at whatever angles their blades required. She also taught them how to maintain the right angles of edge for a variety of blades, before explaining the various materials she had used. An hour passed as they sat there, hunched over their blades and completing their instructions to her satisfaction, though Asta's blade required extra attention.

Only once they had fully restored their blades did she allow Asta to return to her seat so that sparring could commence. As she did so, her horn lit up, and a large earth pony guard marched into the room, carrying multiple swords both on his back and strapped to his sides. Blaze saw a longsword, two sabers and rapiers, a shortsword, and what looked like a machete, and finally, crossing the longsword across his back, was a sword he'd never seen before. It was just as long as the longsword, but it was curved to a degree like the saber, less dramatically so but still curved. The blade was obviously a slashing weapon, but he was curious what kinds of ponies used it, and where the blatant swords-master even got it.

The pony silently approached the Princess, saluting once he had reached a respectable distance. Blaze wondered if Luna was going to have him fight this guy, who stood just a head shorter than himself. She nodded in the newcomer's direction. "This is Master Fencer, he's been occupied with some trainees as of late, but has an opening in his schedule to offer you some assistance. You two shall duel, so that we may have a gauge of how your combat skills are after the week of travel."

"Uh. . ." He blinked at the guy, who was unsheathing various swords and placing them down on the ground next to the stage. "Can I at least warm up first? I'm feeling stiff as a board from all the cold."

She nodded, allowing him precious time to stretch and get him blood flowing while this Master Fencer began selecting which weapon he was going to use to slice the pegasus open with. Blaze took full advantage of the time, doing some basic exercises he'd learned to get some sweat going quickly, sparing a glance at his sister, who had a sadistic grin on her face. His anticipation for this fight was dropping by the second. 'Wonder how much she's going to enjoy this.'

"Are you ready, Gold Blood?" Fencer asked once he climbed to the center of the stage, a deceptive, delicate-looking rapier in hoof. The title being enough to get him to roll his eyes, though he nodded nonetheless. He had barely gotten his sword up in time when Fencer lunged at him, making a quick stab towards his torso.

Blaze just managed to swat the deadly dueling weapon to the side, caught unprepared but suddenly ready to lash back. He whipped his larger sword around Fencer's open side, aiming to gash his shoulder. Unfortunately, one does not keep the name of Master Fencer without earning it, and this guy showed no hesitation in proving his skill. The thin rapier seemed to appear between them, hitting Blaze's sword down, then suddenly twisting up and slicing through the air to taste the flesh of his head.

Panicking, Blaze brought his blade up, handle first, and deflected the blow, though in doing so, over compensated and found his blade above his head, and the rapier closing towards his exposed right shoulder. He jumped back, doing his best to bring his sword down fast enough to interrupt a follow-up swing.

His instincts on the second slash were correct, though the rapier found itself twirling around and striking at his head from the left, and he had little time to come up with a proper defense. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop the faster blade, he chose a different approach, holding onto his blade with both hooves and diving forward, even as the rapier dashed towards his head. Just before either blade could find their target, a flash of blue cascaded over them, and both blades froze in the air, floating just above the fur of the two combatants.

"Blaze, that was foolish, and in eliminating some random swordspony, you lost your life. Now, Asta must carry on the family without you, and my sister has not her Gold Blood soldier." Luna sounded disappointed. "Unless you had foals, you just ended your blood line, thus preventing another pony of your potential from ever arising."

It was meant to be a scold, and he knew it, but the way that she worded it was funny to Blaze, though he did stifle his laughter. Sobering up quickly enough, though, he focused more on what he was doing, following Luna's instructions on how he was best suited to defend himself from others. And once the refresher course on defense was completed, she had him and Fencer perform another bout, in which Blaze did a bit better. Now that he wasn't on the back hoof and had a bit of proper form working for him, he could stop many of Fencer's attacks.

Though he succeeded with the defense, he had hoped that now was the time that Luna would finally agree to teach him some real combat aggression, because he could only pick up so much when he was busy focusing on protecting his vital organs. Sure, Luna stopped any damage before they connected, but this was getting grating.

Shortly after they had started, and once his blood was flowing thoroughly, Blaze finally got his wish, and Luna began to explain several attacks in greater detail. He was eager to learn this side of combat, and he made sure to pay close attention; eager to perfect the attacks in actual combat. Recognizing that muscle memory was the best strategy, he took to repeating each attack and working out how to move his body in accordance with Luna's specifications. Luna had taken it upon herself to explain how he needed to move mostly because he was about her size, and she had the experience of knowing how large his particular heritage got.

It helped a bit that Fencer had other business to attend to about half an hour into the training, and left them to themselves. While Blaze was perfecting the few basic forms on stage, he caught the occasional glimpse of Asta doing the same from the side, using her little sword and swinging with an impressive amount of control.

She wasn't going to claim the title of Master Fencer anytime soon, but he found himself proud of her control over the weapon. He turned to Luna, who was swinging her sword in circles with her hoof, warming the muscles. "When do you think you'd be able to teach Asta a few of the basic defensive stances? I would, but I'm certain that I'll be otherwise occupied to be able to do so."

"So, you've finally decided to allow her to study the art of the blade?" Luna cocked her head to the side, a small smile appearing on her face at the prospect of training both pegasi side-by-side. Her smile vanished behind a cool blank face as she prepared for the next attack move that Blaze was going to send her way. His blade whistled through the air and clashed with hers above her head, until he pulled it down hard, locking their blades and trying to use his puny height advantage to press down on her.

Despite his size, she had far more experience and raw strength, and his attempts were pointless. So he just stood their, pushing down on an unmovable object. He smirked at her hopeful expression, and though he hated that he even had to teach her how to defend herself, the idea that it was a prospect that Luna would _enjoy_ was entertaining. "I just want her to be able to defend herself; so don't go crazy turning her into your personal assassin."

"No, you are going to be my personal assassin, from what I hear." His smirk died then, replaced instead by a frown from what she was bringing up.

"No. The assassins offered me their assistance in taking down Al Capony, since you and your sister are too afraid to do it." The jab did make her raise her eyebrows at him, but he wasn't done yet. "Whether or not I do decide to join their ranks depends entirely on how bad things are going to get with Al and just how bad things are with the city in general. And though I might end up allying myself with them, perhaps joining their cause, I've told Celestia this, and I'll tell you: Asta and my family will always come first. No matter what. I will only care about you, or Celestia, or even taking down the worst of the worst if I know that my family is safe."

"Certainly a noble reason." She nodded, appearing thoughtful for a moment before finally shoving him back, disengaging and flicking her sword towards him. He reacted as she had instructed, batting away the tip and twisting the sword on it's handle and counter-striking with a quick slash to her exposed side.

Once she was satisfied that he had learned what she had hoped to teach him, she motioned for them to stop, though Asta continued to practice her swordsponyship. The mare still listened to what was going on, but she didn't have a sword of her own, and she wanted to be ahead of the game when it came time for her to actually practice with the Princess. "Tomorrow, I expect you both to get an exceptional flight in, considering I agreed to this on the premise that you would be enhancing your endurance and strength alongside your training here."

"Of course." Asta said, though by then she was breathless and sweating heavily from the weight of an unfamiliar blade. Blaze felt a ping of sympathy for her, remembering when he first took up a blade and how difficult it was for him to adjust, though he buried the sympathy with enthusiasm for tomorrow's flight with his beloved sister. "Blazy and I are going to have so much fun!"

". . .Blazy?" Luna shook her head before either could answer, accepting that this was another piece of information that she wasn't interested in having. "Just remember that this isn't supposed to be a game; I want you two to be exhausted and battered before you touch down again."

"Of course, Princess." Blaze bowed, the voluntary act surprising both mares, before he sheathed his sword and motioned for Asta to follow him out. She jumped to his side without pause, pressing herself against him so that she could gloat about the intensity of her training. Blaze was lost in thought before they were out the door, wondering if this upcoming flight was really a good time to have that much needed conversation with Asta. Of course, he would have loved it if he never had to even have this conversation in the first place. . . perhaps he could get Scale or Goldheart to do it for him?

No, this was something he had to address himself: and tomorrow would be perfect. They had a long flight and plenty of private space so that he could get to the bottom of just what her thing was.

So, ignoring the dreading pit in his stomach, he pushed forward, knowing that, one way or another, shit was getting done and problems were going to be solved. All he had to do was make sure that she didn't stab him while they were flying, or worse yet: try to take advantage of the situation and make her move. The reminder of what had happened back then was cause for a shudder down his spine.

"You okay, Blaze?" Asta's voice brought him back to the two of them wandering the halls.

"Yeah. Just excited for all this shit to be over with, so I could focus more on protecting you guys from yourselves and not from insane ponies and evil monsters from the depths below." He sighed, looking around to where they were: which happened to be an unassuming section of what appeared to be servant's quarters. "I'm going to be one hundred percent honest here, Asta: I wasn't paying any attention to where we went to get to that place, and I wasn't when we got here. Where are we?"

"Just a back hallway in the housing section of the castle, where most of the castle servants are currently sleeping. If I had to guess." She shrugged. "Nopony would notice us if we were to hide away back here for a bit. . ."

His glare at her shut her up before her insinuation went any further, though it took a long pause before she dropped her gaze to the floor, sighing in defeat and pointing with a wing back down the way they had come from. "Just follow me that way and I'll get us out of here."

He was glad she didn't fight it, because he wasn't in the mood to deal with any of that shit right now, especially not when he had plans to resolve this dilemma and finally put it to rest. Having to fight her over it would only make tomorrow more difficult, and he was really hoping to make it as simple and non-awkward as possible, though it would still be complicated and awkward. Still, that was an issue for tomorrow Blaze, because right now, he had to get out of here and go home for some dream flank-whooping. Yeah, he was actually a bit excited for that: there were so many more things that he could learn.


	24. Embers Atop the Powder

_Author's note: I just wanted to start things off by making a few clarifications, for simplicity's sake. The first thing that I wanted to say is that because I am but a single person doing all the writing, editing, revising and rewriting, there will be unfortunate instances where mistakes slip through the cracks. I've got a very fucked up sleep cycle that means I'm usually working on these stories and 4 in the morning, just after I get off work. It's usually after a long night, and I'm tired, but working in the day is a bitch, so I try to be my most productive when everyone else in the house is asleep. I'm trying to get better at spotting mistakes, but I can only do so much before my brain shuts off, even if I give it a few days in between opening these documents._

 _The next thing I wanted to clear up was that I still consider myself a novice writer. I've definitely noticed that my writings have improved, but I realize that I have so, so, so much more room to grow before I think I'll be truly satisfied with the content I create. This means that any and all feedback I can receive from anyone who is even mildly interested in this story will be greatly appreciated. I'd go to family for editing help and advice, but circumstances are bad enough that no one in my family really knows about my current Brony status (I've received a lot of shit over it in the past, and have given up trying to get them to, if not accept, then at least understand my position). Because of my lack of experience, I've really held off on some of the projects that I've really wanted to work on, such as the idea I've had of reworking this story so that the consistency is a bit better for the beginning, and potentially moving over to FiMFiction. I have wanted to do so, but I feel like I should improve more and get at least the first ten or so chapters rewritten to better fit my style before I do. Again, any criticism and critique anyone here would like to offer would be greatly appreciated, though I won't hold any obligations to you all. I understand that many of you are just here for a good story, which I am doing my best to provide._

 _Now, for the last topic, and the one that you very few followers have probably been curious to know: why the last chapter was posted awhile ago. I have mentioned it before, but I do have several other projects that I am working on, and in an attempt to improve my skills building worlds, I've slowed down production for the sake of better stories. Unfortunately, though, my inexperience in the world of authoring hasn't helped me to set a permanent schedule to actually produce, and I find myself either totally exhausted when I should be writing, or at work when I actually want to write._

 _It is an issue I am currently working on resolving, mainly by setting up a better system to further build this narrative that I've come to really enjoy making. I'm hoping to be writing and editing a bit more often now, though the pessimist and cynic in me are doubtful that much will come of it._

 _Either way, I managed to work out this next chapter, so I do hope you all enjoy it. I'm interest to hear what any of you think of this relationship development for Blaze and Asta, as there were some points I was hoping to convey but an unsure how it actually came out. And I hope the suspense has been nice for you all, as the next sort of 'boss-fight' is coming up. . . Hope you all are intrigued, nonetheless! – Hinterland Seer._

Chapter 24: Embers Atop the Powder

Trotting back through town proved to be easier said than done, as the weather wasn't going to let up for the remainder of the night, and if what Asta had heard was true, for most of the next couple of days. It was a shame, she considered, that so soon after the holidays the ponies up in Cloudsdale had deemed it necessary for so much snow.

Still, she did have this storm to thank, perhaps just a bit, for the events leading up to her now spending as much time as possible with Blaze. It was nearly a dream come true, and it meant that she was also going to get to see the side of life that he lived first-hoof, even if he had deemed her unworthy of true fighting. She wasn't going to complain about the circumstances, resigning herself to wait until he really needed her help, and then she'd reveal her secret to him: that she'd been taking lessons from Princess Celestia in hoof-to-hoof combat for a while now.

It had taken longer than she would have expected, but eventually Blaze had come to the realization that she needed to know how to defend herself. Princess Celestia, however, was much more open to the idea of having the mare capable of protecting both herself and Blaze should it come to it. And if everything went smoothly, the transition from being some little pony for Blaze to protect to somepony he could stand side-by-side with during a fight, and a proper battle-sibling, would be flawless.

Yes, she had many plans for the upcoming weeks, and this Reaper incident just may work in her favor.

She hugged Blaze's side closer as the snow started setting in even deeper, and the heavily used trail through the streets was quickly filling in. She let him do most of the plowing, as the trail he carved was large enough for the pair of them, even with her by his side. When a particularly rough gust of wind started to assail them, she shivered and forced herself against him until he draped his wing over her.

She was grateful for the warmth, and set about trying to start up conversation, only for uncertainty to plague her as she thought about how she was going to start. She knew that the sooner she and him were on the same page the better, but there was still some trepidation about telling him her plans and activities.

Huddling up against his side, she figured that starting with something simple would be the best. "Hey Blaze? There were a couple of things that I wanted to get your opinion on, and since it's looking like a trip-and-a-half, I figured I'd get one or two of those now."

"Alright. What did you want to know?" He spared her a quick glance before turning his eyes towards directing them home.

"Well, I just was curious about this whole Al Capony dilemma." She started slowly, trying her best to focus her thoughts on the matter. "From what I'd heard around home and from the Princesses, he's just some high-level thief and troublemaker, though he was a plague on the city. I've heard you discussing him with a bunch of ponies, and I think I know how you feel towards him. What I wanted to know is why you're so dead-set on killing this guy. I know he threatened you and Star a long time ago, but that _was_ a long time ago; so what has he done now that made him such a priority for you?"

"He's a threat." The answer was instantaneous, and Blaze didn't even have to look down for her to see the fire sparking in his eyes. "I'm not stopping myself from protecting you all, but I feel like the best way for me to do just that is to remove Al from the equation entirely. That stallion _is_ a plague on the city: though not for his command over the thieves: those are ponies stuck in the situation I had found myself in so long ago.

"No, the thieves have nothing to do with this disease that we all have taken to calling 'Al Capony.' He is behind countless horrendous acts; torture, extorting the weak, murder, and he is the leader of a large chunk of those damnable Chaos fanatics." The list was practically spat out. "I don't know everything he has done to hinder this city, and to hurt pony society as a whole, but he needs to be put down. He threatened to harm Star to get me to submit, and now that I'm an actual threat to him, I have no doubt that he's more than willing to hurt any of you just to get at me."

Asta was silent for a moment, taking in all the new information, though she had already knew a lot of what he was telling her.

"On top of that, it seems that the Order had found some more incriminating evidence on him, marking him responsible for several atrocities around the other cities, with his fanatics all over the place." Blaze finished, sighing and shaking his head. "After facing Grogar and those zomponies up in the Crystal Empire, I really hate that I have to kill. But I just know that far more ponies will get hurt if we allow him to live, and every day that he breathes is another day that he could strike at one of you."

Snuggling up close together, the pair made the remainder of the trip in silence, one taking comfort in the mere presence of the other, who was relishing in the attention. Any remaining questions could wait for this moment to pass. They trotted through the darkening streets, with the torches flickering stubbornly despite the howling wind and relentless snow. Their home coming into sight shortly, though it was still a longer trip than either would have preferred. Blaze picked up his pace even though they were confident that they were safe, with this particular street staying fairly well lit most of the time.

Crossing through the doorway, they were greeted by a fairly empty living space, with the dying flames slowly licking at the charred wood in the fire pit. Asta groaned silently as Blaze reclaimed his wing, though she let him separate and begin trotting down the halls towards his room.

After a moment to think, she followed after him, reaching his door right behind him and passing into his dark room before he could find a fire starter for the candles. The room flared with color once the candles were lit, and Asta plopped herself down in front of the door still propped open.

Blaze turned at the sound of hair sliding on wood, and frowned at the sight of her sitting there, a blank face staring off into space. He pursed his lips for a second, but shrugged at her lack of reactions, and proceeded to unbuckle his sword, placing the sheathed weapon next to his nightstand, rolling his shoulders and ruffling his feathers to resettle his back fur. Feeling the cool air on his back where the scabbard usually rested was nice, and simply cooling his back was doing wonders to help him relax. Not that Asta had really been paying attention, as her mind had gone off onto fantasizing about tomorrow's lengthy flight, and how she was going to be able to show off her true flying abilities to her brother.

Said brother stepped away from the bed for the sake of finding out what she had opted to do, spinning around to see that she hadn't moved an inch. Aside from the gentle movements of breathing, she was as still as a statue, though she had grown a happy smile across her muzzle. He approached her slowly, cocking his head in confusion about why she had refused to move, and his confusion only spread when she ignored his hoof on her shoulder.

It was then that the long day, full of excitement and learning, and packed with an astounding amount of sleep, that exhaustion finally claimed the mare, and she promptly shut her eyes and tipped backwards. She was snoring before Blaze caught her, that happy smile still blossomed across her lips.

Blaze sighed, shaking his head in disbelief that she'd willingly run herself so ragged over such petty motives. He picked her up and deftly carried her out of his room, being gentle as he maneuvered to her room, and blindly stepping into the black room.

He was thankful that he didn't trip over anything and managed to actually find her bed. He tucked her in under the covers and silently exiting the room, maintaining his stealthy movements well after the door was shut and nearly at his own door before releasing his breath. Stopping at the doorway to his own room, he sighed deeply and ran a hoof through his mane, knowing that tonight's dream session with Luna was going to be fun, though a part of him was just ready to get it over with.

What held him in place now was his worry over Asta's attitude towards him of late: beyond her over-protectiveness that she undoubtedly got from his own behavior. He was concerned more by her devoted serenity and almost foalish behavior.

He stepped into his room, knowing that this was well beyond his own understanding of how ponies were supposed to act, as his expertise in that field was invested in merchant behavior and persuasion: skills he learned during his time with the Creed. The mind of the developing foal was never something that he figured he would actually have to learn, since Star was supposed to grow up with him, and he never had an interest in having his own offspring.

He harshly fell onto his bed, barely making the effort to pull the covers over him before sighing into his cloud-stuffed pillow. Tomorrow was going down in his history book as a day of enlightenment at the cost of severe headaches, but he was still hopeful that he managed to clear some things up with Asta. Perhaps he could get through that thick skull of hers.

Not entirely feeling ready for sleep, he lay on his bed contemplating exactly how he was going to proceed with her, and what he wanted to say during this conversation. He lay there, thinking, until his thoughts slowed and he lacked the strength to open his eyes, breathing in the heavy scent of his pillow, and the unmistakable mask of Asta that seemed to permeate everything he owned. It wasn't unpleasant, but it irritated him that she used his bed as often as she did.

He had little time to retain that irritation before his rational brain shut down and he drifted to sleep, the scent of Asta carrying his dreams to that painting she received for Hearth's Warming.

 _The lull of his sleeping mind was peaceful, and in the brief period before Luna arrived, though he had no wish to realize he was dreaming, his mind brought him to that wooden table. The two sat in the snowy backyard, happily discussing how things were changing for the other occupants of their little community._

" _-but at least they've got each other." He remarked, pulling the steaming mug of hot chocolate to his muzzle and taking a tentative sip. Asta had placed hers on the table and flourished her hoof in the general direction of the building._

" _And I'm not going to say that I disagree with the decision, just that I'm worried with how young they are." She leaned in, clearly ready to deliver a passionate speech. "All I want to make clear is that Muffin seems very pleased with himself for being the best baker that anypony here has ever seen, and that the demands of the household may distract him. You know how difficult it can be to maintain a relationship with a busy mind! I'm sure that Sweet Flower doesn't have it any easier, but perhaps they should have waited until things had settled more: getting together like that could put a strain on their relationship."_

" _Like how you tried to rush Celestia and I together?" Blaze asked, intending it to be a joke, though Asta seemed to recoil slightly at it, her ears flopping back for a moment before her usual cheerfulness sprung back._

" _And I will continue to push for-"_

 _Blaze never had the chance to finish hearing what she had to say, as the world froze, the light shower of snow stopping midair around them. He blinked in surprise, wondering what was going on, until the master Dream-walker herself appeared next to them. "'Tis a wonderful night for spectacular dreams, is it not?"_

 _Realizing that he was in the middle of a dream, Blaze sighed, nodding and pounding the remaining chocolaty drink in his hooves before dropping the cup on the table. His head surged with the memories of what the Princess was doing here, and a flash of displeasure rushed through his head until he crushed it. He stood from his seat and nodded to Luna. "Judging by the dreams I've probably already had, you've finally finished with your other duties for the night?"_

" _That would be the case, though there are still quite a few hours until dawn; hours that we shalt spend honing thine mind to master the blade techniques." She smiled, her horn flaring blue and the landscape around them molding into a traditional arena-style training ring. There was a flash, then his sword dropped from the air and floated in front of the pegasus, awaiting his apprenticed hoof. The Princess' own sword appeared next to her, as well as a shield, the former being taken by her physical hoof while the latter floated in front of her, offset to her left. "We hath deigned thou ready to learn how to work around a shield, and we shalt alternate between sword dueling and the usage of shields from henceforth."_

" _Cool." He groaned, gripping his sword with a firm hoof, readying himself for a fun time perfecting his technique and learning just how his blade moved. How it existed._

 _She started the session with a quick warm up bout, the two going through several forms to ease them into it; Blaze putting more effort in mastering his single-hoofed grip. He had found that using both hooves on the hilt while on the ground removed any mobility, and he liked being able to maneuver around attacks._

 _His legs were warm once Luna called for them to begin in earnest, his heart was beating fast enough to heighten his senses. She had him go through several more aggressive forms, perfecting a tripodal stance that emphasized heavier slashes, as well as getting a better understanding of stabs and thrusts. She would block equally with her shield and sword, helping him mitigate counters from both, though a heavy amount of the training was focused on teaching the pegasus how to swing the sword efficiently._

 _Vocalizing her pleasure at the weight of his attacks, she turned the last portion of the session into a lesson on recovering from counters and effective blocks. These brief lessons enforced mobility, which Blaze would only complain about for being stuck on his hooves: he'd tried to convince her to let him practice fighting airborne, but she had steadfastly refused. Her excuse never changed: "Thou must learn to fight outside thine comfort zone, and become a master where thou art at a disadvantage."_

 _Thanks to her ability to distort the senses, she made the dream feel like days of non-stop training. Blaze was glad it was a dream, because this amount of practice would have destroyed his energy, and he'd have been utterly exhausted after just a few hours._

 _Blaze would have guessed they'd been going back and forth for close to a full day, though he knew that it would have been less than a few hours. Those hours let him understand what poses and strikes he could make, though Luna had stressed that he still needed to master these techniques while awake, as he needed muscle memory. She'd taught him several lessons about the importance of a clear state of mind when fighting, and how thinking about a move was deadly slow compared to simply_ reacting _. Always stressing them in particular during stance improvements where actual combat would pause._

 _Luna called for a halt after she had ensured that he had learned how to properly edge his sword to bounce off of a shield block without damaging the blade. "'Tis time for us to leave this world behind, and return to the one of the waking; dawn is nigh upon us."_

" _Luna, I've said this multiple times now, and while I recognize it's your comfort thing: please stop speaking like that! It hurts my head." He exclaimed, finally having enough of the formal speech she was using during the entirety of the dream. Nevertheless, the sandy arena around them faded as their weapons turned to dust and faded away, leaving the two ponies standing in an empty void. He pawed at the ground for a moment, an idea worming its way into his head, and a surge of anxiety hit him at the possible implications. "Do you mind answering a question for me?"_

" _Of course, Blaze Burn. What is it you need?" Luna said stepping up to him so they didn't have to shout._

" _I was just a little curious about what it was that Asta has been dreaming about lately? I'm going to have a talk with her today about it, but I'm worried she's keeping important things from me, and I doubt I'll ever get a straight answer from her." The question floated between them for a moment while Luna paused to think of the best way to respond, eventually turning away from the pegasus and fading from the dream in a cloud of smoke. She passed a short phrase to answer his question._

" _Your sister loves you very much, but she is experiencing changes that not even I dare tamper with." The Princess' words arrived from a formless mouth._

 _Blaze glared at where the Princess had vanished from, upset that her answer did nothing to alleviate his concerns. He already knew what she was talking about, but he had hoped that she would have a solution to that problem, or at least advice on how to deal with it. Leaving him with that cryptic message didn't help, and all he could do was conjure up a bed to fall onto, grumbling about his inconvenienced life._

 _Knowing that he still had plenty of time to wait until he woke up, he turned his mind to the upcoming conversation with Asta, and he decided to use this time to practice what he wanted to say. He considered how he was going to start rambling off his thoughts when an unexpected one, a curious one, rushed up to the front of his head. An idea that gave him pause._

 _He was aware that one was the master of their own dreams, and while he was pretty good at pulling things into his dreams, what he wanted to do was something else entirely: another pony. Perhaps not the actual one, but something of a body to talk to._

 _He focused on an image of his lovely little sister, not really sure what he was going to expect. Doing the same as with his bed, he willed what he saw in his mind's eye into this dream reality. If he were to be honest with himself, he wasn't sure that this idea would have worked, and he wasn't going to try to hide the startled yelp he let out when a perfect replication of Asta popped into the void in front of him._

 _Once he had calmed down, he looked her over, finding it unsettling that this might look like a pony, but the copy was deathly still, not breathing and unblinking. The replica stared forward with dull green eyes, reacting to the nothingness stimulation that was the black void around the two of them._

 _He hopped off his bed and trotted over to her, frowning at the statue of a pony before him, stopping in front of her hoping for some kind of reaction._

 _Nothing. She didn't even blink at the wall of white fur obstructing her view of the impressive void, something that Blaze was starting to be frustrated by. His frustration was abated once he took a moment to sit down and properly look at the mare, appreciating the realness of her: perhaps all he needed was a pony to listen, though having somepony who could react to what he was saying might have been nice. . ._

" _So. . . uh. . ." He shifted nervously on his spot on the 'ground' in front of the lifeless pegasus, his eyes darting to the black void behind her. He closed his eyes and imagined the two of them sitting outside, on the benches in the backyard. He just had to get more comfortable, responses or not, he had better be prepared for this conversation. "Asta, I think. . . I've thought about how I wanted to go about talking to you about this, and I've finally come up with something. . . no, no. Why is this so nerve-wracking?"_

 _He ran a hoof through his mane, nervously glancing at the Asta-replica staring off in front of him. He could feel his heart beating considerably faster, but the confusion was the worst part for him: he knew this was going to happen, he'd put some effort into preparing for it, so why was the actual act of saying the words so damn difficult._

" _Alright. . . just do the damn thing and get this over with: we know we need it." He muttered to himself, nodding weakly and planting all four hooves on the ground, looking down at the mare standing at shoulder level. "Asta, after much thought, I know we've got to get this done and over with: we're going to have to discuss why you are so obsessed over me and what we've got to do to get you in a better mindset. I want to start by saying that I will love you, always, and no matter what happens or how you choose to take this conversation. You are my little sister, and nothing that might happen will ever change that-"_

Blaze cracked his eyes open, the thoughts storming through his mind suddenly crashing to a standstill, and a wave of irritation flooding over him. He may have prepared a bunch over the last few days, but having the feeling of actually being able to try to talk it out before the real conversation would have been really useful for practice. The fact that he'd just gotten comfortable with it upset him; because now he'd go into it feeling unprepared.

Though, as he lay in his bed, he did reconsider the situation. As he decided to give it any meaningful thought, he found that he was in a space that was prepared to have this conversation, and that he was ready. He lacked the trepidation from earlier, and felt a surge of motivation.

He wiped the sleep film from his eyes, staring at the wooden ceiling, with the hazy morning light filtering in through the sole window of his room, the blanket of clouds covering the sky muting the sunlight that entered. He smacked his lips, noting that his throat was parched, before flinging the blanket away and rolling onto his hooves.

He stretched his back, groaning as the memories from Luna beating him in his dream tricked his limbs into being sore. He pushed his forelegs forward, dropping his chest just above the ground while he stretched, flaring his wings to get some blood flowing. His tail swished side to side, hoping to split the clinging strands, and he flicked his mane to release it from his neck. He trotted through the threshold, taking a short trip to the baths to clean up a bit, figuring that the sooner he made a habit of actually taking care of himself, the easier it'd be later on.

There were a few ponies along the way, but many just seemed content to nod in his direction before returning to their various activities. He knew that anypony awake was either leaving for their jobs or already gone, and that everypony else would be asleep or staying in their rooms. The winter months were generally the lazy ones, he'd noticed.

He met no interruptions on the way to the baths, and the only one in there, a bit to his disappointment, was one of the lumber workers. He pulled a towel off the rack next to the wall and simply ignored the stallion soaking in a tub, dropping it on top of the pump to keep it off the ground. His bath was quick, though the water was cold, and once he had dried himself off, he made his way to the beautiful kitchen stocked full of food.

Quick conversations with the various ponies inside aside, he made little time of getting to the pantry and doing his best to find a spare bottle of mead; which were becoming increasingly scarce in the building.

His mood soured a bit when he noticed that there was a significant lack of alcoholic beverages hidden away in the top shelves, but for now he was willing to admit that they had probably all been consumed by either himself or one of the other chronic alcoholics living here. It sucked, but he would just have to remember to get like a large barrel of the stuff at some point, or ask Scale or Goldheart to: he knew they'd never inform Asta of the request.

At least, he hoped they wouldn't.

His disappointment sufficiently abated for the moment, he left the pantry in favor of something to eat. Due to the lack of pony traffic in the area, he was able to waltz up to the mare running the ovens, eyeing the various breakfast items displayed on the counters. He nodded his acknowledgment; "Morning."

"Hungry for something in particular, Blaze? Or are you just looking for something filling?" She asked sweetly, grabbing a spatula and tending to some eggs on a skillet behind her.

"Filling, please." He stated with a quick nod, hungrily looking over the assorted options across the table, ranging from warmed eggs sitting on a plate over the stoves, toast lined up across another plate, a basket of fruit off in the distance, there were even a few bags of sitting on the counter, presumably burgers for anypony interested. The cooking mare simply grabbed a clean plate from a stack and loaded it with hashbrowns that had eluded his prying eyes, a couple fried eggs, three slices of toast, which she was kind enough to butter for him. Right as he started to turn away, she quickly spun around and snatched a wrapped hay burger from the bags, tossing it over to him.

Plate completely covered with food, he made short work of finding somewhere to sit down and eat, though he made sure to take his time: there was no need for him to rush. The hot food felt amazing, and he made sure to savor the excellent hashbrowns, a taste he was certain was growing on him.

He finished the meal shortly, despite taking his time to enjoy the savory flavors, and returned to the kitchen to place his plate in the sink. Still unsure what he wanted to do for the time being, until Asta and him went for their flight, he left the kitchens to sit in front of the fire and think. He passed Goldheart along the way, informing the elder of the significant absence of mead or ale in storage, conveying his desire for this to be rectified. That glaring issue resolved, he made his way to the fire pit, which was occupied by a slowly growing number of ponies.

He was grateful that they already had a fire going, and he settled down in front of the flickering flames, basking in the morning heat and hoping to get a good start on his day. He felt good, with some decent sleep, a somewhat developed plan for dealing with Asta, and a full stomach.

He'd had worse mornings.

He let his mind wander over everything that still had to be done, including his conversation with Asta, somehow managing to deal with Al, meeting up with Rainbow Crescent and doing whatever it was with the Assassins that she wanted, and then there was the Sisters. On one hoof, his training with Luna had progressed enough that he was starting to feel comfortable meeting her often, and he knew how to use the blade in his room. He felt conflicted over the issue with Star, but for the most part; he agreed with Asta, that perhaps the Princess was innocent. That only raised the question of who was guilty, then, and the uncertainty of it all was irritating at best.

And then there was the other hoof he had to deal with: Celestia. He had made his intentions perfectly clear to her, and his interest in her had shown no signs of developing into anything other than the hormone-driven desires of a young stallion. And even then; he was capable of controlling himself for the most part, though it had seemed like Twilight was trying to train him to be a dependent partner.

Celestia at least had enough dignity to make attempts at a relationship, or at least made minimal attempts at sex. He sighed internally at the memory of her single true, and successful, move on him, a mixture of pleasure and disgust constricting his chest.

Celestia was pretty, but she was also a Princess. And who was he really, to pursue royalty? Sure, his heritage were bred seemingly to serve the Princesses, but that also meant that both Celestia and Luna had been with several of his predecessors. Hay, not even the Princesses were completely sure about his familial line's origins, other than the trait showing itself rarely for as long as they could remember.

His thoughts were interrupted by the heavy scent of herbs and smoke approaching him, definitely not coming from the fire in front of him. He focused his eyes and turned his head in time to see a particular purple earth pony happily trotting towards him, sleep still clinging to her eyes.

He cracked a smile and propped open his right wing, allowing her a little space to cozy up against his side, which she did so without hesitation. Scale snuggled up against him before deciding to say anything, though he wouldn't complain about an opportunity to cuddle with his favorite Sage. Sitting in silent contentment was just the thing he had come here to do, but the overwhelming strength of the scent of smoke and plants stirred his mind. "You know, I'm glad that I'm not the only pony that lacks a consistent bathing schedule."

"Yeah, but at leas the rest of us aren't going weeks without a proper bath, or delving into dungeons crawling with the undead." She retorted without opening her eyes, though a playful smile did emerge from her lips.

"And yet, my excuses then are going to hold up longer than yours, which are. . ?" He added, leaning over to break her comfortable position and crack open her eyes.

"I'm still in the process of waking up: things were pretty busy last night, and I had a double batch of potions that needed brewing. Word of advice: don't be the best of a very rare and needed talent, it'll only lead to everypony rushing to you for everything under the sun!" She cried out, leaning harder into his shoulder and throwing a hoof dramatically against her forehead. "I've had requests for two triple brews of restorative potions from the apothecaries, several anesthesia potions for the night guard, nobles from every bucking town around asking for stamina potions! Buck, even the Princesses can't avoid the necessity of potions! The demands seem to never end!"

"Well, it's nice to hear that you're keeping busy, and I doubt the income from these demands are insufficient for a pony with talents such as yours." He replied, giving her a supportive squeeze with his wing and offering her a kind smile, though his eyes glinted with humor. "Though I can't fathom why you haven't decided to move into the castles, what with the massive amount of wealth one accumulates on a monopoly of these kinds of markets."

"Because without me, you'd all be completely lost." She chuckled, the pair turning their eyes to the captivating fire before them.

"Yeah. . ." They fell into a comfortable silence as the sounds of the flickering tongues cackled and popped through the wood in the pit. With his ears content with the fire, and a warm body pressed against his side, he started to think again, this time his thoughts turning to the more happy events occurring in his life. His mind went to Asta, always first and foremost among his current blessings, though he also considered the mare at his side, who had shown him considerable kindness and compassion throughout the entirety they'd know each other. Goldheart and his unique wisdom. Muffin and Sweet Flower for being the foals that stuck with him even when Star disappeared. . .

Things may not have always been good, but life wasn't complete misery for the moment, and he knew that this was something to be eternally grateful for. Without these luxuries, he was certain that he would have gone mad with grief and straight tried to end Al as soon as he learned how big of a threat the master thief was.

"Blaze?" Scale asked softly, grabbing his hoof to get his attention. His ears twitched at the sound of her voice, looking at her curiously, cocking his head at her. "I know that today you want to try to clear some things up with Asta, so I wanted to give you some advice.

"However you decide to go about it, try to go easy with her; I'm not sure what's going on in her head, but she's not going to take any rejection normally. I'm not really sure how bad she'll take it, but I just have this sneaking suspicion that it's going to end roughly. I suppose that if you were to ease into whatever you have planned, it might be able to mitigate some of the damage, though there truly isn't any way of preventing it entirely."

"Yeah, I'd figured that going in honest and straight would be the best approach, but I see what you're going for. Honest, but not so blunt as to come off harsh." He said, words slow as he considered if his original idea was actually all that good or not, though it wasn't like he had a few days to mull over a new plan.

"Pretty much. Too straightforward and you'll hurt her more severely, but avoiding the issue is only going to reinforce her affections." Scale nodded, obviously extremely comfortable snuggled up firmly against his coat, though it didn't stop her from pulling herself closer. "I'm really sorry about this whole thing, you know? I guess we should have seen that something wasn't right back when we first took her in, should have been able to prevent whatever it was from getting as bad as it has."

"Don't apologize. I doubt this is the sort of thing that anypony could really prepare for; especially when we had so many other things to be dealing with at the time. I'm already trying my best to stop this mess before it can get any worse." They lapsed into silence again, and though it felt a bit more somber, both were still happy to have each other for company.

A few blissful hours had passed before Scale finally stood up, stifling a yawn as she did so, while Blaze had to stop himself from groaning. There was a very warm spot on his side that was now open to the cooler air around him. "I'm getting something to eat and then I will probably be finishing up on some orders that I've yet to complete."

He nodded absentmindedly, leaving her to do her mystical alchemy and potion-brewing while he kept his lazy ass in front of the fire. He really didn't want to get up for a couple of reasons, though the primary one that was on his mind was that he wasn't feeling up to it: his muscles were reminding him that he had a couple of days of doing basically nothing. He hadn't felt it all that much over the last couple of days because he'd been sitting around for most of it, between the Hearth's Warming celebration and a simple trek from the Crystal Empire. But then he had a mad dash with the Reaper and then some mild training with Luna and her swords-master had reminded him of the inactivity.

Still, he knew that sitting around wasn't going to help him out a whole lot, so he also rose from the ground. He groaned a little as the warmth beneath him was sucked out and replaced by the semi-warm air from the fire, then shook himself free and looked around.

By now, plenty of the other residents were up and about, many grabbing something for breakfast before heading off to work. Several others had taken various positions around the fire as well, though they paid him little attention, aside from the occasional curious glance, so he slipped away from them. Feeling full of idleness for the moment, he trotted towards the front door, figuring a quick flight in the fresh air would help. He got his hoof on the door before he remembered the storm that was currently going about, which would also be raging straight from Cloudsdale for several more days.

"Meh." He shrugged, opening the door and facing the blast of cold air, which had gotten worse since the day before. He quickly shut the door again, not wanting to get sick from this light flight, and returned to the depths of the building, marching to his room to retrieve his slightly short cloak.

Now properly dressed for any weather, he finally felt prepared to brave the storm, which he began to do after prying the front door open and slipping into the blizzard. The wind instantly tried ripping his cloak off, and nearly succeeded, though the wind biting beneath his fur felt wonderfully brisk. His mane and tail whipped in the wind while he tried to gauge where the best place to head off to was, though the wind made him certain that going above the wall of buildings.

Luna wanted them to have a proper workout, and if this weather remained when he and Asta went on their flight, well, they were going to get it. He did reconsider taking Asta along with him, as he wasn't sure she'd have the strength to keep up with him, but decided to make his final decision later, before they started.

He shook some of the dusting snow out of his eyes, scrunching his snout when a flake went up his nose before snorting it out. Flaring his wings, he felt a strong tug of wind pull him down the street, forcing him to widen his stance to maintain his hoofing and lower his wings to drop the wind drag. Frowning at the results, he leaned into the wind, determined to get some practice in the rougher weather, and finally raising his wings to their full length. The wind threatened to topple him and send him into the snow drifts piling on the sides of the roads, but he persisted, digging his hoofs into the path clear of snow before him. He felt the tug of the wind, trying to find the perfect moment when there was a dip in force to take off, attention focused on the rush of air around him. He might have felt disappointment at the consistency of the wind, but he was intensely focused on the wind, until there was a tiny, barely perceptible drop in force, and he felt his weight shift into the wind slightly. He reacted instantly, bending his knees and jumping into the air, pumping his wings forward so to not soar too high.

Keeping himself below the lines of rooftops, he flew with the wind, trying to keep his energy for the flight later. The wind kicked back up almost immediately after he got airborne, hurling him along at incredible speeds as he avoided the decreasing amounts of ponies walking about the snow-laden streets. He caught snowflakes slowly drifting behind him in his sight, which he found amusing: he was going just faster than these little specks of frozen water in the wind.

He was glad that he was in the streets, where the wind wasn't really able to go wild, because even the pegasi would have trouble with the storms around here every now and then. It always had something to do with the Everfree, and how those woods produced occasional storms that interfered with the weather patrols' duties.

He turned his gaze upwards for just a moment, hoping to catch the untamed wind in action, something that only really happened when there was enough debris in the air for any currents to be visible. Sure enough; there were several snaking patterns of snow above the city, many of which he was certain were just above the line of rooftops, whipping around without any direction and pulling everything they could in every direction at once. He tried to keep his gaze up there longer, as he so rarely got to watch the wild weather patterns, but his instincts were reminding him that he had to pay attention to what was going on in front of him.

He pried his eyes back to the streets ahead, just in time to see a large wagon of crates pull into the streets just in front of him. He had to act, but his gut told him there wasn't any time to pull himself to a stop.

Using his training under the guards and what he picked up throughout the years, he aimed himself for the gap between the hauling ponies at the wagon, tucking his wings tight against himself and twisting his body to be as thin as possible. He slipped over the yoke and between the two obstacles, feeling the rush of air as his fur skimmed passed the unyielding wagon. Completing his twist and leveling out, he gave himself a congratulatory shake while turning his head to apologize to the two ponies with the wagon.

Just as he looked back, he saw the wind's effect on the wagon, as several crates creaked and groaned, tipping dangerously to the side while the two ponies looked on in horror.

He was unable to see the ending result, as he found himself barreling down the street and in need of direction. The wagon blocked enough of the wind that he felt safe enough to flare his wings out and find another path that lacked the harsh wind. That path came in the form of a nearby alleyway, which he hastily took shelter in, relaxing his racing heart at the close encounter.

While he paused for breath, he had to think about how he was always winding up in situations that seemed either dangerous or just undesirable. If he wasn't dealing with murderous torturers, or hunting down horrendous villains, he was either running into Reapers or getting hurt through life or having to deal with Asta's bullshit. Sometimes shit just didn't seem to want him to be happy or comfortable.

"Hay, I didn't get to drink anything today!" He groaned out loud, though he knew nopony was around to hear it. With his little irritable complaint done with, he took a moment to relish the break from the wind, though the howling wasn't going to stop anytime soon, and to enjoy the soft falling snow. Sure, winter may have been cold, few mares seemed to compete for his attention, and the mead was running low, but the snow was always enjoyable. He was glad that Cloudsdale put in the effort to make winters brisk and fun, and he enjoyed the special treatment they sent to the city that housed the Princesses.

Brushing off the collecting snow from his shoulders and back, he returned his attention to the mad wind, which was definitely getting riled up from the woods surrounding the city, and the rushing snowfall just above him. Less snow made it into the alley as the wind scooped it up and dragged it along in those unimaginable patterns.

Preparing himself for another rush of wind, he lazily flew his way over to the other side of the alley, where a street split it, and the wind howled by. He shrugged and picked up the intensity, making a strained dash across the street and entering the other alley, where relaxed and glided through to the next street. He repeated the process across this street and into the last stretch of this long alley chain, crossing the hidden access doors to several discreet dealing locations.

A couple ponies were huddling in the alcoves, making various deals for less-than-legal substances, though that was never really his place to try to manage. If a pony wanted to destroy their life through addictive drugs, than it was not his place to tell them no: his poison of choice was alcohol.

And if anypony told him to stop drinking, he'd probably tell them to buck off.

He passed by a recessed doorway to a marketplace that he'd heard whispers of in the creed, a place where somepony could purchase undesirable materials or items. The only indication that this little location was the entrance to such a notable market were the few cloaked ponies entering. They were completely covered in snow-dusted robes of deep crimson, jeweled necklaces and refined crested saddles adorning the robes. They payed him no heed as he flew passed.

He made a mental note to return here once he did his business with the Assassins, if only to find something that could make quick work of Al Capony.

Continuing along the alley, he finally found somewhere that he wasn't too keen on flying through: the main street that cut the two pretty much in two. It was far too wide and the wind was blowing too hard for a casual flight, so he dropped to the ground, careful not to lose his hoofing in the snow, and trotted across the way. Even while on the ground the wind slowed his progress, though he supposed it didn't matter that much, this was just some time killer for him.

Once he had crossed the main thoroughfare for the town, as not a whole lot of traffic came through the southern part of the city, he found himself entering the more residential part of town. Instead of warehouses, factory-style buildings, and businesses, he was surrounded by houses, apartments, and the occasional small store. He made his way through the various streets, glad that this part of town was much more confined, and the wind was weakened here. He flew around turns and glided passed stretches, enjoying the leisure of a passive flight through his old neighborhood. He did his best to avoid some of the rougher memories, but he did relish in the happy ones, where he'd spent a couple of winters building snowponies in the parks with other foals. What few foals were around back then.

He slowly sifted his way across the city until he came to the buildings pressed against the outer wall, along with a couple of ruined remains that nopony seemed to care to remove. The district he was in now was obviously a poorer one, with shabby apartment complexes and very few houses large enough to support families with more than a few members.

Not wanting to get too depressed by the shitty living of others, he made short work of that region, despite the persistent winds. As he traveled south along the wall, he pushed through the wind into the more successful part of town. Successful enough that fewer apartments were built here, and the number of ruined husks of buildings had nearly ceased. He found it surprising, actually, how used to seeing ruined frames of buildings he'd become: there were just so many that the constant sight of destruction had desensitized him to how bad some ponies had it in life.

Shaking his head clear, and doing his best to fight off the encroaching depression, he started looking for any landmarks of this part of town: mostly just the increased number of hostels and brothels around the region. He had heard of three or four, seen two, and had "visited" one.

He cracked a smile once he found himself turning a corner to see that very same brothel, as the memories of a totally confused colt surfaced, and he recalled the wonder at seeing the place for the first time in pony. He didn't want to stick around too much longer, so he forced the wonderful memories down and continued on his way, though he did make sure to trot around the block just to see what else remained from all those years ago. His excitement and happiness were cut pretty short when he saw that not a whole lot had remained: mostly the general form of buildings, but even those had changed over time.

He made a sharp turn to head back home, feeling like he'd done enough wandering for the day, and not wanting to exhaust himself for later. He stayed clear of the walls that marked the end of the housing district and the inner courtyard of the castle walls, though he passed through the middle-class housing area: full of full houses and a bit of individual buildings that broke the continuous rooftops so often used by various thieves.

Crossing town on hoof proved so much easier than flying, though once he hit the front door at home, it felt like the wind was starting to slow down a bit. He was grateful for that, as it bode well for his flight later, being able to fly with Asta as he had originally planned.

Though, the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like he had made a poor decision for these flights with Asta, especially when the winter storms were going on. He supposed it would become easier once they broke up, but until then he knew it was going to be rough. At least Asta had her cutie mark in flying, it would make these things a lot easier.

He shook himself free of snow before trotting inside.

The warmth from the fire had spread fully throughout the main room, and he let out a little sigh of relief as he shut the door. His ears had started to feel cold, and that wind was really annoying. But now he was back to the safety of his home.

He went back to his room, greeting ponies as they came by, wanting to get out of his cloak and get some stretching done. While it was nice to work out some of the kinks in his legs and back, he knew he was going to hurt like Tartarus tonight: but he could prevent a lot of the pain and suffering if he started to take care of himself. As he dropped his cloak on his bed, he considered whether these stretches were actually supposed to help or not: Goldheart said that they worked wonders for him, and there was a performance book about flying that said that they were practically necessary. He just never did it, and perhaps this stiffness was the consequence. He shrugged: that's what this test was for.

Ten minutes of suffering later, he concluded that stretches sucked balls.

Feeling both stiff and sore, he waddled out of his room and back to the fire, figuring that the heat would be better for him than those stupid stretches. Along the way, he ran into Goldheart and Twilight, the pair also emerging from the candlelit hallway, and he gave them a polite nod. He tried limping away faster, but Goldheart caught him before he could get anywhere. "You okay, Blaze Burn? You look like somepony shoved a branch up your ass."

"Yeah." Blaze groaned, rolling his eyes and slowing down so the pair could catch up though the halls were too narrow for the three to walk in a row. He kept just in front of them so they could talk. "Just tried those stupid stretches you recommended: complete and utter bullshit."

"Trust him on this, Blaze." Twilight said with a smirk, though she put a comforting hoof on his side as they exited, stopping out of the way of the hall so others could use it. "It'll hurt now, but it ends up being so great once you get used to it: how do you think I always felt great when we bucked? Plus, it keeps you limber and flexible."

Blaze felt a little rush of heat to the tips of his ears, and he was sure he was blushing at the brazen comment. Her openness giving his imagination plenty of thoughts and images of just how it was she kept herself feeling and looking fresh each and every summer. And while he restrained himself from getting too excited over it, he refused to be persuaded into believing in stretching. "If stretching works for you, go on ahead and stretch, but I really don't need that kind of suffering added to my life."

"It's only bad now because you have literally never stretched before." Goldheart remarked, nodding towards the kitchen for Twilight to follow him, though he turned to face the younger pegasus before departing. "Just keep at it for another week, before and after you do any training or flying: trust me, it does help. It's like practicing to use your sword, you don't try it once and give up."

Blaze let them go, not wanting to argue, but still finding himself not entirely on board with it: though the persistent image of Twilight stretching did push him towards the idea. She _was_ always wonderful, so it couldn't be all that bad.

He let the idea slip away as he trotted back to the fire, thinking about his conversation with Asta, as he knew that it would be happening in less than a couple of hours. He settled down, shifting his wings into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes, listening to the wonderful crackle of the flames. As much as he wanted to be at peace, his mind was running away with the worries of what was going to happen, mostly focusing on how bad the weather was and hoping that the wind would let up before he got out there. He knew Asta was a decent flier, but that wind might be too much for her, and he would gladly delay their conversation if he had to.

He was in the middle of wrestling down his worries when a distinct whistle reached his ears, a sound that he had quickly learned to associate with fear and pain. Unfortunately, he only had enough time to get his wings half open and extend his forelegs when a furry body with a pair of wings slammed into him.

He was lucky that Asta hit him from the side, tackling him down to the ground in her death grip hug and pulling him away from the fire, though the two nearly crushed one of the ponies also enjoying the fire. Said pony did manage to leap back in terror before the two pegasi rolled around, Blaze groaning in his stiff and battered state, Asta gleefully giggling. "Blazy! I was wondering when you were going to get back!"

Blaze grimaced, not particularly fond of the screaming in her ear, but still just happy to see his sister, but did quickly smile and offer her a quick hug. "Hey, Asta."

She strongly nuzzle him for a long time, wiggling in his grip and wagging her tail happily, refusing to move until he pushed her away and rolled back onto his hooves, scooting back to original spot. The moment he got back to where he wanted to sit, she glued herself to his side, giving him enough time to lay down and start propping his wing open before forcing herself under said wing. He briefly wondered what it was like for her, being able to rest under a wing: something his stature never really gave him the luxury of experiencing. He guessed that it would probably be similar to cuddling with somepony under a blanket. He glanced down at the mare, who was looking absolutely content with the situation, a blissful smile on her muzzle and her eyes closed in relaxation.

"Hey, Asta? I went for a bit of a trip around town earlier, just to get some outside time and to see how bad the storm was getting. It was pretty windy out there, and the snow was starting to come down harder, but that wind was really bad: I just wanted to let you know that the flight I'm going on today might be harder than either of us thought it would be. I understand that you might not want to go, if only because you might get hurt." She looked up at him with an accusatory expression, underlined with shock that he'd even suggest something so horrible. He was unfazed by her glares. "Yes, I understand that you are a good flier: you're cutie mark is proof of that. But I'm just worried that you might hurt yourself if you go with me today, the Everfree has been throwing air over the city for a while, and it's gotten pretty rough. We'll reconsider it later, before we go flying, but I wanted to let you know that I think it's unsafe right now."

"If you think it's so unsafe why did you go around the city?" She shot at him, trying to lean away from him while seemingly disliking just that.

"The wind wasn't that bad when I first started, and I still needed to get out of the house for a bit, sitting around all day will drive me crazy." He said, rolling his eyes at her conflicted behavior and pulling her in for a quick hug. "But we're going to have to reconsider taking you along later, before we actually head out: I do love having you around, and flying together will be good for the both of us. But I'm not going to put you in harm's way for the sake of a little company."

"I'll be fine Blazy; my cutie mark is about flying." She lifted her own wing, forcing his into the air so she could glance at her mark, smiling at the downward-pointing sword lifted by two black wings. "If there ever was a cutie mark for flying that made anypony qualified to fly with the best stallion in Equestria, it would be this one."

"Yeah, and my cutie mark has a shield, coming from my responsibility and luxury of protecting you, which includes preventing you from doing anything dangerous if I can help it. Like I said, we'll reevaluate when it gets close to the time to leave." He said with an air of finality that left Asta unresponsive, surprisingly. Not that he was going to complain; having his sister listening to him for once was something refreshing, and something that left him craving more. He returned his attention to the fire in front of them, though he kept an ear on her, just in case the mare decided to say something.

She shifted in place for a couple minutes, and while it was distracting, he just figured she was trying to get comfortable. The two had a mutual agreement that sitting like this was probably the best way to lounge around, a not so well kept secret among the other housemates, if Scale's enjoyment of the position was anything to go by.

Again, though, he was more than happy to accommodate somepony with it: it was nice to have a warm, fuzzy body pressed up against his side, and it kept his feathers warm during these wintry months. He may enjoy the cold more than quite a few ponies, but having somepony snuggled under his wing just felt _right_.

After several nice minutes of listening to the constant crackle of the fire, Asta shifted one last time, pulling away from him and out from under his wing, inciting a barely audible groan of displeasure from him. "I'm going to go get something to eat, then we can head out for that flight before it gets dark."

"How about we head out for burgers?" He offered, rising from his spot as well, feeling the cooler air leech the warmth from his belly and sides. She looked back at him with a smile, obviously more than happy with the suggestion, and immediately started trotting towards the door, with him following at a slightly less excited pace. The door was shoved aside as the mare made a quick, dramatic, and completely unnecessary exit, with a more mild burst of air coming in than what usually assailed them. As he exited the building, careful to shut the door behind him, his mood picked up, because the Everfree's torrent of wind seemed to have died off, leaving the usual gentle winter wind to slowly blow away. The snow had remained, but it wasn't even a part of the issue, so he happily stepped away from their home.

Wondering if the lull in wind would be permanent, he decided that it was still just better to take Asta with him, coming to the conclusion upon seeing that the snow around them was mild and thin, and was only sticking thanks to the cooler temperatures from earlier. Asta would probably worry about him the entire time he was gone, too, and he didn't want to burden anypony inside with that.

And, of course, being able to get that conversation would be nice.

He smiled towards Asta, who was clearly glad to see the comfortable flying conditions, and propped his wing open for her, which she darted right under. His smile turned to a grin as he watched her wriggle around for a moment, rolling his shoulders to get into the best walking position with a wingmare tucked up against him like this.

Once they were ready, they began the steady walk towards his favorite shop, one that had somehow survived pretty much the entirety of this recession of pony culture. He surmised that it was simply that the place had a steady supplier and had the skill to make some damn good food. Their ice cream was decent, but it had always been the hay burgers and fries that he went for: though this weather made colder foods slightly less appetizing.

The burger joint was only a few blocks away, tucked up in the far end of the smallest marketplace, which also happened to be located to the south, one of the first things a pony would find upon entering the city from the southern gates. The market was the dividing line between the more industrial zone and the wealthy district, serving as a border line that the rich and well off used considerably often to look down upon working-class ponies. He loved that this shop had ponies with quality characters, relishing the disdain they showed for snobby nobility.

They ate inside the building, enjoying hot food on the cold day, despite the crowded interior. He would have struck up a conversation about the upcoming flight, but he had decided that it would just be best to get to it once they were in the air, where they could share a bit of privacy. So the pair ate in relative silence, munching down his favorite meal in a corner of the room.

Asta had been keen to get out of there when a noble couple walked in, who were arrogant and obnoxious from the moment they entered. The two pompous unicorns had made known to everypony there that they were a highly successful couple that deserved their total respect and sublimation because of their wealth.

Having met their kind before at the castle, primarily when Celestia would be dealing with day court and just being in the castle, Blaze was more than willing to oblige the mare.

The two finished the remnants of their meal, scarfing down a few fries and leaving a generous tip on the table for the servers. Rushing out of the building, ears pressed against their skulls at the brazen display of arrogance that was only building, they tried their best to not have their moods dampened. The thing they had going for them was that they were sure the patrons of the joint were sure to give the nobles a good tongue lashing.

The image actually put a small smile on his face: knowing that working ponies tended to be more civil than those self proclaimed 'upholders of culture.' Finding their immediate plans for the day ruined, Blaze looked to his sister for advice: "Anything you'd like to do before we hit the skies?"

"Not in particular." She shrugged, popping her neck and flaring her wings. "How about we just get this over with?"

"Sounds good to me, though I do wish we had some time to let this food settle." He mumbled, flapping his wings gently, letting the air flow under his feathers, turning his head back to the restaurant for a moment, eyeing the ponies gathered within through a window. It appeared that a few ponies had started arguing with the nobles: animatedly gesturing towards the door, or at the other party, or even in the general direction of the castle from the mare noble. He smirked to Asta: "Looks like everypony in there is in for a good time, I imagine the wine bottles are going to start getting thrown pretty quickly. I think I recognized a couple of nobles hiding away in the back that might just join in on it."

Asta turned to glance through the window, where the argument was teetering on the border of getting physical. "Looks like fun. Still, I'd rather spend an hour or two flying with my amazing big brother than sitting around watching a bunch of stuck up ponies get what's coming for them."

"Then shall we?" He gestured with his wing for her to take to the skies, which she bowed with great exaggeration to before complying and launching skywards. The snow wasn't picking up anytime soon, so he quickly followed without any difficulty, following whatever path it was that his lovely little sister chose to take. She seemed happy to take things slowly, circling above the burger joint, which he was willing to permit: it let him see if anypony got thrown out the doors from the fight that was certain to take place.

Violence wasn't something he wanted to encourage, but sometimes a pony just needed to get knocked upside the head to see the light of day, and those ponies always seemed to be the ones with massive egos that developed from lives of luxury and comfort in nobility. Every single noble he'd talked to had grown up in comfort and careless over-sensitized ease, and it made him sick. Teaching them a thing or two would only make them better ponies.

A couple laps around the building showed no signs of anypony being forcibly removed from the establishment, which was a bit disappointing, but he got over it. He picked up his speed until he caught up with Asta, flying beside her and taking the lead, as it was still supposed to be mostly his training.

He pelted through a thick line of snow, leaning into the slight breeze to raise him higher above the city.

The wind coursing around him felt wonderful, and for a moment, he relaxed into the euphoric feeling of flight, savoring every brush of the wind, absorbing the sensation that each snowflake lent him as they landed on his racing body. For a moment, he allowed himself to forget about his sister soaring behind him in favor or isolating his mind in this peaceful space. He knew that she would follow him with whatever direction he took, and that she could keep up reasonably well if the weather permitted, and given her skill on the wing, he doubted he would even have to worry about her. But what he knew with the most certainty is that she would cherish this moment as much as he did, for their flight together was more than any solo flight could ever hope to be. Perhaps it was that she was there with him, tracing his movements and matching his form that brought this heavenly feeling of contentment.

He couldn't care the reason: this was perfect.

If only things could stay this way. He felt his stomach settled into the aerobatics, his meal no longer going to be an issue, though he continued doing a few more simple maneuvers just to let Asta get comfortable as well. He turned his head over his shoulder, watching Asta for any indication of how she was doing, though she looked to be doing fine.

She had a happy smile, obviously enjoying the beginnings as much as he was, and her body was fluid. He flipped over onto his back, using some powerful backwards pumping to keep his speed and altitude, keeping a critical eye on her form and trying to gauge how ready she was to begin. She caught his eye and her smile split into a grin, and she folded a wing and started to perform some barrel rolls, making him roll his eyes in response.

If she wanted to show off. . .

He flipped back over and lifted his shoulders, tilting his wings and forcing himself to rise higher. He kept close attention to how she fared as he rose higher, not wanting to strain her too much just yet, but still wanting to put her through enough of a challenge to satisfy Luna's demands.

He felt the air get a bit colder as he rose, but it wasn't that bad of a difference, so he shrugged it off and started to get into the real training. He began to perform several tight loops and twists, quickly switching from having his wings flexed out as wide as possible to pressed against his sides. He knew that even if she wasn't able to follow along perfectly, he was staying close enough that Asta should be able to stay in sight. Knowing that Luna would want him to work towards improving his speed, he started testing how fast he could rise up several hundred meters at a time, before sharply turning and diving to safely above the rooftops. He went between dips and dives to ascending as fast as he could, then making sharp turns and impressively tight loops and rolls.

He might not have been paying too close attention to Asta, but from his occasional glances to see where she was at, it seemed like she had kept up for the majority of the time. Actually, he was pretty impressed with how well she was sticking to his tail.

He felt his pulse in his ears, and his heart was pounding in his chest, and he was loving every second of it. The snow in his mane, the wind coursing under his feathers, Asta staying hot on his tail as they performed various tricks and stunts, whipping around the sky and rapidly changing their altitude at a whim. This was truly the best thing about being a pegasus: the unbridled freedom.

Once the cold was just a distant memory, and with sweat dripping down his coat, he finally decided to slow down enough to finally get to this necessary conversation with Asta. He was hoping that she was feeling as positively glowing as he was, because that would help her come to the side of reason that much quicker. He slowed down and leveled out, catching his breath while Asta slowed herself down to match his pace, looking at him curiously. "Why are we slowing down? I've barely gotten my heart to beat!"

Her positive mood was promising, and he didn't bother hiding the appreciative smile growing on him at her enthusiasm for today. He called over to her: "Just wanted to chat, there's been this thing stuck in my mind that I've really wanted to talk to you about. I figured that it would be better for us to talk while we were up here, where we wouldn't have to deal with interruptions."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Look, Asta. . . I've really wanted to try to understand what it was, and I guess I've been putting off this for far too long." He sighed, looking around at the snow falling around them. "I guess before we get into anything arguable, would you mind explaining to me what exactly had drawn you to me? Like, what traits have I exhibited that you find attractive?"

There was a pause as Asta stared straight ahead, clearly contemplative and seemingly reacting positively to his lack of an aggressively dismissive denial. She stared straight forward, slowing considerably more as she turned her attention inwards, compiling a serious answer to his question. "Well, I guess it really all started a few days after I officially moved in here. I had just assumed that you were going to keep me here for a couple of days and then lead me to another abandoned building, where you'd leave me: just like my parents had. Everypony told me that I was welcome to stay, and I'd hear so many amazing things about you, well. . . I sort of figured that if everypony loved you that much, then perhaps things might be different.

"I don't really have many memories about my real family, but I think I would have remembered something if they had been at least half as amazing as you." She said with a more somber tone, though her countenance brightened up and she flashed a smile towards him. "If you really want to know what I find the most attractive about you, then I am obligated to start this list by saying that you are easily the kindest pony I've ever met. In you're own way, you have shown immeasurable kindness and empathy to everypony we live with. No matter who it is, if somepony had a rough upbringing, or were shunned because of an undesirable trait, you had always chosen to offer them an opportunity to redeem themselves. You said that Al Capony was threatening your family, and you explained that it was those threats that made you certain you wanted to take him down. I don't know of anypony else that would so willingly do something they didn't want to for the sake of their loved ones. These ponies we all share a home with, you had no reason to support as much as you did, and yet. . . and yet you gave them hope. You gave them life. You gave them a future.

"Then there is that perfect trait that I've grown to want to emulate: your determination. It seems like once you set a goal for yourself, you stop at nothing to make it happen. The first examples I will say are with Al and your cutie mark." She pointed towards the colorful design magically printed on his flank. "You said it yourself that your cutie mark came from a raw determination to defend and protect those you care about, and that your own brother's wings were depicted on them. I have never heard of any statement more final than turning one's own vow into their destiny. And that vow then turns into protecting more than just your brother, but all these ponies who became your family, and along with that vow was a goal to stop this villain from hurting them. You've become dead set on stopping Al from hurting us, and it is that drive that I always wanted to replicate, to show you how much you've influenced us all.

"I could really go on forever about what makes you the best pony to have ever walked Equestria, but I think that actions speak louder than words." She bolted forward, sweeping in front of him and surprising him with a swift interception, gripping the sides of his head with her forehooves and slamming their lips together. He had been mildly surprised at the depth of emotion in her confession, but it hadn't been all that new for him to hear from her. This, though: had he not locked his wings out in shock, the two of them would have been plummeting downwards at frightening speeds.

He could feel the passion in her kiss, and he was just going to blame the lack of a proper response on the utter shock from the situation. And with that mental excuse secured, he noted that she may have the emotional motivation, and the passion was there, but she truly had no idea what she was doing. It kind of felt like she was just trying to mash their faces together, and after the shock started to fade, he couldn't stifle the chuckles, which morphed into full blown laughter.

As Asta pulled away, her face scrunched up to his laughter, offended that he would break the confessions and ruin her mood. "What's so funny?!"

"You're. . . you're just a horrible. . . ha ha ha, you're just a horrible kisser!" He managed to get out, holding his sides with both forehooves to try to contain his fits, though it took one second of her backing away from him for his wings to finally relax, and he dropped quite a bit closer to the ground before he caught himself again. He slowly rose back up to meet his sister, who had turned a scowl and had crossed her forehooves across her chest. "Oh, wow. That. . . that was something else!"

"It's not that funny! I was never able to practice!" She pouted defiantly, making an effort to stay several wing-lengths away from him and refusing to meet his gaze. "You just had to go and ruin our moment, and totally spoil any chance of making this a thing that we can look back on with any seriousness."

"Very well." He said, finally sobering up and getting full control over his faculties again, along with the complete realization of what had just occurred. He floated in front of her and stopped the two, steadily dragging her up to the clouds, which were thickening and starting to more effectively block out the sunlight. The two burst through the layer with a little bit of effort, and he sat the two of them down on top of the wintry cloud layer, with the sun reflecting brilliantly on the lighter tones of gray. "Asta, we both know that I love you more than anypony else living at home, even though I shouldn't really be picking favorites. Nothing means more to me than your happiness and your safety, which ends up causing a little bit of a contradiction for me: I want you to be happy, and I want you to find a stallion that will take care of you, one that will love you and support you in whatever you want to do in life. But I also have to recognize that you want me, and I'm just not able to provide you with what you want: I won't be able to take care of you all the time, and I won't be able to support the two of us in pony society. I will always love you as my sister, but that's where it ends, Asta: as my sister. What you want is something that I simply can't provide."

"You say that you won't return my feelings because of how other ponies will react, " Asta sniffled, slouching down hopelessly while trying her best to stop the tears that were threatening to spill out. "yet you refuse to do anything about it. Why can't we just go and live somewhere on our own, where we won't have to conform to the expectations of others? Where we can share our love without needing to face the judgment of those ponies who would deny it?"

"Asta, even if I was able to reciprocate these feelings, do you really want to abandon everypony here, to leave them on their own? Would you do unto these ponies what your parents did to you?" She didn't respond to that for a second, and he stepped towards her, hoping to give her a comforting hug now that she was finally seeing the side of reason. He got half a step before she stomped on the cloud in frustration, flaring her wings and standing straight up.

"YES! I would! If it meant that I'd finally have somepony who could love me back, the one pony that already gave me everything, the pony that stole my heart: I would gladly leave them on their own! They have each other, and they don't need you anymore! Blaze Burn; I still need you! I can't stand sleeping at night knowing that anypony else could ever hold your attention, because I've tried everything to show you that we are meant for each other! I am loyal, I am loving, and I've tried my best to learn what you like in a mare! I've been practicing raising foals so that one day, we'd be able to raise a family on our own, one that would be safe from any dangers that would threaten us! Blaze, I've done everything to earn your affection, and it never seems ENOUGH!"

Her tears were relentlessly falling now, but the jab that stung the deepest was her blatant disregard towards the rest of their family. Blaze took that forward step and pushed it back, suddenly terrified at what was coming out of her mouth, that she would so readily be okay with hurting everypony else just so that she could feel this. . . this. . .

His gaping terror turned into empathetic understanding. He couldn't ever offer her what she thought she wanted, but at least he could hope to help her realize why she didn't really want it.

He gently stepped towards her, reaching out to her with a gentle hoof, stopping just before her and waiting for her permission to continue. She eyed him cautiously for a heartbeat, then, when she decided he was genuine, leaped into his grasp, bawling her eyes out and thrusting her snout into the crook of his neck. He murmured into her mane, hoping to calm her down after what was undoubtedly a very emotional day. "Asta, I know that you will disagree with me right now, but someday, you are going to thank me for denying you."

Her crying turned into soft sniffling.

"I just need to tell you that I will always be happy, so long as I have you by my side."

"So why can't you just accept my love?"

"Because it is meant for somepony else. I know it." He ran a hoof through her mane, doing his best to make her feel comforted: it was the best thing he figured he could do. This kind of situation did have a part of his brain wanting to have consulted with Scale beforehoof, as her knowledge surely would have helped him prepare for things like this.

"But I could be. . . I could be your everything. Why would I give anything to anypony else, when I could have you, and you could have me?" She asked, leaning back so she could lock eyes with him, her eyes still dripping though the sniffling had stopped. The sorrow in her expression cut him to his soul, and the pleading hope in her eyes was salt on the wound: his hooves were bound, he had no choice, and yet it still felt like he was personally destroying her. "I'm the mare you should be thinking about

"The one thing you can't live without; I'm the mare you've been waiting for! Blaze why can't you just see it?!" The desperation in her tone suddenly shifted, and a wicked grin appeared on her face as her voice turned sultry. "I see that look in your eyes, and I know just what that means: I can be, I _can_ be your everything."

He had finally had enough of it, and pushed her away, frowning hard at her persistent insinuations. "That's enough, Asta. We will never have whatever kind of relationship it is that you are so dead set on obtaining: I could never bring myself to see you like that, and you shouldn't want me either. We're siblings for the Sisters' sake, Asta!"

He sighed, rubbing his temples with his hooves, trying to prevent the oncoming headache and get his thoughts in working order. "Asta, you are a brilliant, beautiful, and incredibly talented young mare, but I can't even fathom why it is that you would waste your time on somepony like me. You have so many options available to you, yet you've decided to take the hardest, most futile one there is: Goldheart could have been a better choice than me!"

She pressed her ears against her head, frowning at his admission, tapping a hoof against the clouds in frustration. "If you won't love me, then I don't see the point in weighing you down with my emotions."

She slammed her hooves into the cloud, busting a hole right through it and dropping below before he could make a move to stop her. Leaping through the gap after her, he tightened his wings to his barrel, hoping to catch her before she did anything stupid, as were his brotherly duties. From the careless, limp posture she was falling in, with her mane and tail whipping after her and her wings half opened and doing nothing to control her descent, it looked like she was free-falling towards the ground intentionally. The wind had started to kick up during their conversation below the clouds, rocking them around wildly while he tried to make a straight shot towards her. His heart was pounding as they plummeted to the ground, fearing that he wouldn't make it in time; and so he did his best to streamline his body, forcing the air around him as cleanly as possible.

The effort paid off a little and he did manage to make up some more distance pretty fast, and enough had been covered that he'd barely be able to catch her before she splattered on the streets below. He just wasn't so sure he'd stop himself enough to save her _and_ survive the impact.

Asta glanced up with a sorrowful expression, and even at a distance he could tell that she seemed ready to end her own life. It did nothing to help his panic, and he tried to will himself closer, though when the two locked eyes and she saw the determined, horrified look on his face, she seemed to snap out of whatever had taken hold of her. She blinked and shook her head, then whipped around and pried her wings into control, using them to pulled out of the fall. Hope and relief washed through him as he did the same, using his greater momentum to try to pull closer to her and figure out just what had went through her mind.

Instead of slowing down now that she seemed to be in a better mindset, Asta took off, obviously intending to get away from him. He frowned at her actions, finding himself really needing to know what she was doing, and so he used everything he knew to catch up with her, rising above and headwinds that he could see, and using the snow to try to predict the wind patterns in front of him.

Asta had also been studying weather flights, because she always seemed to edge just out of range for him to close the distance completely, and every time he had called for her to stop, she put more effort into flying faster. The chase had turned into a frantic dash over the city, sometimes passing the walls below and stretching ways into the Everfree Forest. She was trying to lose him, or at least stay ahead of him until he gave up, both of which were things that he was not going to allow.

As the chase went on, he noticed that while he had a greater reserve of energy than she did, his little sister was starting to be faster than he was, and the shifting winds had turned into tailwinds that she was trying to take full advantage of. What she might not have taken into consideration, and something that he was banking on; was that the tailwinds were more useful for him, as he had the larger wings to absorb more energy from. There were a few, precious minutes where he made amazing ground catching up to her, and he again called for her to stop. With the wind, he knew that she heard him, but she made no indication of slowing, much to his disappointment.

Blaze's heart had started pounding from her sudden suicidal leap, but now the adrenaline had morphed into sweat beading on his forehead from the intense chase they were having. Up ahead of him, the snow shifted, and a column of warm air in the increasingly heavy snow appeared around Asta. She shot into the sky, nearing the bottom layers of the clouds, which were also steadily rising as they shed their weight in snow. He flew into the column, not daring to lose sight of her.

"Asta! Please stop running!"

She remained silent, refusing to slow down for anything, until a strong headwind forced her to a near standstill at the top of the column, sending the snow completely sideways. He feared that if she tried to fight the current for too long that she'd exhaust herself, and he knew that her strength had to be falling; his was taking a beating. He continued to rise, flying forwards as fast as he could so that he might be able to catch her once he got to the top.

He was ascending pretty fast, and the current of air was just above him, though Asta seemed to be drifting backwards, much to his dismay. The second he hit the headwind, he spun around and did his best to angle himself towards her, keeping his wings as level as possible. As long as he controlled the speed at which he sped towards he, he might be able to collide with her and get a hold. The wind was stronger than he thought, and it seemed like she wasn't going to give up just yet, and once he had made his intentions clear, she shut her wings tight and dipped below the layer, also falling clear of the large updraft. He groaned internally and tilted his wings to match her descent, decided to keep them half folded so that he could react to anything that she decided to do immediately. The wind rushing through his mane forced his ears flat as the now tailwind slowed and was replaced by the rush of descending air.

Asta had once more taken to trying to evade him, though the beat of her wings had decreased, and he noticed that her effort at evading and outmaneuvering him was dropping rapidly. He was glad that she was finally going to tire herself out enough that he'd be able to catch her, though he was by no means full of energy himself. There was a brief bit of headwind at the start of the chase that had left him uncertain of his ability to keep up.

He was extremely glad that he had be able to.

She fell into a controlled dive, at it appeared like she was hoping to lose him in the streets below, as he knew that she had to understand that he was going to be able to keep up with her in the open skies. He had to wonder if she realized that he had grown up speeding through the streets, and that those early flights had been how he managed to flying with such precision: her best chances of escape were in outracing him. He would be far better in the streets, where she couldn't hope to get her top speed.

He followed along, regardless, maintaining a constant speed to keep her as close as he could in hopes of ending this before it became a dash just above the streets. As they got closer to the city below, and his vision started to clear through the thickening snow, he noticed that the city was basking in a light orange glow, one that marked the sun getting close to the western horizon, but not quite setting.

He'd barely noticed the time of day, between worrying about Asta and focusing on the weather. Now that the day was finally coming to a close, at least for a day in the winter, he grew to appreciate that he and Asta had flown for quite a few hours, though a bit of it was simple flying. Luna was sure to be happy.

Asta had taken a small detour that he hadn't expected, flying above the inner castle walls and tracing them towards the western city districts, particularly above the regions that nobility liked to reside. He was mostly surprised because he never figured she would have known where to go in the streets below: even he barely spent anytime in this district, though that was mostly out of spite of the well-off. She eased off on the diving, and took to soaring into the streets below, easily gliding between the rooftops of two larger houses.

He followed a second later, not wanting to keep her out of his sight for long in the unfamiliar territory, as well as hoping to corner her quickly.

She did out up quite a valiant effort, though: dodging various obstacles in the streets without breaching the rooftops and taking some of the sharper corners with ease. Had he not bee so tired of this arduous flight, he'd have been impressed by her skill in the air. He wanted to admire her ability to fly, but he was preoccupied ending this chase before his wings started to hurt, though the muscles were definitely telling him that he'd done quite enough flying for the day.

She dove under an arched pass between two manors, sliding through with the ease her smaller frame offer, whereas he had to suck his wings up in order to fit through. He was glad to find that the arched path was a dead-end alley, leading the two right up against the converging wall of the two buildings, much to his relief, as well.

Asta may have obviously been exhausted, but she refused to submit that easily, and put a surge of afterburner energy into her wings, pumping hard and clearing the building with a slight strained grunt. He matched her effort, starting to finally feel the effects of an impressive display of prowess through the skies. The moment he topped the crest, he nearly slammed right into her, as the blasting wind had forced her to a standstill, and as he reached to grab her, inadvertently flaring his wings, he felt the full power of the ground level wind. His shoulders strained to hold his wings in their sockets even as he was dragged backwards over the alley.

It took but a moment to get himself under control, but he watched as she dipped around the building. He growled to himself and put on his own burst of extra energy, shooting over the buildings and dropping into the shelter of the streets on the other side; just in time to see Asta's bright green tail turn around a corner.

Using his extra momentum, he launched himself down the streets, grunting as he felt his exhausted wings twitch and strain to pull his weight around. Asta was nearing the corner of the block, looking ragged and panting excessively, giving credence to his own feeling. She didn't stop, but slowed and turned around to see him hot on her tail, her panting audible even from halfway across the block, and her tongue hanging from her gasping mouth. The entire image just screamed drop-dead exhausted to him, and he finally gave up the frustration and disgust he had been holding onto in favor of concern and worry.

She crossed the intersecting streets and pulled herself through the forceful counter winds reaching through one of the very few rubble piles in the wealthy district. She crested the next building she came across with great effort, heaving herself onto the slanted hay roof and collapsing in a heap. He caught up seconds later, his wings on fire and his heart threatening to burst from his chest.

He fell onto the bundled hay, heaving and gasping for breath as he lay next to her, even as she started to sob uncontrollably. Once the tears left her eyes, he had given up any exhaustion and had scooted next to her, pulling her in for a tight embrace and holding her with his forehooves and wings. Doing his best to comfort her however he could, he kissed her mane softly while getting his breathing back under control. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually he was breathing softly enough that he could properly talk to her. "Asta, I don't care that we can never be together in the way that you want, because it doesn't matter: we'll be together forever, and I'm not going to let you go for anything. I can't offer you what you want now, but I'll always be there to support you in every other way, and I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say that before I get it through your thick skull."


	25. Eldur Enraged

Chapter 25: Eldur Enraged

Having finally dealt with that issue, for the most part, Blaze and Asta hopped down from the hay roof, deciding that the huge effort gone into that flight was more than enough. A relaxing walk in the snow would suffice.

The two walked back home, supporting each other emotionally; since she really needed him to be there for her and he needed somepony to keep him rooted there in the moment. Fear and anxiety were old friends of his, but that didn't mean he was able to suffer with them all the time, and after this wave of an emotional day, nothing would help keep him from drowning in his emotions than having his sister by his side. And to ensure that she stayed there, he had tucked her under his wing, finding the position instantly easing his troubled state. He knew she needed it too, as she had worked her way as tightly against his side as she could while still being able to walk.

The walk back was silent for them, and the few ponies that they crossed along the way had made sure to work around the sniffling pair of ponies. Neither were sure when the tears were going to stop, but many were shed on both sides, regret and sadness being the fuel for Asta's, while Blaze's were the product of both relief and worry.

It had been a stressful combination of emotions throughout the day, and at this point, all he was looking forward to was a hot meal by the fire with his sister by his side.

They made it back home with an hour or two of daylight left, though by then the snow had thickened considerably. A fact that they considered themselves lucky to have, even if they knew that the moment anypony inside saw their condition, it would spoil the luck they had running for them. Dreading the inevitable wouldn't help them, he knew, and standing outside would only result in one of them catching something and being sick and miserable for a week for two. So he led them up to the door and passed the threshold, welcoming the suddenly wonderful radiant heat from the fire in the center of the sitting room.

Quite a few ponies glanced over to see who entered, and the concern became immediately noticeable as several ponies tried to approach them. Blaze rebutted everypony that tried to ask them anything with a stern look and fierce shake of his head, leading Asta towards the fire. Knowing that somepony in the kitchen will likely have something hot already cooked, or at least being prepared for dinner, he sat his sister down in front of the flames, gently prying her off of his side and getting her comfortable.

Once he felt safe leaving her, he stepped back and hurried to the kitchens, bumping into Goldheart along the way. "There you are! How'd the exercise go, considering you had that thing to do with Asta?"

"Later." Blaze replied curtly, rushing passed the elder and trotting straight through the passageway, being greeted by the heavenly aroma of succulent muffins and other baked goods being prepared. His mouth watered at the savory aromas of banana bread muffins and fresh potato bread loaves of bread, but he wasn't going to be distracted for anything. He did nod politely to everypony that greeted him, but his eyes were zoned in on a batch of muffins that were still steaming and giving off the strongest scent.

Nopony was standing guard over them, but he still looked to Muffin, who was quickly showing his mastery of the kitchen, for permission to take the six muffins. The colt nodded in approval, and Blaze was quick to grab the plate with a wing, holding it on his back as he made his way back to the main room, where several ponies had gathered around the fire to see why Asta looked so devastated.

He hurried back over, offering her the plate first so she could eat something while he dealt with the onlookers. Goldheart had decided to follow along.

Once he had his sister settled in, he turned to address the next glaring issue, which happened to be the very confused looking pegasus behind him. He swiveled his head and gave everypony around a stern look, hoping that they caught the impression to leave Asta alone: the best thing for her right now was just going to be time. He motioned for Goldheart to follow and he walked back to the kitchen, parting the wall of ponies like a hot knife through butter. Once the two got out of earshot of most of the ponies, Goldheart couldn't hold in his curiosity anymore. "Just what the buck happened out there that turned her into that?!"

"I gave her my thoughts on her seemingly increasing affections for me: and she didn't take it too well." He explained with a sigh. "There was a bit where it seemed like she was actually going to let herself fall from the top of the clouds to the ground. I thought she might have ended it all right after I rejected her."

"Blunt huh?" Goldheart looked surprised for a moment, though he quickly adopted a more reserved expression. "I suppose that explains the devastated look she has."

"Yeah, I managed to snap her out of it, but I'm sure that she's going to need a day or two alone, and then things are going to be pretty damn touch-and-go until anypony might actually get through to her: it doesn't help that things are most certainly worse than we thought." Blaze responded, sitting on the ground and looking at his hooves for a second. "When Scale and I talked about it, I got the impression that Asta had just taken a keen liking to me, and Scale had definitely seemed to think it was more of an attachment issue. But when I got to talking with Asta about it. . . I just don't get it. If I understand her correctly, she's saying she's crazy in love with me."

"That's. . . a problem."

"Tell me about it. I think the biggest thing going on here is that she's telling the truth, or at least thinks she is: in her mind she's in love, but it might be that she's just going through this bullshit that happens to foals that age." He shook his head. "Whatever it is; we've got to find a way to deal with it, which means having multiple conversations with several other ponies until we can get a plan set up. I'm going to go find Scale and talk with her about it, and probably try to get a few other things done before tonight's chat with Luna."

"Right. I forgot that you'd resumed your training so soon after getting back." Goldheart said as Blaze stood up, the elder looking away, in the general direction of the fire pit and subsequently Asta. "I think I'll go and watch over her, and if she's up to it: I'll try to get her side of the story. Maybe we all just need a clearer understanding of what her position is, since this is the kind of shit that can really muddle with the information being passed around."

"Sounds good to me." Blaze sighed, leading them back into the main area.

They stopped nearly immediately after doing so, however, when Scale and Twilight were greeting some random pony at the front door. Scale looked concerned, and Twilight had a somber twist to her muzzle, though what caught Blaze's attention the most was the strange familiarity to the mare standing in front of them.

Her jet black coat sang to some of his most deeply rooted memories, while her vibrant pink and green mane called forth the tender feeling of happiness. Whoever this mare was, she was causing all sorts of mental gymnastics.

He cautiously approached the three, and as he got closer, he finally caught their attention, and the mares all turned in unison to face him. Twilight looked uncharacteristically sad, Scale was looking extremely surprised, and the third mare had a determined, albeit equally hollow look to her face, as if her own head was in conflict. He nodded a greeting to the two he knew, though he quickly turned to face this mysterious pony, eager to figure out why she was here and why she had incited such a reaction in him.

"Hello, Blaze Burn." Those depressed silver eyes locked onto his and seemed to be searching him for something, while he was doing to same. There were dried tears, and a panicked undertone to her features, and the light seemed to reflect less than a normal pony. The signs of grief for sure. "It's obvious you don't remember me, but I was friends with your mother for the majority of the time you were living with her. I'm afraid I've got some bad news to share with you."

All his senses on alert at the mention of his mother, he tensed up, staring at her with guarded curiosity and a fair bit of distrust. She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a crumpled and stained piece of paper, one that was folded and creased, but looking fresh enough to have been written in the last week. "Your mother fell into a bit of a bad spot once you took off with Star."

She offer him the folded paper, though he hesitated to reach for it, a display of distrust that seemed to physically hit her, as she winced briefly, but continued with her explanation. "She had fallen hard with depression, doubting her self worth now that her drive had been taken; going so far as to threaten to throw herself down the nearest hole to feed the Reapers.

"Actually, it was news that a particular white pegasus had tried to take one on that had brought me here today." He finally took the paper, carefully opening it to reveal that it was a letter, written in blotchy ink and addressed to him. Before he decided to read it, he took a cursory glance at the mare, who's entire expression had fallen into open despair. "We all did our best to convince her not to, begging and pleading with her to not do it; though I must confess that it was mostly my own desire to keep a friend that motivated me to intervene with her. We tried to keep her occupied, tried to distract her with drinks and outings and gifts: doing whatever we could to get her to forget that her only family had abandoned her."

It was his turn to wince.

"It seemed to work until recently, or at least: that's what we all thought. Your mother had never really managed to overcome the sadness and regret of losing her two colts, but she had eventually grown to show us that she was putting in effort to continue living. That was; until the first major revelation of foals going missing in the night." The mare shrunk in on herself, taking a moment to wipe some tears away and sit down, reigning in her emotions so she continue to explain the situation. "It was bad Blaze: we all lost somepony, or were close to somepony else who lost a loved one, but your mother was devastated. First; she loses her sons who ran away from her, then one goes missing out of the blue? We all agreed that that was what had broken her: it sent her into the darkness.

"She became obsessed over those damned Chaos fanatics, she became bitter towards the Princesses, and she seemed to actively seek to ruin the lives of the guards. It really felt like she was hunting down everypony who had any power to stop these foal-nappings, though I never understood why." The mare frowned, her eyes losing focus and her face deepening in thought. "I'll admit that I'm not the smartest pony in Equestria, but it never made sense to me, because she blamed the guards and the Princesses, but she had ranted on and on about a conspiracy regarding those fanatics.

"Sometimes it felt like she just wanted a target to let out her grief on, but then she'd go crazy and start spouting random things about aliens and something like 'walkers,' all the while ranting about murderers and thieves." She rubbed her head with a hoof. "It's really confusing, but some of the things she said kind of made sense: it would be understandable that ponies worshiping that demon Discord would steal foals. How else are they supposed to get new members? It's not like anypony would just decide one day that things were better when they could be killed by a chaotic lunatic at any moment.

"But then she'd go on a rant about how their was a sacrifice that was needed, and how these crazy ponies were, and I quote: 'feeding his master plan to bend this world to his will.'"

"Uh. . . huh." Blaze sighed, looking down at the letter, trying to figure out if he recognized the hoof writing: which was difficult because the writing was shaky, the result of an overemotional pony trying to put their thoughts to the paper. He had only picked out a few words and had yet to actually read the letter before the mare caught his attention again.

"Then your little stunt happened. She had been just about ready to go completely crazy with these ideas when news started spreading around town that Princess Celestia's partner and Princess Luna's personal soldier project had tried his luck at hunting down a Reaper. With only rumors and idle speculation going about that you'd died, and being too paranoid to actually investigate, she'd locked herself away; once more threatening to send herself to the Reapers.

"I tried to stop her, spending a couple hours that day staying at her house in hopes of getting her out of it. I tried to stop by there yesterday, really hoping to be able to actually talk to her about this issue. But when I got there, I'd found that the house was vacant, and this letter was on the table, in an envelope and addressed to you." She looked at him with pleading eyes. "I tried to get to her as fast as I could, but I guess that she'd be secretly miserable, and I'm still not sure how I was able to miss it: how have I been so blind to it all this time? I really just needed to get here and give this to you, maybe she's been unsuccessful, and perhaps we might be able to find her before she's actually gone through with it? I don't know where any of the closer entrances are, but I'm sure you do: you went chasing that one Reaper a couple days ago! You can help!"

"I'm sorry, but I only know of one way to get to the tunnels beneath the city where the Reapers are, and I doubt my mother would have learned of that one." He said in a somber tone, closing the letter and giving it to Goldheart, then gently placing a hoof on the mare's shoulder. "If you can, I'd appreciate it if you'd lead me to her home, since she left after Star and I moved out. Maybe I can find something there that'll help."

The mare desperately nodded, spinning around and ripping the door open, gesturing for him to follow. Before he did, he turned to see a large crowd gathered around him. "I'm going to see if I can't help out: it's my mother and I will not let her just go off and do something like this. I don't want all of you to come with me."

"Scale, I could use you, and you three, " He pointed at two unicorns and one of the other pegasi standing right next to the door; figuring the extra bodies would deter any obstacles. Before she could object, he glared at Asta, motioning with a hoof towards the hallway in the back. Go to your room, Asta. I love you, but this is not something you can help me with, and I'd feel much better knowing you were safe here at home."

She opened her mouth to object, but he wasn't going to have it: "Don't worry about me: I've got Scale here as well as these three. I'll be fine."

Asta pouted, but eventually obliged, though the mare at the door was starting to prance nervously, her hooves tapping against the paved doorstep with each antsy step she took. "Look, I get there are things you guys got to do, but time is really short, and I am terrified we might be too late."

Blaze nodded, taking the lead of those he was taking with him, being led by the mare through the thickening snow and into the steadily darkening city. While he was certain that he would be able to stay up as late as possible to put this to rest, he was worried that once the sun was gone, and the night had taken hold, they'd be unable to continue the search, and all would be lost. He had to quickly shove those thoughts down, as the idea that his mother had killed herself by searching for a Reaper to eat her up absolutely horrified him. He felt a pang of sympathy for the mare, and her bewildered and terrified entrance.

They made short work of trotting through the streets, heading across town towards the more impoverished districts, which took a painful amount of time to reach. The entire group was beginning to get worried that maybe they were going to be too late to help, but they all forced optimism that this effort would pay off.

They passed by several parks and rubble piles that Blaze could remember clearly from his foal hood, though they soon headed into more unfamiliar territory. His mother had told him to avoid this part of town at all costs, as he had learned quickly that this was the primary region she had gone to 'work.' They passed by a number of brothels, and a disturbingly large quantity of shitty ramshackle apartments and it had become quite apparent that these ponies living here were in much the same living conditions that he had grown up in. It saddened him that there were still ponies suffering, but there was little he was able to do now, aside from growing his own family so they may assist these poor souls.

They turned a few more corners, diving ever deeper into the slums, until they came upon a small wooden hut that rested up against the wall, it's walls doing little to stop the wind, though the thatched roof might have kept the snow out. The mare stopped at the door, suddenly unable to continue forward.

Taking that as his cue, he trotted forward and put his hoof on the door, having the wooden slab slid inward without any effort, illuminating the insides with the soft glow of the setting sun. He winced when the light touched the insides, as the dilapidated interior was proof that his mother had struggled greatly. He set a timid hoof through the doorway, grimacing at the scattered and chaotic environment his mother had deigned to live in.

The horror only grew with each step inside, as he saw more and more of the unkempt mess; furniture stacked with piles and piles of papers and folders, trash littering the floor, dust coating everything outside of a single trodden path in the worn floorboards. The building was in shambles, clearly the result of somepony who had given up. He fully entered the house, taking care to not step on anything if he could help it, even if there was trash littered about literally everywhere: so surface had been spared from the amount of garbage piling up around what might have once been a living room. There was a bad stench permeating in the air, not unbearable, but disconcerting, and underneath the scent of half-finished meals and rotten wooden supports, he could detect the subtle iron in the air: the unmistakable scent of blood.

His senses on alert with the possibility of somepony, likely his own mother, harmed, he began to search around frantically, plowing through any obstacles as he rushed through the entrance to the next room.

Finding himself in a kitchen, he let his nose guide him through the increasingly repulsive stench of garbage and leading him towards the back door. He pressed his ear against it, straining to hear anything, but when nothing but the gentle moans of the structure greeted him, he pushed the door open. As it swung open, the scent of blood intensified, and he braced himself, knowing that the worst was going to be on the other side. Light was streaming in through a single window in the kitchen, but other than that the house was fairly dim, and the furthest corners of the bedroom behind the kitchen remained shrouded in shadows.

He was still able to see well enough inside the room that he was half-filled with relief to see that the room was empty, though his heart was now racing at where the blood scents were coming from. He walked into the room, looking around to try to find anything that might be useful, though he wondered if there would even be anything in there that could help him. The bedroom was perhaps the cleanest room in the entire building, sporting relatively clean floors, with only a couple folders of papers on a nightstand next to a crumpled old bed.

He walked over to the folders and opened them up, curious to see what was inside them. Skimming through them quickly, he discovered that they were several reports from the missing foals, which caught his curiosity. That mare had mentioned that his mother had been looking into it, but this here was implying that the foals had been taken by the cultists. . .

He jumped at the sound of hoofsteps, whipping around to see Scale leading the others through the kitchen and into the back room. He exhaled slowly, berating himself for forgetting that he wasn't the only pony in the building. Scale walked up to him to sniff at the folder. "What's this?"

"Just some report that might have some incriminating evidence towards those bucking fanatics Al's been leading. You would think that if she had really been invested in figuring this out, that she would have actually saw it through, and not go and kill herself before it got anywhere." He sighed, returning his attention to the papers, not finding anything that particularly stood out; just some reported sightings of potential fanatics being seen around the homes of missing foals around the time of the disappearances. "Why don't you sift through this, perhaps we can find something that'll help us out. I want to take another look around and see if I can't find anything that can help us locate where she went."

"I'll help you: maybe I can speed things along." His mother's friend replied, perking up at being able to be of assistance. He nodded, knowing that every little piece of help would put them that much closer to finding his mother. He let the other ponies sort themselves out, hoping they would manage while he went back to the front, wondering if that massive pile of notes might help.

He led the mare through the kitchen, where she stopped to search around the tables, while he continued along to the stack of folders he'd seen from the start. As he got to the first, he thought of what he'd seen immediately upon stumbling through the back door, careful to open the folder. "Did you see any signs of a struggle back there?"

"No, why?" The mare asked from the kitchen, and the sound of metal items clanging against the counters also came out from the passageway. He started reading the contents of the folder, which turned out to be another report, this one detailing the interrogation of an accused foal-napper. The stallion in question had proclaimed to be a 'prophet of the christened' and had only spouted nonsense about the coming of the 'wizened, spurned great one.' He'd heard similar ramblings from other fanatics, or at least from ponies who had heard from them.

"I just smelled blood when we got here, but there wasn't any in the kitchen, as far as I could tell, and the bedroom was also clean of any. I was just curious where the smell would have come from if there wasn't anypony here and there wasn't any recent source of the stuff." He called back, flipping through the report without any more success. Putting that one to the side, he picked up the next, which was a personal account of what his mother had noticed, in the form of a journal regarding her investigations. Nothing particularly special in that one, aside from an exuberant amount of speculation and wild accusation that he had known held no evidence to back the claims. He flipped through the pages until he came across a theory that he smirked at; with his mother saying she might be onto something that would point Luna as the culprit. He'd been down that road, but Asta had evidence stating otherwise. "Finding anything in there?"

"Nothing yet." He shrugged to himself, tossing the journal aside and grabbing the final folder on the stool in front of him. To his surprise, this one had more information about the chaos fanatics, including some interesting tidbits about their meetings. It seemed that his mother had taken to collecting information wherever she could, and had eavesdropped on a couple of unconfirmed members' meetings. She'd scribbled down notes and quotes, giving the names of a couple notable members, though he didn't recognize any of them. One name stood out, Eanulf, Minister of Voices, as it was especially strange, since ponies didn't have any titles or positions called 'minister' and this name really sounded. . . _wrong_.

Leafing through the rest of the notes revealed nothing of use, other than various meetings that had long since passed, though he doubted he would have noticed anything, as that name had attached itself to his mind. Eanulf, Minister of Voices. There was something about that name that made his stomach churn, and repeating it in his head was doing nothing to ease his discomfort and confusion. "Hey, Blaze? You might want to come take a look at this."

Glad to have a distraction, he turned around and entered the kitchen, finding his mother's friend standing next to the kitchen, staring at an object in it with abject horror. His worry grew significantly and he cautiously trotted over, where he glanced into the sink.

Having been covered by various dirty dishes earlier, the mare had removed the items in her search for evidence, revealing a large, bloody knife, one that had been sitting around long enough that the crimson fluids had dried up. He felt like somepony had punched him in the guy, and it felt like his body was threatening to vomit on the spot, forcing him to back away with a steady hoof holding his midsection. At that moment, Scale returned to the kitchen, looking worried and confused as she entered, glancing between the two of them before walking up to the sink.

The Sage stared at the bloody knife for a couple of seconds before finally backing up to stand next to Blaze, her face having gone pale as a ghost. "I. . . I had found something that you will want to see, Blaze."

He was unresponsive to her remark, and she had to weakly shake him to get his attention, though he looked at her with distant eyes. "Blaze, we found a note that had scribbled on it a confession that she was afraid that her investigation to the fanatics had caught their attention. She was worried that whatever it was that they had planned, they could possibly try to stop her from intervening or stopping their plans, and had even written the name of a pony who she was certain needed to be investigated further: Mist Artificer."

"I. . . I'm just going to. . ." He shook his head, trying to understand what was collapsing around him, while it seemed that his mother's friend was doing the same. The two ponies dropped onto their hindquarters in sync, staring wide-eyed at the ground at the implications of a bloody knife, a horrific confession, and this terrifying piece of information. "Do you think they might have had anything to do with this?"

"It's possible." Scale's reply came with some hesitation.

"I think we'd better get home: there's probably not much of a chance of finding mom after this, if there ever was one to begin with." He whispered, his head reeling and his heart feeling like it had finally shattered. Sure he'd never been particularly close with his mother after he'd taken Star and ran, but he always appreciated the effort that she had put into keeping them all alive. He was grateful for it, and he couldn't hole ill will against her for struggling to raise two colts when a pony living by themselves was bound to struggle to survive. "I'm going to need some time to process this."

"I have to agree: there's not a lot we can do, if those bucking fanatics are behind this." The friend said, standing and looking strangely resolved. "I'm going to stay here a bit and try to salvage anything she had regarding this little investigation of hers, and then I'm going to hunt those buckers down myself!"

While he liked her enthusiasm, there wasn't a lot of room in his head right then for optimism, and all he felt like he had the energy to do was go home and collapse into bed. He did his best not to cry because he was afraid that showing weakness or uncertainty like that would cripple his family's progress. He wasn't so sure he'd stop the tears from this once he was alone, though, and every beat his heart made felt like it was taking more and more of his strength with it.

He nodded to the others and rose to his hooves, feeling a twinge of pain at the loss of his mother, feeling a numbing sensation that she had fallen so far, and feeling a cold, hard pit of rage at the fact that these bucking fanatics seemed to be behind so many issues. He led his little party of ponies out of the shack, feeling the bitter cold snow falling into his mane and nearly immediately piling on his back. He stopped to let the others catch up, and sort of lazily glances around the street, going off the faint feeling left in his guy. As his eyes drifted across the barren streets, they focused on a shadowy figure in the alley across from him.

A pony stared back, glaring with contempt at him, which came as a surprise, since this distance made distinguishing any particular expression difficult, and yet this pony here was clearly pissed at his presence. He cocked his head to the side, wondering just what would make this pony be so hateful, until something in his head began to work, and he opened his mouth to call out to them.

Before he could utter a word, the pony whipped around and dashed into the darkness of the alley, leaving a twisted pit of fear in Blaze's stomach where his numbed feeling was. Wondering just what the buck was going on, he gave chase, bolting across the street and diving into the alley after the pony, much to his friend's anguish. He knew that he shouldn't leave them behind, but instincts were telling him that this angry pony that he was now chasing was probably going to be helpful in figuring out what had happened to his mother. Luckily, this segment of alley was pretty straight, with no outlets for the pony to turn around a corner.

However, this pony was faster than he had expected, and they made it to the other side in very little time. The pony then made a sharp turn and disappeared around the corner, but not before Blaze was able to get a good look at the icy blue unicorn with a pink and white mane, her face distorted by rage.

He may have been slow to catch up, but the mare he was chasing was not fast enough to get to cover before he burst out into the street. He caught sight of her diving behind another corner, and he put forth another burst of speed and dashed across the street, passing into the darkened alleyway faster than he thought he would have. The mare was just in front of him, barely passed the first building, reaching an intersection and it seemed that she was going to make another sharp turn, her horn glowing pink as she prepared to cast a spell.

Fearing that this would be the last chance to see the unicorn before she teleported away for good, he shoved his wings passed his limits and tried to catch her. He rocketed forward, his forehooves stretched out as he tried to grab her before she got away, regret blossoming in his stomach that he'd forgotten his hidden blade.

Before he could cover half the remaining distance, his kill was taken from him in the form of a billowy white figure dropping from the rooftop onto the unicorn, slamming her to the ground with a sickening crunch. He landed just before the scene, watching in equal parts rage and surprise, cautious as to what had landed atop the mare: with the overhead light of the setting sun casting the alley in mostly shadows, he had a hard time of making anything more than basic shapes and colors. It wasn't until the familiar sound of a metal blade being pulled from a pony's body did he recognize what had happened.

The billowy shape revealed itself to be a hooded pony, donning the strange robes of the Assassin Order, and a stone gray hoof pulled the hood down, revealing none other than Slate, himself. Before he could utter anything, Rainbow Crescent dropped to the ground, her own hood already pulled down, and a disdainful scowl placed on her muzzle.

Slate reached down and pulled this unicorn from the ground, blood oozing from her sides while her hooves grasped at the bloody wound with an air of futility. He pulled her into a sitting position, resting her against the cobblestone wall of the nearest building, with an amount of respect and gentleness that Blaze found both distasteful and strange. The gray stallion sat down in front of her, placing his back to the pegasi behind him, offering a somewhat comforting hoof on the mare's shoulder. "Mist Artificer, you've committed crimes against the sanctity of this proud and peaceful nation; it is high time that you be brought to justice. I only wish this didn't have to end with your life: that we might have resolved this with dignity. Tell me what your masters were plotting, so that you may still serve the light, even on your dying breath."

"Suck a dick, Slate! You filly bucking assassin!" Mist spat, slapping his hoof away as soon as it came into contact with her, as well as trying to kick him in the groin, only for his idle forehoof to catch her leg before it got anywhere. "Al Capony has a great vision for us all, whether bastards like you stick around long enough to aid or not, and I will not betray the cause! We have ponies all over the city ready to do his bidding!"

"Allow me." Blaze said softly, stepping around the two assassins who had taken to interrogating the dying mare. As he took his place in front of her, she seemed to recoil, fearful of his presence, disheartening him while simultaneously steeling his resolve. "Mist, you are going to die; that is a fatal wound. I'm not here to gloat; I just want answers as to why my mother mentioned you specifically in her notebooks, and hopefully to learn why it is she killed herself."

"You're not wrong." Mist chuckled, though there was no joy in her voice, only mirth, the acceptance of one's fate while they try to be as arrogant as possible. "I am going to die; there is nothing Al can do to help me now. . . or punish me." 

Her eyes turned vicious, a fire inside them so full of loathing that he had to inch back. "I'll humor you this last time, insolent bastard. Al Capony holds much power in Equestria, more than anypony else could ever hope to have: and he plans on using this power to bring about our true lord, through the use of many smaller creatures, such as ourselves. That bitch whorse you call a mother was catching on to our plans, and had learned far too much from traitorous bitches. Traitors that will experience the true wrath of our lord. She didn't die by her own hood, however, oh no: when it became clear to us that she had learned my identity, Al Capony thought of an ingenious, and rather ironic twist to. . . remove her from the picture. We spent weeks planning how to do it perfectly, and finally lured her into a trap: one where she thought to capture me, but through our greater minds, found herself the victim.

"Reapers tend to get hungry in the winter, wouldn't you say?" Her maniacal laughing was cut short by Blaze's hoof violently crushing her trachea, leaving only the sickening gurgles of a mare choking on her own blood. He scowled intensely as he grabbed her head by the mane and began to repeatedly punch her face, the blood splattering over him from her shattered snout before Both Slate and Rainbow managed to pulled him away.

By the time Scale and her group had caught up to him, Mist lay dead on the floor while the two assassins did their best to hold him back from completely ruining her remains. "What's going. . . on. . ."

Scale stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the lifeless body lying against the building, along with the assassins who had finally let Blaze go, as his temper was cooling. Her face drained at the barely perceptible sight of blood dripping from his hoof before he settled back onto all fours. He turned to her, the rage finally fading from his features, and steadily being replaced by resignation at what he had just done. There was little remorse in his tone, however, as he informed the others of what he'd learned.

"That. . . that still doesn't justify _killing_ somepony!" One of the pegasi behind Scale gaped, while another puked in the gutter nearby.

"I. . . I'm sorry." Blaze said, glancing back at the corpse for a second before finally feeling unsettled at what he had done, and turning his gaze once more onto those of his family. "I know that I shouldn't have, but Slate here dealt the killing blow, and I just finished her off in an unacceptable way: I just couldn't control myself."

"I understand why you did it, Blaze." Scale sighed, clearly doing her best to keep her stomach down. "But that doesn't mean that I condone such actions. You two: I recognize you from somewhere. . . Assassins, right?"

Rainbow and Slate both nodded, an action that the Sage returned, before addressing Blaze once more: "I think we should head back home before anything else happens, and then we're going to have to have a long conversation about everything that you learned from her. I must admit that it is truly horrendous for somepony to kill another, but this one seems to be justified in at least one way: these fanatics are up to something bad. Let's go home."

"Before you do, " Rainbow interrupted, reaching forward and grabbing Blaze by the hoof. "Blaze, tomorrow, I want to meet you in the central market, east side next to the key smith stall in front of the Roaring Hydra Inn. There are a few things that we should discuss to get you ready to meet with our Order."

"Could you hold back on that?" He responded, pulling back and sagging his wings a little, the weight of this recent revelation finally hitting him, now that his rage had burned itself clear. "Look, as eager as I am to meet with you guys, I'm going to need a day or two for this to settle. I know that Al will only be more dangerous if we wait too long, but I don't think I'll be in any state to help for some time: mother and I may have gone our separate ways a long time ago, but I'll always love her for what she did for us. I can't just let this loss go un-grieved: the last time I tried that I messed up my head pretty bad, and I know that nopony back home would forgive me if I did that to myself again. Give me a few days, then I suppose we can talk."

"I understand where you are coming from, but this recent revelation brings more worries than you know." The mare insisted. "I'll give you two days, tomorrow is yours to spend as you please, but after that: I _need_ to get you straight with the Order. We are running on borrowed time that I doubt we'll be able to get back after much longer. Two days from now, noon. You better be there, or we are coming to you."

"Fine, two days it is." He submitted, turning again to face Scale, who looked like she was more than ready to leave, shifting uneasily on her hooves. He wouldn't blame her: he was starting to get antsy standing around in a dark alley, especially after learning what he had from the fanatic unicorn. "Let's go."

Making a short trip out of it; he led them all back, minus his mother's friend, who had run back to her home, probably going to drown her sorrows in a bottle of liquor: he'd planned for the same thing after his chat with Scale. The streets had thinned considerably, the sun had set, and the snow was remaining steady: but both Blaze and Scale were glad to get home in a timely manner.

Once everypony had settled inside the safety of the warehouse, Blaze and Scale took a seat in the privacy of one of the darker corners of the unofficial dining area. Tables had little popularity at this time, as the warmth of the fire called to most of the ponies: though clearly not all. The two had barely sat down before a familiar brown and green mare quickly made it her personal quest to seek them out. Asta trotted towards them with a worried look in her eye: she'd heard from the others that something bad happened. Neither had a chance to speak before she made herself comfortable at his side, snuggling up under his wing in both their preferred positions.

He wasn't going to complain: not about knowing his beloved sister was safe under his chilled wing, equally warming his wing and his heart that she wouldn't get caught up in this. "I heard that something bad happened."

"Yeah. . . it turns out mother wasn't completely suicidal." He said solemnly, regretful that he had to explain this to her. "It was all an elaborate ruse by those bucking fanatics to hide the fact that they had to kill her: she had been onto this terrible thing that they have planned. We went to her place, and as bad as that trip was, it only got worse when her very murderer had shown up, probably to gloat and bask in her wickedness.

"We hunted her down, but it was the Assassins that got the kill; though not before we got some information out of her. . ." He really wished that he didn't have to explain this to her, but he knew that Scale would tell her for his sake if he didn't.

"Speaking of which. . ." Scale motioned with her hoof for him to finally go into detail about what had occurred, as his abbreviated version was not what she needed to hear.

"Right." He nodded, clutching Asta tightly as he tried to fight against the repulsion at reliving this rather upsetting event. "Well, I was about to lose her: she was charging her horn to get ready to teleport, if I had to bet, and I wasn't going to lose this chase. I just knew that she had something to do with mother's disappearance: that smug look she had. . . I was about to catch her when Slate, the assassin, dropped from the rooftops and got her.

"I'm kind of grateful that he did; it meant that I could catch up to her. The wound he dealt was fatal, but it didn't kill her right then and there, so we managed to press her for answers; though she just ranted when he asked her anything. I tried to pull some peace bullshit to appeal to her empathetic side. . . which probably made things worse. She ranted that because she was dead, Al wouldn't be able to punish her-"

"Really? _That_ was what she was worried about: somepony punishing her on the brink of death?" Asta was incredulous, but Blaze just nodded at her.

"Yeah: but that's probably the best thing so far. You see, she was proud to be a fanatic, ranting that lowly creatures like her were what Al was using to bring what she called, and I quote: 'their true lord,' like he was going to perform pony sacrifices to bring something terrible through. I always knew that Discord was bad, but pony sacrifices? That is far worse than I would have imagined!"

"What else?" Scale pressed.

"Well, she mentioned that mother had learned about some of their activities through other so called 'bitches,' which I assume are fellow ponies that had garnered information in one way or another, probably fanatics that defected once they realized these buckers were killing ponies. Mist Artificer, Asta that's the mare's name, said that everypony would either conform or be killed off by this true lord of theirs, which must be Discord. I just. . . I don't know why anypony would want to die like that. . ."

"It is beyond our sane minds to comprehend the suicidal tendencies of such ponies as them, Blaze Burn." Scale shook her head in disgust, gesturing for him to continue.

"Well, this was just before you got there, but after she was done ranting about these supposed 'traitors' she mentioned that her and Al had put together a plan, because mother was starting to catch onto their plan, to stop her." Blaze said, shuddering at the implication of just how many eyes they had watching everypony around. He was aware that Al had resources to back him. . . with the Creed. "They stopped her by springing their self-proclaimed ironic trap, killing her and making it sound like she had committed suicide. If I'm correct in my assumptions, it was through Al's connections with the Thieves' Creed that he would have found out: they have eyes and ears everywhere. Either way; they found out how close she was to discovering this big plan of theirs to bring Discord back, or whoever they consider their true lord. I've got to say, if Rainbow and the other Assassins help me with this, it might put some of us in danger, which is kind of worrying."

"Don't stress on that, yet, Blaze." Scale sighed, leaning back in her chair as she took in the full accounting of what happened, which was much more detailed than his previous iteration. She rubbed her forehead, trying to process just how things were escalating beyond anything that anypony had assumed. "We're still going to have to talk with the Princesses before taking the next step, that and you need rest: you've just lost somepony that was a big part of your life, and we all know how bad that can be."

"Yeah. . ." Asta nuzzled up against his side, pressing her face into his blood-splattered chest fur, until she realized what the substance on him was. Upon coming to that realization, she recoiled back, snarling at the specks on his chest, and getting a better look at his face, where she spotted more specks. "Blaze, that's blood on you. Are you hurt?! Where are you bleeding?! Oh, I swear to all that is good in this world, when I find the ponies that did this to you-"

Blaze silenced her quickly by shoving a hoof in her mouth, a tired smirk popping up on his muzzle. "It's not mine, Asta. I suppose I should tell you that when Mist Artificer mentioned how she killed my mother, I kind of lost it: it wasn't Slate's fatal wound that killed her. It was my hoof that did it."

He reach forward so she could see his blood-coated forehoof, which instantly dropped her jaw in shock. He knew she would react poorly to it, so he did his best to not feel too bad that he made her night even worse, until a strange, almost intrigued look crossed the mare's face. She leaned around him and sniffed at the crimson limb, which gave him pause for concern more than anything. "What was it like? To kill a pony?"

Concern was definitely the strongest emotion he had decided to recognize right then, because her list of 'issues' hadn't really included anything violent. At least not in this kind of way. "Horrible. I hate that it's a necessity, and taking a life isn't something I ever want to do again once we deal with Al; and if I'm not the one who has to do it, then it'll be that much easier to accept."

"Huh. . ." Her mildly interested look was extremely frightening for him, and he couldn't hide the shudder that ran through him as he saw the gears turning in her head. Shaking it off as best he could, he rose from his seat, leaving Asta whimpering and trotted around the table.

"If there isn't anything else you need to know, I'm just going to go take a bath, and probably get settled in for a long night. I doubt I'm going to get much sleep anytime soon, and I know that Luna does always appreciate it when I go above and beyond her expectations: so I'll be in my room going over some sword-fighting stances." He declared as he turned away, not giving either of them the chance to object, and making a beeline for the baths. He tried to pretend that Asta wasn't following him, but by the time he had gotten to the bathroom door, and she was still trying her best to discreetly tail him, he'd had enough. He stopped at the door and turned around, waiting for her to accept defeat and approach him, which she did after waiting around a corner, peering at him for a few seconds.

The moment she realized he was aware of her presence, she shyly smiled and trotted up to him, her head hung low and her ears pressed to her skull. "Y-Yeah?"

"Why are you following me? I'm not in any danger and I just want to take a hot bath then head to my room." He stated matter-of-factly, staring at her with a deadpan expression.

"Oh. . . I was just. . ." She shuffled in place for a moment, refusing to make eye contact and keeping her gaze glued to the ground. "I just. . . well, you see. . . I wanted to. . . ah buck it: I wanted to help you bathe!"

"Asta-" His face started turning into a scowl at her implications before she sprung up and started waving her hooves in the air.

"Not like that! Not this time!" She added hastily, catching onto his thoughts fast enough that he knew that they had flown in her head moments earlier, and if this denial was genuine, then it seemed she might have realized how her phrasing might have sounded. Which was exactly what was going through her mind then. "I. . . look, Blaze: I know that it's hard to lose ponies you care about. While I may have been young when my family gave up, I do know how it feels; and I just wanted to show you that we are all still going to be here to support you, no matter how you choose to go about this. I-I wanted to help you relax, just show you that I am able to be a real pony, and not somepony that just cares about sex.

" _Unlike Twilight_ _. . ._ " She whispered, lightly stomping on the ground while she did her best to reign in her unleashed emotions. She looked up and met his stern gaze with an innocent smile. "I want to make sure you recover from this: that way we can put all this darkness behind us and move on to the better parts of our life."

Her confession sounded genuine enough for him, and his expression loosened up; so much so that he sighed and let his body sag a bit from the exhaustion he was feeling. Today had been a maelstrom of emotions and other shit: he wasn't going to deny letting somepony scrub at his back for a little bit. Maybe massage his wings. . . gently of course, they could be sensitive sometimes.

He didn't give her a response, figuring that she'd probably take any obvious acceptance as permission to push her luck, and spun around, walking into the bathroom. The lack of other ponies made him slightly uneasy with how things could turn out, but he was beyond really caring at this point; losing his mother in such a way had finally started to rot away his interest. He numbly led Asta to the back of the room, where several smoldering fires were slow-heating pots of water, for anypony that wanted a hot bath.

He tried his best to avoid them, as he much preferred a nice cold bath to quickly hop in and out of, but sometimes it was nice to relax. These were also a definite upgrade from the previous method of hot water attainment: having a unicorn straight up heat the tubs of water. This way it only took a couple of simple spells to contain the fires, and viola: hot water at the ready!

He indicated for his sister to follow, figuring that she was aware of his preference for colder baths, and totted over to the steaming pots. He bit down on the towel-wrapped handle and began moving pots over to the nearest tub, which filled rather quickly with the two of them working: and a relaxing steam permeated the air around them, easing him even more as he dropped his cloak on the tiled floor right next to the baths.

He felt a little self-conscious about climbing into the tub with Asta watching, knowing that it was only a matter of time before things returned to the unfortunate norm of her trying to claim him, but he shrugged it off in favor of the hot water's effects. As he lay down, allowing the hot water to soak up to his neck, he rested his chin on the rim of the tub, enjoying the pleasing sensations of steam drifting around him, absorbing into his fur and releasing the tension in his muscles. He let his eyes drift shut as he carefully listened to Asta approach.

While he was feeling fine with this, he knew he had to be ready to act in case she tried to do any funny business, and he allowed his body to tense up a bit. Asta picked up on his distrust, stopping at the edge with a pained expression, silently waiting for his permission to help.

He remained in blissful silence for a minute before his curiosity at what his sister was doing got the better of him: he cracked open his eyes and turned to look at her. His regret was almost immediate as he saw the sadness and silent agony in her eyes, knowing full well that she had seen his reaction to her approach. Fueled by this regret, he forced his body to relax, taking a deep breath and letting his wings unfurl naturally in the tub. He nodded for her to continue with whatever she had planned.

Fortunately, the tub wasn't big enough for the two of them to sit comfortably, as he was taking up the majority of it, so Asta resigned herself to sidling against the side of the tub. He closed his eyes and returned his head to its previous position, remaining attentive to what she was doing: which seemed to him to be her adjusting in place. Then a tentative hoof reaching into the waters above him and delicately began to massage his back.

He let out an involuntary moan of relief as her other hoof joined in, with her obviously taking his relaxed body as permission to continue. She worked her hooves in circles, applying pressure in his sorest spots, taking cues from the groans and sighs he let out, and he was loving every second of it. He remembered that everypony had been telling him to do some stretches, and he guiltily recalled forgetting to do them after his flight with Asta, as caught up as he had been with this incident with his mother and those damned fanatics. Still, having Asta here to help him work out the kinks in his back would be a passable replacement.

Once she had worked down from the small of his back to the start of his tail, she suddenly stopped, leaving him whimpering for a moment, his body begging for more. He opened an eye to see what she was doing, as the sound of water droplets caught his attention: only to see her reaching a hoof over the side of the tub to try to squeeze herself in. "Asta-"

"I can't get to your shoulders from out here, and you were enjoying this so much. . . I just wanted to hear those cute sounds you were making, to know that I am doing something that you actually like." He knew her admission was innocent, but with everything she'd already tried, he couldn't shake the impression that she was going to try something else. He couldn't argue, though, because his body told him to scoot forward so she had a bit more room, even if it left his neck free and chest half-submerged.

Asta happily crawled into the tub, her hooves almost immediately going to work on his tense shoulders, working them loose in a matter of seconds. He leaned forward unconsciously, closing his eyes again as relief spread through his back, and he felt his weight start to shift around. His muscles begging for the attention, he raised his wings out of the water, just enough for her to start working on, until her hooves grasped at the muscles at the base of his wings. He felt his wings go limp, pure, unadulterated pleasure running down the length of his spine and sending him shivering in delight.

His mind was reeling with euphoria, and he let his head slip down to his chest, even if he heard Asta giggling at his response, though he wasn't about to stop her.

She paused for a moment to readjust herself, for her hind legs were slipping forward against the base of the tub, and in that brief respite she heard him actually growl at her. It surprised the both of them, but he started giggling like mad as he tried his best to apologize to her, even as she started back up again. "No need to apologize, Blazy: I'm happy to do this for you, and those noises you make are just so damn _cute!_ "

She finished with all of his back, she she moved onto his wings with utmost care, and for a moment, with her hooves being as gentle as if she were holding a baby bird, she knew she'd put him to sleep. As if the opportunity to please her brother weren't enough to put a massive grin on her face already, she relished that she had managed to knock him out with the attention she was feeding his wings. He only awoke once she had stopped applying pressure to the ends of his musculature, and she had leaned in to breathe on his ear. "Oh, Blazy: time to wake up. We're only halfway done."

His eyes shot open for a second, until his mind caught up and he looked back at her, carefully spinning in place so that the two were facing each other. He raised his eyebrows at her curiously, wondering what else she had planned, until she leaned in and placed both her forehooves against his chest. He glanced down at them, unsure if he was actually okay with this. "Uh, Asta? You sure you want to go through with this?"

"Of course, Blazy." She replied cheerily, smiling at him with a genuinely innocent smile as she start to massage his chest. "Anything for my favorite brother in the whole wide world!"

His frown stuck through for a while, until Asta stayed true and kept her hooves strictly above the water. After a lengthy massage that left him feeling more than refreshed, he sank down into the tub, sliding as far under as he could, until Asta plopped herself on top of him, snuggling against his barrel, pulling them both down until it was just their heads and necks resting above the waterline.

Humming softly, he smiled as Asta shut her eyes and quietly rest there, and though the back of his mind was screaming at the wrongness of this, he was more than happy to keep her there. There was enough strife in the world, and he was afraid of loosing anypony else; a fear that manifested in him gladly cuddling his sister, wrapping his sopping hooves around her, hugging her tightly as they soaked. This may not have been something he would normally approve of, but his mind had a majority of agreement that he needed somepony to comfort him, in any way possible.

If Asta wanted to cuddle in a steaming hot bath, then his need to keep his family close would not deny her that desire.

About an hour later, Blaze felt himself snap back to consciousness, cracking his eyes open to an equally blissful and terrifying sight; an adorable snuggle-able Asta wrapped around his midsection. It was not lost on him that the two were now napping in a tub, one in which the water was getting a bit too cold to be napping in. He debated whether or not to move, as he was sure Asta was comfortable, but he also wanted out of the bath.

After mulling it over for a few seconds, he decided to just get out, and he shifted in place, trying to ease the mare awake. She murmured into his chest, but otherwise refused to do anything else, so he did the only thing he could think of to get her up: he used his wing to cause a wave of lukewarm water to splash over her.

The moment the water hit her face, a switch was flipped, and the mare shot out of the tub, screaming in shock and now fully aware of her surroundings, heart pounding and all.

The sight of Asta leaping completely free from the tub was more than enough for him, and he startled laughing like mad, holding his forehooves tight to his stomach and rolling onto his sides. As she landed, she scowled at him and hopped over to the side of the tub, huffing and puffing while she tried to get her dripping mane out of her face. "That was not funny, Blaze Burn."

She reached a hoof into the water and splashed some up at his face, which garnered her no reaction, as he was too busy trying to contain his fit. The fact that her feeble retaliation got her nowhere only served to worsen her stung pride, and she thought quick to come up with some vengeance. As he pulled himself together, he rolled back onto his back, just in time to see a wicked grin on her face, then she leaped into the tub, making him scream in good-humored fear. The resulting splash completely soaked him, as well as the area around their tub, completely drenching a large portion of the room.

She let him pull himself out from under her, and once he'd pulled his mane out from over his eyes, the two shared a brief laugh at these kinds of antics. Eventually, the mood did sour, as she watched his mind slowly turn away from the temporary distractions, her plan at keeping him in the moment long enough to work out a way to stop the depression failing in her face.

She nuzzled up against his chest, hoping to pull his attention out from any ruminations in his head, but his gaze was stuck somewhere else. Not sure what to do, she lay there, pressing her chin into his fur and staring into his distant blue eyes, hoping that something would free him. "Oh, Blaze Burn. You've been through so much, and yet it seems that you never catch a break. . . all I wanted was for us to be happy."

She watched him for what felt like an eternity, and though the building had to be completely lit by candlelight, she knew deep down that mere minutes were passing. Still, she stayed true and never bother to leave his side, though she used her wing to stealthily reach around him and pull the drain plug out, allowing the water to flush from the tub.

If she was going to sit there with her brother for as long as need be, she wanted to get a head start drying off. Fur takes a crazy amount of effort to dry out.

She felt the chilled air around her as the water finally drained out of the tub, though she didn't mind; there were more important things that required her attention. After what might have been half and hour, perhaps forty-five minutes, Blaze finally shifted, his expression taking a prolonged, painful to watch transition from sorrow to bitterness. If her assumptions were right, then he would blame himself for this, which got her heart to both pang with sympathy and beat faster with anxiety. She couldn't have him blaming himself for what happened to his mom. "Blazy, you know what happened wasn't your fault: those Chaos Fanatics are ruining life for everypony in the city."

"Yeah. . . yeah I know." He sighed, pushing her away and stepping out of the tub, his head hung low and his voice distant. "It just sucks that we even have to deal with crazy bucking ponies like them at all, and this whole thing with them killing mom. . ."

He let the sentence die as he slowly walked over to the towels, grabbing a few and throwing them on his back, where Asta still sat in the tub. He tossed her a couple before starting the arduous process of drying his unkempt mane; distracting himself briefly by regarding the state it was in, and how badly he needed to manage it. Once he'd pulled his mane out of his face with the towel acting as a bun around it, he started to dry the rest of himself off, saving the driest towel for his tail.

"I just want this all to be over: the fewer creatures threatening you all the better I'll feel about spending time to just relax with you guys." He explained, breaking the silence that had formed as the pair of them toweled themselves down. "I'm ready for all this violence to stop."

"You hinted that you were the one who killed this murder fanatic right? The one who killed your mom?" Asta asked, hopping around a deeper part of the puddle she had made when splashing into the tub earlier. As the question left her lips, she winced at how bad it had sounded, as did Blaze.

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, it just seems to me that while you may not particularly enjoy dealing death, I've heard that the instances where you have to, you were quite good at it. I've talked with both Luna and Celestia on occasion, as brief as those occasions are, and they've mentioned that your heritage as a Gold Blood has really shone through." She said, placing a comforting hoof on his shoulder to try to ease his racing thoughts. "What I'm getting at is: while you don't like it, killing _is_ something you have a talent for. Maybe it is your destiny to be our shield by being our spear: to protect us by slaying those who would seek us harm, and not just be the pacifist stallion that can't properly care for those he loves because of some discomfort."

"Asta. . ." He had to pause and process what she had said, his temper flaring at the implication that he was a sissy who would back down from conflicts if these ponies were in danger. "I thought it was already accepted that I will do anything to keep you all safe? That's the whole reason why I accepted to train with Luna: so I could better use either intimidation or actual combat skills to do just that."

"I know, I know. What I guess I was trying to hint at was that I think this Assassin Order I've heard so much about may be right for you: you both are trying to hunt down these fanatics that are ruining our great city. You both are willing to do whatever it takes to maintain the safety of common ponies like myself. And you both already have the right weapons." She nodded towards his room, getting him to think about both the hidden blade and his sword, tools of violence he hated having. As much as he loathed the idea of equating himself with the assassins, he knew where she was coming from, and he hated how much the idea resonated with him.

If killing was a necessity, he might as well get good at it, right?

"Asta. . . it's something that I've already considered, but I do appreciate that you have agreed to have me join their ranks." He sighed, leading her through the halls until they reached his bedroom door. "And I just wanted to thank you for being there for me; it seems like this family here is the only left in a world that is falling apart. I'm going to do some stretches and then practice my form with the sword: else Luna will have my skin for neglecting it. Good night, sister."

"Night, Blazy!" She perked up, and his concern over the joyous anticipation in her eyes rose, but she was gone before he could ask her about it. He shrugged to himself, guessing that she was just excited that he was actually considering properly integrating with the Order, and turned around to glance around his room. He trotted through the darkness over to the dresser, which had a matchbox in one of the drawers, and after a moment, he had lit the several candles around his room.

He was kind of grateful that he didn't have very many material things; aside from the dresser, bed and desk, the room was bare. This left him with a lot of room to work with, and meant fewer things were likely to get broken should he start swinging his sword. Speaking of swords. . . he dropped the two towels on his bed, then he trotted over to his sword: the towels were only going to distract him, and he knew he'd dry off enough over the next hour or so.

Unsheathing the larger blade from it's scabbard, he sighed from the familiarity the sword had in his hoof; that he had to actually practice with this felt degrading for him. He had always prized himself in the Creed at being able to avoid confrontations by talking his way out of them. That he would have to resort to murder just felt like he'd given up any of the refined talent that those thieves honed in on, ironically enough. He did miss being able to sneak around, actually; it was always a great feeling to know he was able to get around ponies without them detected him.

He sighed to himself, repressing the somewhat pleasant memories of his days of relative innocence. Dropping the bastard sword on his bed, he stepped back to the largest clearing in the room and began to stretch in earnest as he said he would.

With his limbs all stretched and ready for an intense session of practice, honing in on the more sophisticated forms of swordplay, he trotted in place, hoping to get his heart rate going a bit faster. He shook his head, trying to clear the nagging thoughts hanging just on the edge of his conscious thought, until the sound of his door opening scattered all his thoughts. He turned around, curious at who would bother coming in right then, until the sight of Asta happily entering answered the question. He gave her a flat look as she peeked around the door at him, flashing her brilliant smile and pushing the door open more than enough for her to slip in.

His deadpanned expression fell flat on his face as she stepped through the opening, revealing a large saber draped across her back. As she stepped fully through the doorway, she smirked at his stunned expression, chuckling while she shut the door behind her. "Princess Luna gave it to me so that I could get some practice sharpening a blade, saying that it would be good for me to know how to do it in case you forgot."

He finally pulled his head together and shook his head at her, knowing there was nothing he could really do about it now. "If you were just going to sharpen the blade, then you'd stay in your room and do it: which means your here because you want to learn to use it, right?"

"You know me so well." She smiled trotting in front of him and drawing the sword from its scabbard, twisting the blade in her grip to offer the handle to him. He carefully relieved her of the blade, letting the candlelight reflect softly off the curved blade and admiring the way the light glinted. The blade was high quality, as he discovered most true Equestrian steel to be, but he appreciated that this sword in particular looked to be crafted with the intentions of being offered to royalty. Perhaps Luna had offered his sister one of her personal swords, which he found plausible, as she had mentioned that she often preferred blunt weapons over the blade.

He thought the way the blade curved to be intriguing, the exotic nature of the weapon being appealing to him. The silvery steel blade had a medium curve to it, unlike some of the more scimitar-like swords he had heard the Saddle Arabians used, and in true saber fashion had a single edge to it. He twisted the blade so the edge faced away from him, trying to gauge the thickness of the spine, which looked to be pretty heavy for a weapon meant for somepony of Asta's size. Either Luna expected the mare to keep it for a while, or she truly intended for Asta to obey and just sharpen it. Well, as he turned it again, he saw that the fuller following the spine would lighten the blade a bit, so the balance may be more fitting: he just didn't understand how these curved blades were meant to be wielded.

"I hate to disappoint you, then, but I'm not in the mood to go over some forms with you." He sighed, offering her her sword back, though he held her shoulder once she'd accepted the saber. "Today was pretty damn crazy, but I'm glad that we managed to work things out in the end. If you eve want to talk, you know that I'm willing to listen if I'm here."

"I know." She smiled, looking down at the saber in her hooves for second. She pulled away from him for a second so she could line the blade with the equally curved scabbard across her back, then fumbled around for a bit before she finally got the blade to slide in. Once she'd sheathed her weapon, she turned back to him, and jumped in for a quick hug. "Maybe we can practice tomorrow?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but she dashed out the room before he could utter a word, and as her tail vanished behind the shutting door, he resigned himself to disappointing her tomorrow. He nodded to himself, accepting that things might be calming down, but other things were about to get really bucking complicated, and other things were just blowing up in his face. That was the biggest reason why he wanted to train so badly, if only for these ponies in his life like Asta and scale, the others too, but most definitely for Asta. Things were not going to go still until Al Capony stopped breathing, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the unicorn that held command over the forces of Chaos would die by his hoof.

Drawing breath, he picked up his sword and felt the disgustingly familiar weight of the cold steel in his grip. He gave the sword a few good swings, just trying to get his shoulders ready to practice, then placed himself in the center of his little clearing, clearing his mind of any stray thoughts.

Going through the beginning forms that Luna had suggested he use first, he began the arduous work of building muscle memory of how the sword should move with various strikes and counters. Luna had kept the theme of defensive even after his request for them to move onto more aggressive attacks: she'd just done it cleverly so that he felt like he was striking with the intent to kill. His mind went blank as his attention was diverted entirely to the sword he held tightly, maintaining perfect control over the blade at all times, moreso to prevent any damage to his room than from the encouragement of Luna's teachings.

He felt exhaustion threatening to attach to his body well before he felt truly comfortable with his level of muscle memory. Fearing stiffness for his next session with Luna, he decided to call it a night, tossing his sword onto his bed and grabbing his towels. Several of the smaller candles had burnt themselves out, and a quick glance out the window showed him that the moon had risen far into the sky.

He was feeling the lengthy day, as his back was screaming for him to go to sleep, even if his legs were tingling with another bout of exertion. His wings were the worst, though, after having a very busy day, and more than one session devoted to intensity: they were practically begging for rest, as even keeping them shut at his side was starting to hurt. With his two towels draped across his back, he made his way down the darkening halls and headed back into the baths, where he made short work of dunking his face in one of the pots of warm water.

At this time of night, the fires had died out long ago, with nopony awake to tend them and the magic shutting off for the night; the water was cooling with to match the winter temperatures.

Having been able to soak his head one last time, he redid his towel in his mane, using the spare to dry of his face and chest. Breathing in deeply, he decided to just call it a night and return to his bedroom, finally ready to face the ordeal that was tonight's dream fight with big bad Luna. He felt a ping of hesitation, but it was quickly snuffed out by he depressive memories of the day deciding now was a good time to make a resurgence. His motivation for anything shriveled up pretty damn fast, and he just skulked back to his room, left with enough energy to fight for his head to stay up.

Shuffling into his room, he lazily sheathed his sword, using the last of his motivation to prop it against his nightstand before dropping onto his bed. A grumbling sound of relief escaped his mouth as he sank into the mattress, his legs fumbling for either end of the comforter, the lack of energy telling him he wasn't even going to bother climbing in under it.

He never really managed to succeed in covering himself, as he passed out before he could confirm that he was underneath the blanket, the sweet release of sleep worming inside him easily.

He was right in one regard for the day, however; in that Luna was indeed going to be hard on him. She had plans for him to suffer, and suffer he shall.

" _We heard from the outer guards that your day was. . . unpleasant." Luna said once she had appeared in his little pocket of the dreamscape, her near-sadistic smile usually present during his training replaced by a genuine look of worry. He sighed, thinking of how he was going to survive the coming days with this added weight put on his life, then he tried to shuffle his wings. The temporary pain from the day reminded him that his wings had strained themselves more than he usually did. With a flicker of willpower, he fixed his aching body, and decided to put them in a more reasonable location to speak: the training ring filled with sand._

" _Yeah, unpleasant is a good word to use." He nodded. "I guess we should start with the fist big thing to happen today, and then we can get into the bad shit. Asta and I did our flight for the day, even if the Everfree did its best to stop us: and I like to think that it was a flight you'd find worthy of even your own exercise. The gales above the city were pretty bad, and some of the streets offered protection, while others would only worsen the wind, though it was the updrafts that cause me the most trouble. Weather-wise._

" _Anyways, as I'm sure you are well aware by now: I've been working out how I wanted to discuss Asta's affection issue, and I spoke with her about it during that flight. . . it didn't make anything easier. She got upset and tried pulling some stunts, so I had to chase her down during the storm and calm her down: which wasn't fun when we were both fighting the weather." He shook his head at the memory, trying to pull himself free from any particular emotion by pulling a copy of his sword into the ring, sticking the tip in the sand before him. Luna did the same with her royal blue sparring sword. "She really took the conversation badly, even after I tried to put it to her gently: it just seemed like she wasn't willing to take anything other than my reciprocation of her feelings, which won't happen."_

" _That is the way with most ponies, we do believe." Luna offered, sitting on her flank while she listened in a patient stance, even though he was able to see that she was anxious to get sparring. "Thou can't shame her for opening her heart to thou, and then being rejected, regardless of how softly thou approaches the issue. In the end, thou rejected her affections, and that shalt always sting."_

" _Yeah. . . I've figure that out. I just wish this wasn't such a mess." He fidgeted with the sword before him, trying to forget the sadness that he'd seen in Asta, until he pulled his memories forward, to the more pleasant aspects of this whole bucking thing. "At least I did manage to get through to her in the end, and we finally got to a bit of an understanding; so we might hopefully be able to put this behind us and start becoming a more normal family."_

" _Hmm." The Princess smirked at him, flickering a nonexistent speck of dust off of her forehoof to break the eye contact, only to return her gaze to his, filled with humor at his statement. "It is our opinion that thine family is far from normal, and we have our. . . doubts that it shall ever be considered so."_

" _Figures." He muttered to himself, accepting the jab playfully, all the while rolling his eyes. "I get that we all are a different bunch, but is it so bad that we can't pass as a happy little group of ponies trying to survive together?"_

" _Of course it's not that bad! All we art saying is this 'family' as thou calls it, is truly something unique in this land: and we would never ask any of you to change that. We art happy to call you all good friends, even if your family dynamic seems odd." She chuckled, standing from her position to trot closer to him, her magic whisking her blade away. "But we must ask to continue your story: we have little time for frivolities, and we wish to practice more. What happened today regarding thine involvement in a murder?"_

 _He was silent for a while as he tried to gather himself for this unfortunate trip down memory lane, shuffling in place with uncomfortable emotions trying to surface. "You see, a friend of my mother came to us asking for help: there was a written note stating that my mother had thrown herself to the Reapers, a statement that turned out to be fabricated by the Chaos Fanatics. I, Scaled Equilibrium, the mare, and a few others went to investigate, which resulted in a chase with the true murderer. In the end, Slate, and assassin from his Order dealt a fatal blow to her, and we interrogated her for information."_

" _We get the impression that this is a condensed accounting, but we can clearly see how this is effecting thee." She bowed her head for a moment, something he chose to interpret as a respectful gesture. "We shalt refrain from asking thee anything further. . . do you wish for a peaceful night?"_

" _No. . . I was hoping to use this time to sort of vent, you know? Work out some emotions?" He said, standing and pulling his blade from the fictitious sand surrounding them, his emotions hardening into anger directed towards the fanatics that have caused him so much grief. "I really need this, and even though I enacted vengeance upon the mare who murdered my mother, it still doesn't feel settled. I need some way of releasing this. . . this rage until I can finally claim the peace that will follow Al Capony's demise: just some means of release to stop me from losing it."_

" _That is acceptable." She said slowly, her horn lighting up and her sword and shield appearing before her, and though the depressed mood around them, he could tell she was excited for his persistence. "I must say; I'm very happy you wanted to continue this, even though you've faced a lot of hardship today. I am more than willing to help you shape this anger into something that your ancestors would be proud of: to become a proper Gold Blood who serves not only my sister and I, but the whole of Equestria."_

" _My family comes first, as always, Luna." He stated, clenching his teeth and swinging his sword in preparation for a bitter bout. "But I suppose we can talk about my promotion to a proper soldier later; once I've saved my family from death at the hooves of these crazy fanatics."_

 _She didn't say anything else, as nothing needed to be said, but she did reply with a curt nod and an excited grin, her shield glowing blue as it rose to protect her. Taking her stance as his cue for them to begin, he spun the tip of his sword in tiny circles while lowering his own stance. He inhaled sharply, watching her for any signs of an opening, and began to circle around her, keeping his wings half-open in case he needed to make a quick dash to either side. He watched her hitch to the side, having twisted too far over the hoof that physically held her sparkling blue sword, and he took the chance to lung forward, raising his sword to bring down a heavy blow against the top of her shield._

 _He realized the trap far too late, as the Princess hadn't lost her balance at all, but was goading him into a premature attack, as her shield rose to meet his sword and she stepped to the side, her hoof already moving to swing underneath the shield and take a swipe at his exposed belly._

 _His body acted before he had time to think, and he flared his wings and leaped over her block, maintaining the swing enough to force the shield to keep her protected, all the while he twisted to face her exposed flank. It seemed like she followed his very same move, twisting underneath her shield and bring her blade for a back-hoof slash towards his landing spot. He had to return a heavy block with his blade while he watched in horror as her shield swung around the crossed blades, threatening to knock him down._

 _Doing the only thing that was available, he stepped into her, using his height advantage to press down on her blade while he flung his wings out, hoping to catch the hunk of metal and wood before it gave him a concussion. With the shield claiming his left wing, he used his right to flick a feather into her face, hoping to use it as a distraction: his time with the thieves had informed him of the practicality of a good distraction._

 _His distraction worked, in the sense that she twisted her sword, pulling back her shield and tried to make a slash at his exposed extremity, only to have him bearing down on her, with an unblocked sword now singing its way towards her scrunched snout. Before his blade could make contact, he felt a shift in his weight, and saw from the corner of his eye her shield just about to slam into his head from behind his left wing._


	26. To Forge Scorched Aliies

_I must apologize about the completely random uploading schedule lately, as there isn't really much of a schedule at all. I've been going through a pretty rough patch and I've really needed some time to recenter myself and figure out just what the actual fuck I'm supposed to even be doing with my life. For anyone who cares: it sucks._

 _For everyone else; I'm hoping to get at least this next arc done with before Friendship is Magic comes to a close, but I can't really guarantee that it will happen. I've had so many plans for this story, spanning quite a few more years in the story, and with the couple of sequels I did have planned, there would have been another couple of years worth of publishing. With Gen 4 coming to it's end, I'm not so sure I should continue much further with my ideas, as much as I'd like to. I guess I'll try to figure it out, but that's a problem for future me to deal with._

 _As this story stands, I got about halfway through it before I ran into a depressive roadblock, and as such, I hadn't touched the thing for a couple of weeks, and with my birthday coming up, I figured I should just bust ass and get this chapter done with. I've been trying to find a way to structure my chapters so they sound more "professional" and just have a better flow with the overall story, but this is the kind of skill that just takes time. Any and all feedback and criticism would be appreciated, but I'm starting to understanding how you guys work. I understand._

 _Hope you all enjoy the references and the dream song, which happens to be my favorite by that particular band. - Hinterland_

Chapter 26: To Forge Scorched Allies

Blaze had his flank thoroughly whipped overnight, but it was a very productive whipping, one that involved a great deal of venting and a respectable amount of trading blows for both parties. Even if Luna did continue to show her superior mastery of the blade. . .

He woke up with a bitterly sore back, and his limbs had the remnant stiffness from the day before, indicating that he hadn't stretched enough, or that was what Goldheart, Scale, and Luna would all tell him: not that he was prone to listening. He did his best to roll out of bed, but his body ached and forced him to lie there, halfway under the covers, groaning in pain. He contemplated just staying in bed, and for a few more minutes, that was exactly what he did.

However, he started to feel anxious just sitting around, and not even depression was going to stop him from needing to just _move_. So he threw the comforter off of him and pulled himself to the edge of his bed, doing his best to roll off of it and onto his hooves; only to find that he drastically miscalculated his rotational speed, and fell flat onto his side knocking the wind out of him.

As he gasped for breath, he deeply regretted even bothering trying to get up, feeling like today was just going to suck. Still, he'd already committed to this, and he wasn't going to give up just because he was living in misery: so he toughened up and pulled his hooves under him. Crawling up, he sighed and trotted around the bed, grumbling about his idiotic decision to get out of bed on the far side from his stuff. Once he had shuffled his way around the bed, and had walked up to the nightstand, he eyes the hidden blade resting on top, glinting in the mid-morning light streaming in through the window.

A part of him shriveled up at debasing himself to violence, but he understood that this was a part of his life now, whether he like it or now. Drawing himself up to his full height, he slid his hoof through the bracer, feeling the cold leather that was used to hold the mechanism to the inside of his forehoof. He tightened the bracer, flexing his hoof to ensure that the pulley still worked, resulting in a satisfying slinking noise and the blade cleanly sliding out.

Sure, things were looking down, but he took a moment to admire the skill and knowledge it took to get something like this to work. The entire device looked like it only housed the blade, and a small segment with some circular gears? Something round towards the back.

He pulled on the activating plate stuck to his hoof, watching as the blade retracted back inside the device's housing, thus concealing the blade from prying eyes. He looked around the room, trying to find his cloak so he could have that on before he strapped his sword around his back. When it was apparent that that particular article of clothing was not in the room, he groaned and face-hoofed, remembering that he'd dropped it on the ground in the bathroom.

He also remembered that Asta had totally soaked it when she did her stupid little dive, so he made a mental note to get her back for that. He left his sword on his bed, figuring it'd just be easier to come back and strap the scabbard to his back after he had retrieved the cloak, which he would now have to leave out to dry at some point. Leaving his room behind, he noted the silent state of the building, and while quietness was not uncommon, especially during busy mornings, silence was just impossible with the sheer number of ponies living inside. The halls were empty, and while some of the rooms were obviously vacant, others might have held sleeping ponies behind their shut doors, which only made the situation more curious.

He didn't mind it all that much right then, as he was more focused on retrieving his cloak in the bathroom, trotting through the back halls that were even less likely to be populated. The silence was starting to get eerie by the time he reached the bathroom door, as he hadn't heard a single thing coming from anypony inside. He had to shrug off the uncanny feelings settling in, and he pushed the door open, suddenly having to fight to keep his attention focused on the here and now. He could clearly see his shining white cloak, now sopping wet in the room, right where he had dropped it the night before, but his eyes were hardly focused on it.

Thinking that it would probably be best to just resolve his internal dilemma of what everypony was doing, he turned and left the room. He'd come back for the cloak at some point.

He trotted through the halls until he stumbled out into the main seating area, which was curiously empty, though now that he was close to the front of the building, he started hearing life again. The sounds of a large grouping of ponies just outside was bouncing in from the front door, and with the absence of any competing noises, he found that door to be as good an option as any.

The multitude of voices from outside became an alarming cacophonous mess as he nudged the door open, his progress halted by a few ponies standing just in front of the door, stopping him from exiting. What the onlookers didn't stop him from doing was gazing out over the massive circle of ponies, towards what had drawn what looked like the entire neighborhood to this segment of street.

A large pole was rammed into the cobblestone street, clearly forced into place via magic, the wood most likely coming from the trunk of one of the larger trees in a nearby park. That wasn't the important part; much to his horror as he looked at this disgusting display before him. Mist Artificer's lifeless corpse was strung up to the pole, her forehooves nailed to the trunk, suspending her just an inch or two above the ground. Her head may have been hung low, but he could still see the damage he had inflicted on her during his rage-fueled attack: even if the blood had dried and maggots had already begun to feast on the lifeless flesh. Hanging around her neck was a sign, with a message written in blood, reading: 'He arrives soon.'

Blaze felt his heart stop at the sight, his gaze fixated on the dreadful message painted in what he could only assume was the dried blood of the mare hanging before him. He finally snapped out of his stupor when a patrol of guards forced their way to the center of the circle, all of them stopping the moment they saw what was sitting in the streets. Two of the guards nearly vomited immediately, something he was considering doing as well.

Not too long after the head of the patrol, a gray unicorn he had seen on occasion, teleported a small, hastily scrambled note away, the patrol began to force the herd of ponies away from the mutilated corpse.

Feeling somewhat responsible for this, Blaze also made his way towards the center of the circle, though the various ponies stepped aside when they realized it was him. Once he got to the clearing in the middle, he turned to the captain, who had gone pale in the face, and gave him a short salute. "I know you've just gotten here, but have there been any other reports about anything like this happening?"

The captain, while trying to retain some self-control, was shaking in his boots and could only answer with a quick shake of his head. The answer, while expected, only made Blaze feel worse, and he tried to think of what he should tell the guard, as there probably wasn't anything that could be done about it. Before he could decide on a course of action, the murmuring of the crowd got louder, then an opening appeared on one side, with another contingent of guards forcing the civilians aside. Shortly after them came Princess Celestia, looking subtly confused at being called for a domestic problem. Blaze knew he was one of the few ponies able to recognize the hidden expression, as most other ponies would only see her stoic bravado that she wore to instill courage and hope in her little ponies.

He watched as she marched down through the aisle between the crowd, her gaze firmly locked on the body hanging beside him. As her guards broke through the inner circle, he stepped up to her, offering a respectful bow. "Princess Celestia."

"Good morning, Blaze Burn." Her voice was neutral, but he knew she was trying to keep herself in check, as it was clear that not even she would be completely unfazed by such a horrendous sight. She pushed towards the body once he had stepped out of the way, holding a hoof to her nose as she approached it, with the smell as repulsive as it was. "Officer Silverhoof, report."

The patrol captain saluted, stepping up to the Princess. "We just arrived on scene, receiving information from a distressed citizen about this. . . incident. The body, as you can clearly see, was nailed to the pole via several nails inserted into the forehooves, and we have reason to believe the message written on the sign was made with her own blood. We are unsure as to when she died, though the. . . uh, mutilated face might be the cause of death, but we did just arrive, Princess. I assure you we will have more information about this poor pony as soon as the investigation can begin, your majesty."

"Ah, I see." Celestia nodded, dismissing the guard as she pried her eyes off of the body, turning to face Blaze. "Is there anything you can tell me about this, considering this mare was mounted here outside your door?"

"Actually, I think I'll be able to answer just about everything you need to know." He admitted with a sigh, wincing as he quickly looked at the disfigured head, the result of his wrath. "Her name is Mist Artificer, and she was working closely with Al Capony and his cult: she was the mare who killed my mother. I chased after her when I discovered her lurking nearby my mother's house, only to have one of the assassins deal her a fatal blow.

"I'll preface this with a confession that I may have had something to do with her death." He raised a hoof to stop the Princess from interrupting him. "After we questioned her, I may have lost my temper, and I'll quickly apologize for that. But I have to say that she wasn't bound to live much longer than those last few minutes anyways: you're coroners will find a stab wound on her back, that was the death-blow.

"That fanatic was responsible for other atrocities, I know it; and pretty soon, I'm going to the Assassin Order to figure out just how we are supposed to go about ending this threat to the city. I'm fairly certain that the reason she was hung here in front of my house is because Al is trying to dissuade me from pursuing him further, though that message is worrying." He kicked at the ground, frowning as he fought the urge to hunt down the fanatical leader on the spot. "Princess, there is some critical information that I would like to share with you at some point, but I need to meet with Rainbow Crescent and her Order to get the full picture of what's going on: I only know so much."

"Blaze Burn. . . you do realize you are admitting to murder, right?" Celestia sighed, looking around for anypony within hearing distance, before leaning in and whispering into his ear: "We'll discuss this further, because I did hear about your mother and I wanted to talk with you about it today. Luna told me about what you told her, and I was hoping to be able to hear it directly from you."

"I suppose that'll be fine. I'm going to meet with Rainbow tomorrow to discuss my involvement with the Order, and while I was hoping to use today to relax, but I suppose it wouldn't do well to ignore something like this." He said, looking into her pink eyes in hopes of finding something of a warning for how she was going to react to his accounting of the night before. Instead of any warnings, he saw a great deal of sadness, with unshed tears from what he could only assume were the hardships that permeated this forsaken city. He stepped forward and offered her a quick hug, fully understanding that even as life tried to return to normal, things were never really going to be easy for the Princesses, especially with the corrupt nobility. "I'll let you take care of things here, while I get everything settled with the family, then I'll meet up with you at the castle.

"Actually, I had something else planned." She smiled, though the smile was obviously forced, and the shallow nature wasn't lost on him. "I'll come inside to grab you once I'm done out here; if you're willing."

"I mean; I didn't really have any serious plans for today, though I'm sure it won't take too long to explain to everypony what's going on." He hesitated as he saw a few ponies pushing their way through the crowd to get to the Princess; nobles that he vaguely recognized from his jobs with the creed. "I'll be waiting for you whenever you finish here."

Without waiting for her to respond, he opened his wings and took to the air, hovering above the pressing crowd and working his way back to the front door to his home, ignoring the frantic questions from the ponies below. He opened the door and then quickly slammed it behind him before a wave of ponies worked their way up to interrogate him about his conversation with Celestia. He wasn't in the mood for it, and his stomach was reminding him that he had worked hard yesterday and hadn't eaten in a while.

He would let everypony filter in as he got something to eat, which started the happen the moment he stepped away from the door, starting with several overly curious members of his happy little dysfunctional family. He ignored them as he entered the kitchen, figuring they were smart enough to know to wait until everypony had gathered.

Some weren't, so he told them to wait.

About ten minutes later, something he attributed to various ponies trying to get through the crowd, he had a majority of the household sitting around the fire pit. Many of them were anxiously shifting in their seats, obviously waiting to get their answers, so he decided that he might as well get this over with. He motioned for Scale to make her way to the front with him, which she did so urgently, understanding that it would go by easier if she were there to assist in answering questions.

He quietly helped her understand how much information the two of them were going to give, hoping to mitigate the amount of fear and anarchy any new revelations brought. Telling the group that these fanatics were trying to summon Discord very soon might cause a panic, so the two of them decided to just tell the group as little as possible.

They started with who the pony was and what she had done, as well as that she was involved with the fanatics. Questions rose about the cult as a whole, which were answered briefly and carefully. After Mist Artificer's affiliations were resolved, Blaze took the helm in informing the group how Al was trying to drag the city into total chaos, and how Mist was helping him, hence why she had to be stopped.

"I think we are all sure that it was those fanatics that brought her body here, in probably what is another attempt at sowing disharmony, so we need to stay strong. We need to let them know that no matter what they do, they will never let this city fall into anarchy, and that we will unite in bringing peace and harmony to the streets." He assured them, standing with firm resolve and displaying utter confidence in their decision to resist. "Whatever they hoped to accomplish by stringing their own out in the streets, we can't allow them to win; not when the Princesses are getting close to ending their plans once and for all."

"But if we want to see their chaotic ways ended, we all need to stand together and show them that we aren't going to allow them to do as they please. Order must be maintained, and the Princesses need our support if we want it to stay that way: Discord reigned using the power of fanatics like this, and it was only through the power of harmony and order that the Princesses defeated him. We can do the same, because these are just crazy ponies, ponies that normal folk like us can fight against." Scale said her voice beaming with confidence, and a resolute expression on her face that was working to instill loyalty and hope in the gathered ponies.

Celestia stepped in just after her speech, much to the surprise, and awe, of everypony gathered. She waited for their little meeting to come to a close before nodding to Blaze, indicating she was ready to go. He held a hoof up for her to wait then he dashed down the hall to his room, hearing the familiar hoofsteps of Asta as she trotted down with him.

The two entered his room, with him going straight for his sword, scooping the blade off the bed and its scabbard from beside the nightstand before Asta decided to get to her question. "So, is Princess Celestia here about the body outside?"

"Yes and no: she's here to talk to me about everything that happened last night, between Mist Artificer's death and what we learned about my mother." He answered as he hastily strapped the steel and leather case to his back, tightening the straps around his chest as comfortably as he could. "She wanted to talk with me about how I'm dealing with mom's death before the guards called her in, and once I gave her a short summary of Mist, she wanted to hear about that. I'm going to wait to tell her what I know until I get the whole story from Rainbow Crescent tomorrow."

"Ah, do you want company?" She asked sweetly, her grin widening when he returned a short smile to her.

"I'd love to bring you along." He chuckled as she pranced in place, an excited squeal coming out of her, and finally sheathed his sword, shifting in place to settle the extra weight. Once he felt ready for a walk, he lead her out and back to the front of the building, where the Princess was animatedly talking with the mass of ponies gathered around her. He smirked at the sight, because Celestia had always easily dealt with crowds, but seeing her just so comfortable was always a treat to see. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are, Princess."

"Then let us make haste; I have a surprise waiting for us." She smiled, stepping backwards as the crowds slowly parted, albeit with some hesitation, to allow Blaze and Asta through. The three managed to get out of the interior crowd without much more of an issue, but the massive number of ponies outside just waiting for an opportunity to see the Princess was a different matter entirely. Blaze was grateful that there were a few guards preventing the three of them from being trampled.

Once Celestia had informed her guards that they were to start moving, the crowd was forced to slowly back away as the four guards not removing the corpse and log from the street began to push forwards. Through Celestia's guidance, they all slowly moved out of the sea of ponies, and began to move unhindered through the streets. Though the streets were hardly populated, word of the Mist Artificer event was starting to spread through the neighborhood already, and the few ponies moving about were making their way towards the scene.

"So, Princess; where exactly are we going?" Asta asked once they had completely lost sight of the gathered ponies, with their little party slowing to a brisk walk.

"Well, originally, I was considering summoning Blaze to the castle so we could talk." Celestia answered, looking down on the brown mare with a pleasant smile. "I had heard from my sister that there had been an event, and I was worried for his well-being; but before I could even really get started on my day, I received a request from that patrol officer to assist. I've barely had time to ready the day court, but it was urgent, and now I've seen why he sent his request.

"But to answer your question, Asta: I was thinking of taking our lovely Blaze to one of my favorite tailors." She stole a quick glance at the named stallion, who had raised an eyebrow at her confession. "I realize that it is late, but I wanted to get you a gift for Hearth's Warming, Blaze Burn, but I also wanted you to have a chance to cool off from all the adventuring and excitement you've been up to lately."

"While I appreciate the idea, I really don't want to take up too much of your time, Princess." He said quickly, and though he wanted to leave it at that, he did kind of like the idea of venting a bit more: Luna could be, well, she had her own way of dealing with things. That, and Asta seemed to really enjoy the idea of him visiting a tailor, if her extremely happy smile was anything to go by. "Or. . . well, I guess I have been outgrowing my old clothes."

"Oh, come on, Blazy!' Asta chirped happily, stepping away from Celestia for a moment to give him her best puppy eyes. "I know you've been wanting a nice new cloak for a while now: you may not be growing as much as you used to, but that old cloak was simply too small for you! And this will be a nice chance for me to get a-eh, never mind."

From the twinkle in her eye, his curiosity spiked a bit at what she was hoping to get, but before he could press her for answers, Celestia added in an equally happy tone: "Excellent! I must admit that I've been looking for the right thing to get you for a gift, and it seems that I chose the right one!"

"Yeah." Blaze sighed, nudging his sister on the shoulder as they continued on their way, heading down out of the industrial district towards the more fancy parts of town.

Trotting through the streets, they caught many curious glances, though he knew that many of the ponies were staring at the Princess just brazenly walking through the streets. He spotted a few of the contact beggars the thieves used, and the moment he laid his eyes on them, they seemed to slip into the crowd, or dove behind corners and into the shadows. The feeling of having eyes specifically on him made him uneasy, but between the weight of the blade on his back, having the four guards in front of him, and a bucking Alicorn right next to him, the anxiety was kept to a minimum.

Only a complete fool would try to single-hoofedly take on the group of them.

"Blaze Burn?" Celestia's emotional voice snapped him out of his critical observations of their surroundings, getting him to look at her. He noted the worry in her eyes, and he immediately knew what she was about to bring up, so he tried to force himself tor relax a little as he picked up his pace to match her stride. "I'm willing to listen to whatever you want to say; no matter how bad or difficult you may think it is. If there is something that you feel the need to get off your chest, please know that I've got two ears ready to help you."

"Of course, Princess." He said, hoping that he managed to conceal any hint at the strain in his throat, having a brief spike of depression surging through his head. He waited until the emotion had passed before he opened his mouth again, though he considered himself fortunate enough that the moment faded well before anypony would notice. "I'm just trying to find ways to keep myself occupied, you know? What's done is done, and nothing will change the past.

"I know it sounds harsh, but I wasn't ever really close to mother, even before I took Star and left. I'll always love her and appreciate what she did to keep us all alive, but in the end; we just went our separate ways." He murmured, kicking at the ground mid-step. "Right now, I don't think it's something I'm really ready to deal with anyways; but I know that if I try to mitigate the damage, maybe it won't sting as badly when I decide to deal with it. We got along well enough that even now, it's bearing down on me to know, but I've spent more than enough time away that I've grown sort of desensitized to the loss. Now it's not much more than somepony I used to know who fell to an unfortunate fate. Can. . . can we talk about this later? I'm not liking the amount of eyes and ears on us right now."

"Blaze Burn, that's not healthy." Celestia said, stopping where they were and putting a hoof onto his shoulder. Her eyes sparkled violently at the shear weight of emotion threatening to form tears, and as he matched her gaze, he understood that the emotion in those pink orbs was genuine. She embraced him in a strong hug, forcing her snout into his mane as her forehooves pulled him ever tighter. "You shouldn't be ignoring these kinds of issues: it's extremely bad for your health."

"What would you have me do?" He asked sullenly, giving in for a moment and returning her hug, feeling the deep breadth of emotion that seemed to radiate from her: understanding and compassion at a near personal level of relation. "There are just so many things that need to be done that I don't have time to mope about and be depressed: I tried that for a bit. I need to be productive, and I can't have burdens like this weighing me down whenever something bad happens."

Celestia leaned back, staring at him with fearful eyes, pink eyes that held less empathy than before. She stared at him like he had just declared himself a member of the Chaos Fanatics.

"Blaze. . . what?" Asta asked incredulously, stepping into his sight, concern and worry emanating from her in waves. "What the buck are you talking about?! You know you don't have to overwork yourself: that your family is more than willing to give you time to process something like this!"

He flinched at her accusatory tone, though he recovered and pulled himself clear from the Princess' grasp and stood straight up. "What I meant to say is: "I tried to do the sullen processing thing. I've tried to sit around and ask myself why it had to be them. Why did it have to be Star? Why couldn't it have just been me instead? Where is the mercy? Compassion? Why is this world so cruel?

"In the end of that, I learned very quickly that the only way I was going to get the kinds of answers I wanted was by making them: that I had to be the change I wanted to see in the world." He explained, sitting on his haunches so he could look Asta in the eye. "I need to be busy, because I know that sitting around and talking about my issues aren't going to fix them. Asta, you've seen how hard I work; how I'm always busting my flank to get things done."

"Yeah. . . ?" She replied, a quizzical expression on her face.

"That's it: I need to get this done." He said with a nod. "I need to finish this issue with Al and his fanatics: it always comes back to him. For me, removing Al from the equation is the best way to avenge Star's loss, and it serves as my own way of coping with it. Doing these things, and taking my mind off the immediate pain, in hopes of achieving this retribution, is how I do what you all want me to. I choose to ignore these issues now, because I know that the solution is just out of my reach, and that I need to stretch even further to get to it."

"Alright, Blaze." Celestia said, though her tone was anything but resigned. "You may believe that this is working, but I speak from experience that delaying the inevitable isn't going to help, and it may end up making things worse. Why can't you just let us all help you?" 

"Did you not hear anything that I just said?" He asked, making the two mares blink in surprise. "I've already gone down that path: and it didn't solve anything. It didn't help, and it wasn't doing much of anything aside from wasting time. I am well aware that losing somepony eats at you; but that will happen regardless of what you do, so I might as well work on doing something productive."

"You mean like maintaining your emotional well being for the sake of everypony that cares about you and your feelings?" Asta spoke harshly, stomping on the ground in frustration. "You say that talking doesn't do anything, yet I've seen how much it helps you! I know that you need to talk about these things, because you've gone through so much effort to do so with me! Blaze Burn, you say that you don't want to talk about it, that it won't change anything, yet everypony at home has seen that it _does_ help you: even if it is in small amounts. You let this stress build up, and you don't have good ways of letting it out.

"I've seen how you try to vent: how you work day in and day out to train, sparring with Luna or going for intense flights all the time. You worked yourself to exhaustion, yet all you got for it was a sore body: because I could see that this sadness was eating away at you." She said, finally on the cusp of tears herself. "I know that you need this release."

"Asta. . . I'm sorry." He sighed, reaching out for her, wrapping his forehooves around her as she practically dove into his grip. "But there isn't really much of anything to tell: this time doesn't hurt as bad as when I lost Star because I wasn't really that close to my mom. It hurts, but it was a distanced loss, one that just doesn't change much of anything for me: we had just gone our separate ways."

"But she was still your mother." Celestia said quietly, earning a halfhearted nod from him.

"Yeah, and that's the only reason we're here in the first place. But I really didn't have much of a connection left with her; not that there was much of one to begin with. If you remember, I was basically left with Star most of the time, at least once he stopped nursing: as she still was the provider for our house. We barely spent any time together, aside from fleeting moments that were few and far between; so it never really allowed us to form the quality bond that a mother and son should have." He let Asta go, who was somewhat satisfied with the explanation that she had wormed out of him. "Actually that was the main reason behind. . . never mind."

"What?" Asta asked. He just shook his head.

"It's nothing to worry about. Just that I'm really protective of my remaining family because of it. . ." He left the sentence to hang in the air as he rose to his hooves, hoping neither would pursue it further for a few seconds. When silence followed his words, he nodded towards the street they were going down. "Should we continue? I"m not much liking the exposure we're bound to get, especially with those eyes and ears on us?"

"What did you mean by 'eyes and ears on us?'" Asta asked, sticking right next to him as the group got started moving again, giving him a wave of relief that the general mood already seemed to be improving. Perhaps his attempt at explaining why he felt so distanced from his mother's death was sufficient for their desires.

"The Creed utilized the number of beggars and homeless as scouts and eavesdroppers: it was one of their most effective ways of getting information. If they needed general knowledge from the street, they went to a beggar, because nopony pays them any attention." He explained, motioning for her to step closer as he dropped his voice. "And with Al leading the Creed and his fanatics' recent activities, I'm worried about what they are listening in on.

"I don't want to give him anything he can use against us." He continued to both Asta and Celestia, allowing the guards ahead of them to turn the corner, his ears swiveling as he listened for the signs of anypony else nearby. Nopony else was close, and the only sounds were those of the four guards stopping just in front of them, so he let Celestia continue to lead them to their destination.

Turning the corner, Blaze kept a wary eye out for anything out of the ordinary, and even though nothing seemed strange, his heart was still beating harder than it should have. His eyes focused on the wooden sign dangling above an unassuming brown door, a colorful spindle of yarn indicating that the shop dealt with fabric. Celestia smiled as she picked up her pace, happily leading them towards the small shop, much to the guards' displeasure.

"Luna and I used to shop here a lot, as the two ponies working here are truly experts of their craft." She explained excitedly after she stopped at the door, turning to face both him and Asta. "My most regal dress was stitched to perfection here, and so was Luna's; though she will never admit to having such a thing."

"She never struck me as the kind of mare to wear a dress." Asta mumbled, forcing down a devious grin while she rubbed her chin.

"Same here, Asta." Blaze chuckled, turning to Celestia, who was also sporting a playful smirk. "Though I am curious as to why you even have a dress if you never wear it; because I've literally never even seen this supposed dress."

"Oh? Is that a request for me to wear my finest attire for you?" She smirked, in an expression he suddenly found very worrying and made him try to back out of the conversation before it escalated out of control. Before he could work his way out of it, she reached for the door, pushing it open with the ringing of a bell. "I suppose I could try to find some time for me to show it off; it's not like I find myself in very many situations that require it. Hmm. . . perhaps over dinner?"

"I'll get back to you on it." He said, doing his best to ignore the utterly gleeful prancing his sister was doing at this turn of events. The guards around them were obviously hiding snickers, and he shot them a glare as he stepped towards the door, which Celestia had been holding open. "After you, _Princess_."

"Oh, such a gentlecolt." She chuckled, leaving the conversation be as she trotted inside, allowing Blaze to hold the door open for Asta as well, who was still struggling to fight down her maniacal chuckling at his dilemma. The guards had sobered their expressions, and stood watch outside the door, indicating he could enter.

"Princess!" He heard as he stepped within the brightly colored room, the first thing that he noticed were the racks and racks of clothing, colored with the rainbow apparently. He scanned the room, seeing various shelves of neatly folded cloths, mannequins sporting various dresses and suits, and a lavish amount of fabrics held aloft in huge rolls. Though small, he could clearly see that this was a business that took great pride in producing quality attire fit for, evidently, even a Princess. He trotted up to Celestia, seeing a pair of pearly white unicorns, a mare and stallion, bowing before her.

The mare, most likely the fashionista behind producing these exquisite articles, had her deep violet mane curled heavily, fashioned in a way to enhance her image of elegance. As she rose, her bright blue eyes drifted over to him, displaying a fierce passion and deep, almost knowingly playful expression, something he found extremely interesting. Her lips curled into a smile as her gaze shifted from him to Asta, before returning to Celestia. "I see we have been not only graced with the great Princess Celestia, but also two of her most gracious friends! Oh, what a day!"

"To what do we owe the pleasure, your highness?" The stallion asked, standing up proudly as he glanced at Blaze, silvery eyes shining with eager anticipation and an equally knowing look from his mare counterpart, though far less playful. The guy had his mane done in similar fashion to the mare, though his was split down the middle with a strip of gold. "We did not believe we would ever l have the luxury of tailoring our finest fabrics for one such as yourself ever again. Oh, we do hope you found the dress worthy! Was there anything undesirable about it that you wished for us to change, Princess?!"

"No, no." She chuckled, motioning for Blaze to step forward. "I've actually decided to visit on account of my knowledge of your supreme weaving skills, and I would greatly appreciate it if I could purchase your services in outfitting my dear friend in your finest fabrics."

"Ah, I see." The mare unicorn responded, casting her gaze over Blaze with incredible scrutiny, as if she were measuring him with just her sight. He noticed that her eyes stayed glued on his bracer, which housed his hidden blade, for an uncomfortable amount of time, that playful smirk only growing as she did so. "Hmm. What do you think, Insignia: a hooded cloak and robes might be difficult on account of his size, but they have proven to be quite. . . popular."

"If anypony could pull it off, dear sister, I do believe it would be us." The stallion, apparently Insignia, replied, his own gaze fixed sternly on Blaze.

"Oh, my apologies, Blaze." Celestia added hastily, bashfully smiling as she watched Insignia turn around and trot over to the massive spindles of fabric. "It appears that I forgot to introduce you to my favorite tailors. Blaze Burn, I am pleased to introduce you to Breaking Design, and her wonderful brother; Insignia."

Breaking Design bowed at him, her horn glowing blue as a strip of measuring rope appeared next to her. She put it to immediate use, taking various measurements of him, her eyes aglow as she began her work, work that she was clearly passionate about. Blaze sat patiently, switching his gaze between Asta and Celestia, and Insignia, who was pulling lengthy swathes of white and red cloth. Asta seemed equally curious in the two tailors working with him, her own eyes twitching between the mare measuring the length of his barrel, and the stallion who was returning.

Celestia had seemed content to sit on a provided cushion, enjoying the process of the two ponies working on beginning Blaze's new apparel. She chuckled to herself lightly, earning the attention of both pairs of siblings, though the distraction was hardly obstructing the twin unicorns' work. "You know, Blaze Burn; it's a good thing you're just about done growing, as it'll be less of a hassle getting you properly fitting clothing.

"Though I do find your size interesting." She added after a second, her expression turning thoughtful for a moment. "It has been some time since I last saw one of your ancestors with the inherent traits, I do think you might be on the smaller side of them. Then again, it could just be that my memory isn't as strong as it used to be."

"Pardon my thoughts, Princess, but you really mustn't be so hard on yourself." Breaking Design said, never taking her eyes off of the measurements. "Your memory is impeccable; I have no doubt that your observations are as true as your word. Though it matters not, for we shall accommodate Mister Burn here whenever he comes to us; any friend of the Princess is a valued friend of us."

"I'll thank you for the generosity, but I really don't want to use anypony like that." Blaze interjected, disliking the idea of needing to come back here slightly more than the offer for free tailoring needs. He might have to take them up on it, though, if it turned out that Asta wanted to get her hooves of a new dress.

"Oh, don't pay it any mind, darling!" Breaking Design chuckled, waving him off as she stepped back, using her magic to pull the white fabric up to her. "I insist that you are welcome here whenever you want, and that will also apply to you, Miss. . ."

"I'm Asta, Blaze's sister." Asta replied when she realized that the unicorn was talking to her. "And I thank you for the offer, and I'll be sure to bring him back whenever we need something: he just _loves_ getting all dressed up for us."

"Well, I do so adore those cute little faces my little sister makes whenever she sees some frilly dress she would want to wear. If I must play dress up to appease your silly tea parties, it is a sacrifice I am glad to make." He smirked at the flustered look on her face from the fake accusations, and he even earned a small amused chuckle from the tailors. "But if I am ever in need of other clothing, then I'm sure to come back here for your services: they must be the highest quality to earn the praise of Princess Celestia."

"Thank you for the kind words." Insignia commented, summoning a pair of scissors to cut the red fabric.

Blaze wondered why there was considerably less red than white, though he figured it had to do with whatever fancy color scheming these kinds of ponies liked. He just wore whatever was useful, as the Creed had emphasized utility over flashy displays whenever somepony was working in the city. It stuck with him.

Breaking Design began to mark out various outlines in the white fabric, basic forms that he recognized from the stitch lines on his old cloak. He watched in silence, standing before the unicorns as they did their magic stuff to cut out shapes in the fabric, standing in the middle of the room while various pieces of the cloth floated about him, some would press against him, as one of the two would adjust the cuts and began the arduous process of perfecting the design.

Asta and Celestia had fallen into idle conversation in the meantime, leaving Blaze to listen in whenever he felt like it, but the majority of the time he was preoccupied with one or both of the tailors. They asked him various questions about his personal life, from his training with Luna to his preferred mode of transportation.

Breaking Design had informed him that how a pony chose to go about their day to day life heavily impacted the overall design of the clothing. Armed with that knowledge, he told them of his preference to flying, though his house was so small he had to trot around. He was careful with the information he divulged, however, as their open curiosity with the bracer he wore was worrying for him.

The two tried various other parts of the white and red fabrics, until they seemed to have reached a satisfying point, and they allowed him to sit down while they stitched it together. He gratefully did so, as over an hour had passed as they labored, and he was ready to hear what Celestia thought of this whole ordeal.

"That looked fun." Asta commented as he sat down, the three of them watching as the two unicorns trotted to a room in the back. She briefly tugged at the hems of her skirt, and he could see the gears turning in her head at the option of returning to get a new outfit.

"We can come back sometime soon to replace those rags with a proper dress." He joked, poking her wing and getting her to jump a bit.

"They aren't rags, they're just a little old and worn." She replied, smoothing out the wrinkles she had made before looking over at Celestia, who was strangely quiet. Blaze did so as well, meeting her expectant gaze with idle curiosity.

"Princess. . . what about this store in particular made you such a loyal customer?" He asked, tugging at the straps keeping his sword belted to his back. "It's kind of hidden within the streets, and it never really struck me as the kind of place to have a mob of ponies trying to get business here. So why would a Princess bother trudging through the filthy streets to come to some tucked away little tailor when they are surely dozens of renowned merchants and tailors just itching for a chance to sell you their wares?"

"That's a fun story, actually." Celestia chuckled, flicking her gaze to the door the siblings were working behind for a second, then returning her attention to the two curious pegasi sitting beside her. "But I think it is one that is better told on another day, where there aren't such dreary matters to attend to. It also would be well for you to learn a few more things before we go into much detail about the details."

"That's a boring answer." Asta commented, though she just shrugged and let it be. While he wasn't happy with the answer, he knew that when she wanted to give him the information, she would.

"Well, can you at least tell me why you chose to take me to this specific tailor, instead of a hundred other ones that are much closer to either home or the castle?" He asked. "I don't see the point in going to one like this if any of the tailors were going to offer free services to the Princess."

"Like I said, it is a fun story that should be told at a more appropriate time." She replied, still smirking as she turned to him. "But I'll indulge this little piece of information, if only to wet your appetite: these two ponies are good friends on mine, and we have an outstanding history together. Soon, you'll also have history with them."

"By getting a new cloak?"

"You'll see." The chuckles she gave were anything from pleasant, but he knew that this was going nowhere, so he just gave up and brushed his wing against Asta's back. She instantly leaned into him, snuggling up close while they waited, though the position did nothing to stop her chatting with him, and she starting rambling nonsense until he had to pull her face out of his neck.

With the Princess watching over them, both Blaze and Asta decided to talk quietly for the time, though it was mostly just pointless words to pass the time. Ten minutes of idle talk later, something popped up in his mind, and he looked up to talk with Celestia, rolling his shoulders to get more comfortable. "Princess?"

"Yes, Blaze Burn?"

"Earlier you mentioned that I was small for a Gold Blood." He started slowly, trying to choose his words carefully to hide the disappointment at the revelation. "Just what did you mean by that? Like; am I shorter? Do I have a smaller wingspan? Were my predecessors-"

"Blaze Burn, you can calm down." Celestia interrupted, smirking at his subtle searching for assurance. She nudged him with her wing in a comforting manner, and after giggling at his scrunched nose, she settled back into her seat. "I just meant that it feels like you aren't quite as tall as the Gold Bloods I remember; so you don't have anything to worry about. Besides, it has been so long that I'm certain that I've just forgotten what it's like to have one by my side."

"And Blazy is still pretty young!" Asta chipped in, earning herself a happy smirk from the Princess.

"Yes, but by now I'm sure he's hit the limits of his growth: he has gotten to be about that age." She looked him over one last time before nodding to herself and turning her gaze patiently towards the back door. "I don't doubt you might still earn another couple of inches, but you're done growing enough that I felt comfortable taking you here."

"So you're personal stories with these two ponies were about how much I've grown?" He asked incredulously, though Asta seemed to take some sadistic amount of pleasure from the idea.

"Not entirely, no." Celestia's grin did nothing to appease his confidence. "But it might have come up whenever Breaking Design and I had small talk, just as it might not have. However, as much as I do so love to keep in contact with some dear friends of mine, and the wonderful conversations we always have to catch up, they had little to do with my decision of getting you fitted properly. No matter where we went, I wanted you to have fine attire so you could display your position when it came time to announce what you are to do."

"Remember, Celestia; the only reason I joined up with you in the first place was because my family asked me to." His tone took a bit of an edge as he looked over at Celestia, who had winced at the biting tone. "I'm here because they thought I should be. . . so I anxiously await to see how this relationship progresses further."

The Princess' face lit up at that, and she turned to smile gratefully down at him, just as the doors opened and the two siblings came back in. "So you two _are_ a pair!"

"That's not what I meant." Blaze scowled as he turned to face the beaming unicorn. His attention lingered on the mare for a second longer before he turned his gaze to the smirking stallion behind her, his horn lit up blue and a bright white box floating behind him. Blaze nodded at the box: "Have you finished it already?"

"Great minds think alike, and with two horns, a project can be finished at an astounding pace." Breaking Design said, smiling proudly as she stepped to the side and Insignia levitated the box in front of the two of them. The two did seem genuinely happy with the offered item, so Blaze reached forward and grabbed the box with both hooves. The moment it left the grasp of Insignia's magical grip, however, he was greeted with an unexpected amount of weight. He glanced up at the two, who had equal knowing smirks. "We hope it is to your liking, _Prince_."

" _Not what I meant._ " Blaze said through gritted teeth as he gently placed the rather large box on the ground before him. He felt Asta shift forward in their seat, and even with his gaze focused on pulling the lid off the box he could feel her eyes trained just as hard on it.

The lid came off easily enough, and he was greeted with an elaborate and elegantly designed white shirt highlighted extensively with the red fabric. He dropped the lid on the side and grabbed the shirt by the two silvery metal clasps holding a deep crimson cape to the back. As the shirt was lifted off, he saw a lengthy hood unfold on top of the cape, and he couldn't hold back his smirk. This interesting cloak was turning, quite rapidly, into an Assassin outfit fitted for him.

Sure enough, he pulled the cloak up even more, revealing that it wasn't just a shirt and cape, but an entire cloak, vest and leggings. As he held it up, he admired the fine stitching, the intricate designs produced by the flawless seams between the white fabric and the red highlights, as well as the practical-looking line of buttons running down the vest section. A red leather belt separated the vest from the leggings, and the glint of a silvery steel emblem adorning the front of the belt. He looked up at Breaking Design, who had a massive grin on her face, before slyly motioning her head over to the open door behind them.

He spared a fleeting glance back, noticing a large banner that had the same symbol hanging from a wall, a small breeze flowing through the building tearing it from the wall's surface just enough to be visible. Turning back to the mare, his confusion was still showing clearly on his face, which got her to roll her eyes.

"You'll understand what it is soon enough." Insignia answered the unasked question.

Returning his attention to the outfit, he admired the fine craftsmanship of the material for another few moments before he turned his gaze further along. While the symbol had caught his curiosity, he found the lengths of fabric running down behind the leggings to be slightly more interesting. They were separate from the cape, but as he eyed them over a bit more, he discovered that they were attached to the shirt and formed an entire coat. He ran his eyes over the entire thing again, curiously looking at how the coat additions acted as the location for the belt loops, and that they served as a sort of. . . the best way he could identify them was as a division of the two halves of his body underneath the cape. Deciding that his eyes had had their fill, he stood from his seat and dropped the outfit back in the box. "I'll try this on to see how it fits."

He was led to a dressing room near the back by Insignia, and was left to dress himself while the others waited. He looked around the small room, greeted by an abundance of mirrors, and a small bench against the left wall.

Placing the outfit on the bench, he took a moment to admire the design, but he was curious how it would fit, so he made short work of unbuttoning the shirt. It came undone with ease and the belt proved equally easy to loosen, ensuring him that this was both a beautiful work of passion from the two tailors and a practical outfit. The cape seemed a bit overdone, but as he slid into the shirt and leggings, it seemed to magically stay out of the way, so he couldn't complain there. He found a large interest in how the two had managed to make the left sleeve work with his hidden blade, as he had tried hiding the thin bracer underneath of it as well as above it. Either had worked surprisingly well, so he planned on getting clarification on where they intended him to have it; they were obviously well aware that he was going to wear it.

The shirt fit him well, and the leggings were exceptionally comfortable, which had been something he wasn't entirely expecting, with how tight they had looked. It was a pleasant surprise for him, then, to have enough space that he could stretch around and not have anything feel like it was restricting his range of motion. He found it pretty interesting how the additions for his coat acted like a blanket over his fur, as well as how it kept his tail pulled down, preventing the cape from getting tangled in it. It was useful in covering his flank up, as if the cape didn't already do that itself; though he never really complained about walking around in the nude.

He actually preferred seeing ponies without clothes: it made staring at flanks so much easier.

Either way, he did like how it felt like he was actually sitting within a single cloak, and the leggings and button of the vest would keep the coat portion from flying around wildly. He knew that flying through the air, with the cape flapping in the wind, and this coat giving him a very streamlined appearance would be pretty cool to look at. So, in the end he supposed that while the look wasn't particularly something he had been accustomed to, it would give him an air of. . . he decided on an air of assurance. The look he had in the mirror was one of a stallion who knew where he was bound for in life. He looked like a badass: a pretty sexy badass.

He flared his wings as best he could, with just enough room for them to fully extend, and he had to smile as the cape folded up against his back. Feeling like the cape could work at covering his wings, he glanced at his sword resting on the bench, and he grabbed it. He was unsure how it would feel on his back with all of this, but he decided to just give it a try anyways, so he folded his wings and let the cape fall over them once more.

The leather fittings had no trouble in reaching all the way around his chest, even with the extra cloth, and he nodded to himself as the sword finally rested atop his back. He did another flare of his wings, and though the cape bundled up around the scabbard, it wasn't uncomfortable to wear.

Just as he was about ready to leave, he gave the empty box a last glance, only to find that it wasn't actually empty. Inside were three brown boots, presumably meant for each of his hooves unoccupied by a metallic weapon device. He chuckled and slipped them on, surprised by the perfect fit, though he shouldn't have been; based on how perfect everything else was.

Satisfied with the result of their work, he opened the door to the dressing room and stepped out, becoming ever more satisfied with how the sleeves and leggings flowed with his steps. As anxious as he was to get into the skies and see how it handled his flying, he was more excited to see what Asta thought of it. He watched in open joy at their expressions as he walked up to them, posing just a bit so they could get the full view of the outfit. Walking forward, the clothes felt how he figured they would, considering they had been tailored for him, but it was the slight strutting that gave him an idea of how the others might appreciate his new look the best.

His happiness with the resulting clothes was reciprocated with both mares sitting on the waiting bench, as Asta happily perked up. Celestia smiled approvingly, allowing the younger pegasus to approach him, both their eyes fixated on the outfit, admiring various aspects of it individually. Asta poked and prodded as she circled him, pulling on the cape. "I guess they just knew you'd love the cape; it seems to suit you."

"Thanks, Asta." He smirked. "And I can tell that you're totally jealous of it."

"Am not!" She shot back with a defensively playful smirk of her own. "I'd prefer to have a skirt over a cape; they fit my form better than a cape ever could."

"And while you two were debating the loveliness of that cape, " Celestia said, getting the two siblings to turn to her. "I do want to see how that hood looks on you; it was my experience that they were a bit difficult to pull off on you ancestors."

He obliged her request, reaching up and pulling the length of fabric up his neck and over his unruly mane, feeling the weight of the hood slide above his ears. Once the hood had been pulled to its maximum length, he let it go and rolled his head, letting it slide around a bit until it was most comfortable. He was happy that it didn't obstruct his vision too badly, but there was still a noticeable tip of fabric at the top of his vision.

"Hmm, my reverence of your craft has only improved, Breaking Design and Insignia: those hoods are tricky to make work with normal-sized ponies, let alone one as large as him." Celestia said as she stood from her seat, her tone confirming that she was truly impressed with the effort of the twin unicorns. "Blaze Burn, thou truly art filling the role that hath been missing from our side for so long; thine role and future as one of the few Gold Bloods who hath served under us and our sister."

Both Blaze and Asta frowned in confusion at the Princess' sudden shift into her royal dialect, glancing at each other in hopes of an answer.

"We would ask thee to accept our greatest appreciation for what thou hath already done in the name of servitude." Celestia continued, wrapping her forehooves around him before he had a chance to step back.

He flinched at her touch, expecting her to try to her luck at his affection again, and he had even raised a hoof to push her off of him when she tried. He never got to, however, as her head took a path around his and she pulled him for an honest hug, one that he eventually returned. There was a moment of silence while the two largest figures in the room embraced each other, before Celestia finally released him, taking two steps back.

"I-I must be on my way." She said hastily, a film of tears in her eyes that caught the entire group by surprise, but before any of them could stop her, she was out the door, departing in a flurry of white feathers and a blue, green, and pink trail.

". . . Okay. . ." Blaze blinked for a couple of seconds before turning to the unicorns, offering them a short bow. "Thank you for this astounding work; it's far more than I ever really thought I'd get, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Your work is above many of the competition I've seen around the city, and I'd be more than happy to come back should anypony I know-"

He looked at Asta as he finished his sentence: "-want a new dress or outfit."

"We are exhilarated that you found our work to your liking, Blaze Burn." Insignia returned the bow. "And we are always grateful when happy customers return, so don't forget we will welcome you and anypony else you bring as not only friends of Princess, but as friends of us, too."

"Now, before we head out, there was something that I wanted to ask you, about the sleeves on this." Blaze stated, raising his left forehoof to show them what he was talking about. "You are obviously aware of what this bracer is for, judging by your reactions, so I was hoping you could tell me what you were planning on me doing with it. It feels fine to wear the sleeve over it, but it also isn't uncomfortable to stuff the sleeve underneath of it. Which one is the correct way to have it?"

"It doesn't really matter." Insignia said with a chuckle. "The design allows you to do whichever is more comfortable for you, though I suppose you might want to just get comfortable wearing the 'bracer' with the sleeve tucked inside."

"Hmm. . . okay. Thanks for letting me know." Blaze said as he dropped his hoof back to the ground, conscious of Breaking Design's eyes searching him over. He nodded to Insignia, then shuffled his wings to resettle the cape on his back, trying to re-familiarize himself with the weight of one on his back.

The two pairs of siblings exchanged their farewells before Blaze and Asta trotted out of the small building, getting hit with a wave of refreshingly cool air as they stepped outside. He let out a deep breath, one that he hadn't known he was holding in, and draped a wing over his sister, relaxing into her as they left the tailor behind. "That certainly was an adventure, wouldn't you say?"

"It was a nice little trip, and I'm happy that you like your new gift: it was great that Princess Celestia finally got around to it. I figured she would be eager to get you something new, and it's a relief to hear that you're done growing: it was such a pain trying to get a new cloak for you all the time!" Asta laughed as they slowly walked down the street. "Now I've got to wait to stop growing before I can get a dress that looks as amazing on me that this outfit looks on you."

"I'm fairly sure you're just saying that because you want me to think higher of you." Blaze said, looking down to her with a small smile crossing his muzzle. "But I happen to agree that this outfit does look rather nice, and I do think we need to get you a new dress."

"Your words wound me." Asta rolled her eyes and leaned up against him in a dramatic fashion. "But now that I have you all to myself, there is something that I was hoping to hear; something that I know you have some thoughts on."

"Oh?"

"Blaze. . ." Asta leaned away from him, her gaze dropping to the street beneath them as she chose which words she wanted to use. "No. . . no, I'm just so glad to have you happy again. We should head back home and get some rest, it's been a busy couple of days, and I'm sure you would like a chance to sit down and relax by the fire. Besides, It's a bit cold out, and I'd love to sit next to that fire."

"Asta. . . is there something you wanted to know?" He asked, concern tainting his voice as he pulled her gaze up to meet his, showing a shadow of regret in her gaze. "What's going on?"

"Please." She sighed, peeling hers gaze away and trotting ahead of him, leaving his side and letting his wing drop down, cold air ripping into his side. She stayed ahead of him for about a block before he managed to catch up with her, though she remained silent for the rest of the trip home, stoically refusing to answer his persistent questions.

They entered the building just as the snow began to renew its assault on the ground, shutting the door behind them before any real wind could break into the building. Several eyes shifted over to the two, before they found themselves admiring his new clothing.

He paid them little mind as he wrapped his forehoof around his sister and pull her close to him. Asta whimpered as she was forced to turn around, though she kept her gaze locked on the floor, the very act making him suddenly feel his own wave of regret, and he let her step back. "Asta, whenever you're ready to talk about it, you know I'll be there to listen to you. If you're still up for it, I think I can spot a couple open areas next to the fire?"

He nodded towards said spaces, which were left conveniently open, and Asta wasted no time in nodding her agreement and leading him over to it. Her silence was bothering him, but he decided that it would just be best for them both to let it go for now: he understood why she might not want to talk about whatever was on her mind. Even if he hated not being able to help her with them.

Sitting down by the fire, he opened his wing for her to lean against him, something that even in her troubled state she wouldn't want to reject. Within moments of getting comfortable, he was bombarded by ponies curious about his new look.

Asta had shut her eyes and had looked to be fine with the attention, so he was more than happy to talk to the others about the events of the last couple of hours. He happily showed off his new outfit, much to the excitement of the foals, some of whom had immediately taken to messing around with his cape and the extra length of the coat that had become a refuge for his hindquarters. He chuckled a bit as they explored the new fabric, figuring that their own curiosity would get annoying after awhile, but for now was only more endearing for him.

It took some time, but eventually, everypony had gotten used to his attire, and they had left him and Asta to do what they always enjoyed: relaxing by the fire. As soon as the two had blissful silence to themselves, she seemed to relax even more, sinking further against his side

and sighing while she did so.

Blaze felt his mind settle a bit, because this was one of those simple things in life that he had grown quite fond of, and a wave of pure happiness radiated from the center of his being at the peace. He wasn't sure how long the happiness remained, or how long the two of them had sat next to the crackling fire in silence, but unease slowly began to creep into his mind.

It started as just a hint of darkness in the back of his mind, something that he wasn't unused to, barely noticeable if he were to focus on it. However, the darkness shifted and began to grow as he lay there; manifesting in the center of his attention and forcing the bliss and peace from his settled state.

He felt his muscles tense at the dense block of unease growing in his thoughts, and a frown began to form on his face over it. This was a feeling that he had felt before, often enough when things weren't looking so good. . . still, the familiarity wasn't the aspect that had him worried. There was a tinge of fear and regret, a musk of darkness that he instantly recognized that related to his mindset shortly after discovering that Star had vanished on him. This wave of darkness was something more powerful than just the melancholy of losing his brother; it was the unholy mixture of Star going missing, and then his own mother being murdered.

He knew that something like this was bound to happen; that he could only hold back the gates for so long, but he had hoped to last a bit longer than this. The weight of his pain surged forward and snuffed any remaining happiness, his mind recoiling and twisting under the anguish of his regret. Everything that had happened was his fault.

He had ruined his mother by leaving with Star.

He had abandoned Star to pursue wealth with the Creed.

His mother was consumed by darkness because he had decided she was unworthy of his presence, and it was because he chose so that she was killed; that she had taken it upon herself to hunt down those fanatics. In his own selfish desire to be free, he had sealed her fate, and had brought about her doom: simply because he couldn't believe she was capable of caring for him or Star. Her death was on his hooves.

And Star. . . his own little brother. . .

He might as well of stolen Star; he had decided that forsaking his duties as a brother in order to do what? Gain more money?

His thoughts were rampant with self-loathing, and his mind shrunk inwards as he hurled accusation after accusation at himself for all of his shortcomings, blaming every mistake on his own failures. He opened his eyes and glared at his hooves, knowing all the blood that had been spilled over all of this was on them. Those white hooves didn't deserve to look so pure.

"Blaze?" Asta nudged his side. He turned to her, his gaze softening when he saw the worry shining clear in her sparkling emerald eyes, and all the turbulent emotions in his head ceased. He leaned down and nuzzled her, his head clearing through enough for him to see the here and now, and it became clear to him that she was able to both feel his tension and feel it herself.

"Everything's fine, little one." He murmured into her mane, using his wing to pull her tightly against his side. All the tension he had gained from his lapse into the darkness vanished as he held onto her, feeling the relief and joy of having somepony next to him that actually cared, somepony that he cared for. "I've made a lot of mistakes, but taking you in was not one of them. I love you so much, sister."

Asta returned the affectionate display in kind, a single tear dripping down her cheek from the intense emotion that she had picked up on passing through him.

Not wanting to burden her further with this regret that had eaten away at himself, he silently held onto her, fearing that she would disappear, just like Star had. It felt like she was all too happy to comply with his wishes, because she didn't try to get him to talk to her about the sudden emotional outburst. It was something that he was thankful for, if only because it meant that they could enjoy a pure moment of care and compassion for each other.

They sat comfortably for a while, nopony deigning to bother them for the relaxed looks they had. It took until dinner had been announced that the two of them had decided to move. Though the moment he had tried to stand up, he was met with his body's fierce resistance, protests coming in the form of muscles demanding to remain in their original positions.

Groaning as he stood, he looked around the room, nodding to some of the other ponies and offering Asta a hoof up. Once he had gotten her up, he had to wipe the weariness from his eyes, then he turned and led them towards the kitchen, where the other ponies had begun to gather for their meals.

He got quite a few more questions from various ponies about his new attire, many of whom he knew had been gone throughout the day. He was more than willing to show off for them, doing the occasional twirl and twist so they could see all the details that had been put into it. The general opinion seemed to be positive for the new robes, though he got a bunch of different opinions on which article they each liked best. Some said the cloak was extravagant, while others countered saying that the vest was the finest aspect, and still others claimed that it was the detail within the stitching specifically that held the most beauty.

As much as he enjoyed listening to each of the arguments, he personally didn't find any one side more interesting: the entire thing was a bucking work of art as far as he was concerned. He thought that the cape was a nice touch, though he still needed to see how it felt during a proper flight. He did feel like the coat would be interesting to fly with, though he was certain it would only make him fit more into this role that Celestia had been pushing for him to take.

He wasn't sure how to feel about that, though.

He snapped back to attention when he stepped up to the counter, where he was offered a generous portion of carrot soup, along with half a loaf of bread. He smiled and nodded his thanks, stepping to the side and waiting for Asta to get her own serving, which was considerably smaller than his own. He chuckled to himself, knowing that everypony still seemed to treat him like a foal sometimes: he didn't need this much food. . .

He thought about the beatings he'd been enduring with Luna, then decided to retract his previous thoughts, grateful for the extra food. The Princess of the Night always did get him to bust his flank whenever they sparred.

He sat down at a table, not really wanting to eat next to the fire, especially with his clothes being so fresh. Asta remained faithfully by his side, smiling happily when he turned to see if she would be dining next to him, though the other ponies had also begun to gather into their various favored eating places. "Bet ya I can eat my food faster than you."

"Normally, you know I'd be more than happy to prove you wrong, but if I really am done growing, then it might be best that I try to preserve these clothes for as long as possible." He chuckled, giving her a light shove with his wings while he picked up his slice of bread and began to dig in. He tore a chunk free and looked towards her, meeting her disappointed gaze. "Down look so down: we're home, we're safe, and we've got a lot of food to go around. There were times when none of this was available for any of us; so enjoy it while we can."

"That's funny, coming from the stallion who tends to get his head stuck in sadness and despair." She shook her head, before finally picking up her loaf of bread and sticking it directly in the soup. Her word stung a bit, but he didn't have a chance to think about it before he was taken aback by her brave decision to combine her food like that.

"Uh, Asta?" He said after looking down at his own bread and untouched soup. "Did you seriously just dip your bread in your soup?"

"It's actually really good!" She answered almost immediately. "You do realize that I've also seen what it was like to have little food, right? I learned some of the fastest ways to eat, and because bread was so dry, combining it with something like soup always made it go down so much quicker!"

He blinked at her response, then carefully tore a chunk of his bread from the half-loaf, then tentatively dipped it into the soup a little. He pulled the bread chunk out and sniffed at it, then cautiously popped it into his mouth and chewed, swishing it around to get the taste. He shrugged when it turned out to not be half-bad, and proceeded to dip another bite of bread into the soup, following Asta's suggestions to save some for afterwords.

The soup itself wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible, so he managed to finish it with relative haste, which wasn't slow by any measurement. And after wiping the bowl clean with the remnants of his bread, the two of them rose from the table, trotting in content silence back to the kitchen, where one of the foals on dish-duty sullenly took the bowls from them.

The face of the foal made him wince in empathy, as he understood what it was like to be assigned a duty he didn't like. Still, chores were chores, and chores were good for foals, so he didn't dwell as he turned to lead Asta out. "I'm going to head to the castle in a few minutes to train with Luna, you want to come?"

"Do you even need to ask?" She countered, an excited smile appearing on her face.

"Probably not, but it's always nice to ask. Never know whether somepony has anything planned or not." He shrugged as he started heading down the halls to his room, Asta stayed right at his side the entire time. Once he got into his room, he wasted no time in disrobing until all he had on was his sword scabbard slung across his back and the hidden blade strapped to his left forehoof, much to Asta's protest. "Asta, I'm going to get my flank whipped by Luna; meaning I'm going to be sweating and dirty afterwords. I don't want these brand new clothes to get dirty so fast, so I'm just not going to where them."

"Yeah, but-but they're brand new!" Asta exclaimed.

"And did I not literally just explain that that is the main reason why I'm not going to wear them?" He laughed, rolling his shoulders and glancing at the objects of their brief argument. Upon being reassured that they had remained on his bed, he spun around and started trotting into the hallway. "Come on; best to not keep Luna waiting."

Asta nodded and followed along, they made short work of trotting out the building and down the street. Most of the drama from earlier had faded, and with the body of Mist Artificer being taken down and moved to the castle morgue, few ponies seemed to stick around. The emptiness of the streets was something that the two of them were grateful for, as Blaze wasn't in any particular mood to deal with random ponies looking into what happened. He wanted to head out and get this thrashing over with, then have a nice night of relative relaxation.

The snowdrift that had piled on the sides of the streets had begun to encroach further towards them as they made their way through town. He looked up through the falling snow to the dark gray clouds, wondering why the weather patrols needed to lay down so much snow.

They arrived at the castle in short time, their recurring arrivals lending them familiarity with the guards, and were permitted entrance without pause. As they entered the castle proper, they were even greeted with two maids, one for each of them; apparently somepony important had suspected Asta would arrive, as she was whisked away towards Celestia's personal quarters.

Blaze was hesitant to allow his sister to leave, but he did like the idea that she wouldn't be in a position to spar with Luna. It gave him more time to focus on protecting his hide from the Princess of the Night's vicious tactics, and maybe improve his own swordsponyship at the same time. He followed the mare idly, his thoughts turned inward as they walked towards the armory, until the sound of her voice brought his attention to her.

"Forgive me, Master Burn; but is it true that you are associated with those assassins that were responsible for killing one of those crazy fanatics?" Her frail voice came out at a barely audible whisper.

"Hmm?" He shook his head and looked at her, her cyan eyes shining with fear and. . . did he see a bit of hope in them? "It's complicated."

"Oh, okay." Her head ducked low and she trotted forward a bit, motioning to the armory door coming into sight. He nodded a silent thanks and stepped forward, just as he passed through the frame, he heard, in a very hushed tone: "Please stop those crazy ponies."

He would have asked her to elaborate, but she was gone in a flash the moment he was on the other side of the door. All he could do was shrug and turn around to see Luna standing next to a rack of maces and morningstars, one floating just in front of her, as if she were inspecting the weapon's condition. He bowed as he stopped behind her; "Princess."

"Good evening, Blaze Burn." She said without looking at him, her eyes locked on the slowly turning weapon, the gleam of torchlight making every dent and ding painfully obvious. "Today, we shalt train thee on the tactics of counter-striking and how to respond when an opponent does the same with a blunt weapon."

He winced; this was going to be a long night.

He wasn't entirely sure what Asta had done when she was with Celestia, but whatever it was; she had come back to him smiling like mad. She had arrived during the final portion of his session with Luna, when the sparring had devolved into a flank-whipping flurry of motions. They had been sparring in a large area of the indoor halls, per Luna's request, and the rugs had been pulled away to reveal a beautiful marble floor. A marble floor slick with the sweat of their labor. He was covered in welts and bruises, and he knew the next day was going to be torture, but the arrival of his sister had eased the Princess enough that he was given reprieve. She called for a cease, and he was more than happy to oblige, eagerly placing his sword on the ground while he spread his legs in the most stable stance he could manage; his breath coming in ragged gasps. Luna stood as regal as ever, her coat only shining a bit from the effort of physically swinging a mace, but she carried herself with such ease that he was certain she had barely worked up a sweat.

"Thou hath achieved much this evening, and we shalt continue this lesson tonight." She declared, spinning on her hooves and steadily walking back to the armory, her magic pulling the rugs back to the center of the hallway.

Her declaration made Blaze groan a little, though Asta seemed to take pleasure in his suffering, because she giggled and trotted up to him, taking the handle on his blade in her mouth and offering it up to him, a stupid smile on her muzzle. He glared at her for a second, but relaxed as he took the offered blade, thanking her and sheathing the weapon, his hooves still a bit shaky from his intense bout. Without waiting for the Princess, he turned and led his sister down the halls, taking it slow so his breath could catch up to him.

"Looks like you've made some progress: I think I remember a time when Princess Luna could have kicked your flank without even trying." She commented as they picked up the pace.

"Then I don't think you were paying much attention to her when you got there: she was hardly putting in any effort." He sighed, pushing the large double doors open, relishing the blast of cold air that crashed over them. The relief his body felt at the change in temperature incited an involuntary moan to escape his lips, which only got Asta to giggle at his expense even more.

"She whip you that badly, huh?"

"Look at me; I'm more blue than she is!" He said, motioning for her to admire the many bruises he had accrued. "And if the suffering I took during our dreams had translated into real damage in real life; tonight would only make this worse!"

"Oh, come on." Asta sighed, pressing herself up against him and getting him to raise his wing and drape it over her, earning him her sigh of contentment. "I've heard from both you and her that she prefers to go over form with you in your dreams; it can't be that bad."

"Sometimes she likes to test my skill." He grumbled. "When I get home; I'm stretching, taking a bath, then going to sleep."

Staying true to his words, he did exactly that: they trekked home down the well-lit streets, as the sun was on the cusp of slipping past the western horizon, and stars were already beginning to shine brilliantly. The pair came home to a cozy group drifting to sleep next to the crackling fire, and he made a beeline for his room, where the sword belt and sheath was dropped on his nightstand, and a very painful stretching session alleviated him of a lot of his tension. One long, cool bath later, and he shuffled to his room, the silence of the building welcoming on his tired ears: most everypony had gone to sleep with the aging night. He crawled over to his bed, and lacking the energy to do much else, pulled his clothes onto the floor. He didn't even bother to get under the covers before he was out.

 _Blaze trotted through the darkened hallways, his gut wrenching as the walls shifted and shimmered, as if they weren't entirely there. Physical, but not._

 _The moon was out, shining between the rows of the walls, as the ceiling had ceased to exist, and though the light from Luna's great orb lit the path clearly, when he looked up, the sky was starless. Something was wrong, but he couldn't place it: wherever he was, this was not the same Equestria that he knew._

 _The halls stretched endless onward, with innumerable branching paths, as if he were caught in some kind of nightmarish maze. He shifted his weight as he pressed forward, feeling the weight on his trusted sword pressing on his back, and the uneasy weight of eyes watching him from every direction._

 _He saw none, of course, but the feeling that he was under surveillance was too strong to ignore. He kept his ears swiveling, his attention alert for any dangers, for anything really: he could feel the presence of other beings, things that existed here, but they refused to make themselves obvious._

 _He didn't know how long he had been following this one hall, it had stretched on in both directions forever, but something told him that if he just kept on going, he'd find the thing he was looking for soon enough._

 _What was he looking for? He didn't know; something at the end of the hallway, for sure, but he didn't know anything else. Was it a pony? An item? Some abomination to kill? He shook his head, whatever it was, he needed to find it soon._

 _Picking up his pace, he broke into a full trot, his ears straining to detect anything that could break the monotony of his hoofsteps on the insubstantial ground. He thought he could hear the whispers of the walls, their misery was nearly palpable, but he had quickly dismissed that possibility ages ago: these walls may have suffered, but they were not alive. Still, the wind here was silent, and whenever it blew, he got the feeling that it was also searching for something, and every time it blew passed, he thought he could feel it's sorrow._

 _Yes, something was definitely wrong here._

 _Finally, he heard something; like the gentle rustle of fabric against a stone wall, or perhaps a leaf falling through the air? Whatever it was, it had come from straight ahead, and his ears had trained down hard on it, his full attention snapping towards the impenetrable darkness in front on him._

 _He pushed forwards, though he slowed his trot down to barely above a walk, and he kept his foreleg ready to whip out his sword if he needed to._

 _The air felt different here, as in; he could actually feel it. He hadn't noticed it before, as the walls seemed to suffocate everything around, but now: he thought he could feel some kind of flowing air, like a very gentle breeze that didn't scream with silent suffering. He had to pause, his hoof slowly unsheathing his blade before he dared to venture further into the darkness. There was something ahead, and whatever it was; he wanted to be absolutely prepared to deal with it._

 _His first few tentative steps forward yielded no results, no changes, so he continued pushing forward, until his hard stare into the depths of black revealed the first speck of light. It confused him at first, because he hadn't expected to see any shred of white in this desolate place: even the bright moon had been a dusky shade of gray. His alerts heightened to degrees he was certain nopony had ever experienced, he cautiously stepped further towards it. . . nothing happened._

 _Another gentle gust of wind fluttered by, singing a mute song of despair, and longing._

 _His mane shifted ever so slightly with it; the first time it had ever done so, and a shiver went down his spine, racking his entire body with unease. That wind. . . it wasn't a part of any of this; it belonged to something- no some_ pony _else. He wasn't alone, and while he was always sure of that: this breeze carried with it the intentions of that pony. He was being watched._

 _He spun around, raising his sword to swing down on whatever was behind him, only to be greeted with that same lifeless void between two wisps of walls. There wasn't a soul in sight. He grunted to himself, his heart racing and blood pumping so hard in his ears that the wind was no longer affecting him, then turned and continued pushing towards that beacon. Perhaps the pony he needed to find was there. Perhaps they_ were _the light; that would be interesting._

 _He kept his eyes focused on the ever-growing light, he now had his ears swiveling again, alert to anything and everything._

 _The light grew bigger and bigger, until it looked to be larger than even he was, and it's shape had finally begun to take form: a large rectangle, exactly the shape of the hallway. So it was a doorway? A passage?_

 _He approached it, his stomach reeling at the idea of being anywhere near it, yet his hooves refused to obey his desire to turn and flee. He was rooted in place, staring at the wall of light, his pupils shrinking at the light, which blinded him after so many years in the darkness. His heart skipped a beat, and then, without his knowing, his hoof slowly reached back and slid his sword back into its scabbard, leaving him defenseless and paralyzed._

 _His heart rose to his throat as he watched the surface of this wall of light flicker and warp, tendrils of smoky light began to peel from the surface. He pulled and ripped at his invisible chains to no avail, whatever held him in place had a grip of Undercity steel, and he wasn't getting free._

 _A single tendril slipped forward, twisting in the air like a spring, spiraling around as if it were a snake looking around the world._

 _The tendril then focused solely on him, pointing in his direction for a second before springing forward. He tried to yelp as it slammed into him, but he never even felt it connect, and as his eyes were slammed shut, he never saw what happened. As he cracked his lids open, the wall before him was gone, and he was now standing in some large, rectangular chamber. The moon glistened overhead, in the typical lidless halls of this garish realm, but the walls here were dead, solid and not whispering in silent misery. Here, he could see several breaks in the walls, and pools of light bathed regions of the chamber in a sickly blue aura._

 _He trotted over to the window, as nothing else could be determined from his surroundings, only to meet a wall of hazy smoke swirling around._

" _Here from the king's mountain view." A disembodied voice croaked, making him jump in surprise, spinning around trying to find the source of the voice. He heard a gentle breeze from behind him, and as he turned, he saw the smoke react to the voice, reeling away to reveal a large pillar of stone: a massive mounting made of the blackest of earth. It split from the black fog below, rising skyward to an impossible height, and on the side of the mountain, he could see a large structure._

 _It was unlike anything else in this place, with pearly white pillars and rose-gold slabs of material making up the roof and walls. The building looked to be built for a creature of lavish wealth, yet nothing stirred from in or around it._

" _Here from a wild dream come true." Blaze whipped around in a flurry, ripping his sword from his back and standing ready to strike, glaring at the thing that was speaking right behind him. In front of him stood none other than Al Capony, only; this time the stallion stood draped in a lavishly beautiful sundress, stitched with flowing white silk and embroidered with jewels of every color of the rainbow. Atop his brow rested a humble golden crown, bearing a single black gem inserted below the single gently crested point. "The Devil and his had me down, in love with the dark side I'd found."_

" _Al Capony." Blaze spat, and he took a single step forward, heaving for a swift, deadly swipe of his sword, when a voice cut through the dim and darkness. He halted the moment the sounds hit his ears._

" _But I. . . I would wish it all away." The voice called out, and while he had never heard her properly sing like this, he instantly recognized his sister's voice. "If I thought I'd lose you just one day."_

 _He felt his heart leap at the sound of her voice, and for a second, his indecisiveness hung in the air about slaughtering Al here and now, or turning and see his sister. His little Asta, who he'd been searching for for ages; the one pony he needed most in this heartless land. After but a second of thought, his foreleg dropped, and he spun around, expecting her to be right behind him, but all that he could see was the gaping hole in the wall, and the looming tower of stone in the distance._

 _He cautiously stepped forward, peering out the window down towards the lower building of pure light, and there he saw her. She was standing at a balcony on one of the many floors, her head peering directly towards him, and even at this distance, he could clearly see the joy, love, and unbearable sadness in her eyes. He watched as her wings unfurled, and she hurled herself into the sky between them, bolting forward at incredible speeds, and as she got closer, an unbelievable nightmare suddenly came true._

 _She got close enough that he could see every detail about her, though his attention was stuck on the flowing white dress that billowed as she approached. He felt Al Capony step next to him._

 _The unicorn simply smiled as his horn lit up and a pillar of stone jutted out from beneath the window, and Asta landed upon it, her sad smile piercing right into his soul. Her muzzle opened up, and a serenade of pure emotion poured forth, washing over him and incurring the strongest waves of love and despair he knew he'd ever feel. "Prayed like a martyr dusk to dawn: begged like a hooker all night long. So if I could I'd wish it all away, if I thought tomorrow would take you away. You're my piece of mind, my home, my center, I'm just trying to hold on one more day._

" _Shine on upon the many. Light our way, benevolent sun." She hopped forward and into the alcove between the heartless black walls and gave him a hug, an embrace meant to cover him in her love, even as she slowly turned to dust in his grip. Just as his heart started to beat once more, with the reality that she was no longer in his grip, Al pulled him in with a strong hoof._

" _She'll make us all stronger, Gold Blood: so as one survive another day and season." He leaned back, smirking at the raw emotion on Blaze's face, the pegasus' face twisting in utter horror. The horror was soon clouded by a veil of rage as he turned to face the smug unicorn, and his hoof once more reached back to bring down this insane pony before him._

 _There was a burst of smoke, and the blade in his hoof disappeared in another wave of dust, just as Asta had. When the smoke cleared, he looked around in rage and despair: Al had slipped away, leaving him standing there in a desolate room, once more utterly alone. He tried to force down his emotions, to maintain control over himself in this hour of suffering, truly more of a lifetime of suffering in fact, but all he managed was to choke on his sobs. His sword clamored as the cross-guard struck the floor, ringing out with an eerily lifeless clang; striking a sympathetic emotion from the depths of his shattered heart. This blade and him, they were one and the same._

 _He sat down, staring at the place that Asta had crumbled in front of him just moments before, his heart felt like it had finally shattered: after all these years, and it was the faintest glimmer of hope that broke him. He felt the darkness clinging to the edges of the room slip from their posts, heartily crying yips of sadistic glee as they enveloped him._

 _All the while, the words to Asta's perfect song reverberated in his skull, the words she never got to finish finding complete clarity in his own mind, and he began to rock back and forth to a tune he had never heard before tonight. His dry, crusty lips parted, and through the constricted vocal cords rubbed raw with tears, he completed her final request: "But I. . . And I would, if I could. . . And I would. . ._

" _Wish it away. Wish it away." He repeated under his breath, gritting his teeth as the shadows ripped at his fur and tore into his flesh. "Wish it all away. Wanna wish it all away, no prize that could hold sway, or justify my giving away my center. . . So if I could, I'd wish it all away; if I thought tomorrow would take you away._

The first thing his hazy mind could recognize was the euphoric bliss of not having immortal demons ripping into his body, trying to consume his very soul. The fact that he lay curled on top of a blanket, and a very relaxing mattress only enhanced the experience to unparalleled proportions.

He was so comfortable, actually, that his instincts very abruptly went into total survival mode, and a burst of adrenaline shot through his heart, snapping him into full consciousness. Unsure what the threat was, but completely certain it was just about to kill him, his hoof immediately found his sword and swung the thing wildly. The sound of whooshing air next to his hoof brought him to attention, and he twisted his blade to parry whatever was coming, only to find his scabbard whipping off his blade as he maneuvered it, and that there was absolutely nothing even in the room with him.

His room.

Not that dark, dreadful place full of insubstantial barriers and evil unicorns stealing his loved ones. . . the sword in his hoof falling idly to the floor as he shot out of his room, barely able to see in the faint predawn light of the soon-to-come sunrise. He barreled down the halls directly towards Asta's room; reaching it under a second with time to spare.

He cracked the door open, a spark of hesitation making him worry whether or not he would be able to actually see if she were missing; just like Star had. She shook the trepidation away, and he pushed the door open further, relief flooding through him as his eyes adjusted to the darkened room, and he could see a small form curled up underneath the covers on her bed. He stood there for a second, riding the release of positivity and watching the mound rising and falling with the slow breaths of a pony deep in sleep.

He stood with a pit still fixed defiantly in his stomach that his nightmare was another of those ridiculous visions he had, and he couldn't make himself return to his own room. Deciding that he had better keep watch over her just in case, he felt a rush of exhaustion, as if his time in his mind overnight had left him more drained than if he had skipped a week of sleep with hard training.

His hooves were getting heavier by the second, so he figured he'd just sit on her bedside and make sure she was comfortable. It would give him a chance to recover enough to go back to sleep. . .

Just as he sat on the bed, he realized his mistake, but now it was too late to correct it; instead of getting any sort of renewed energy, the bed invited his exhaustion further, and he tipped backwards. And as such, he once more found himself teetering on the cusp of sleep, only now he could feel the warm body of another pony gladly cuddle up next to him. His wings and forehooves naturally wrapped around Asta, and he thought he might have heard her sleepily mumble a greeting.

He couldn't be certain, because he was out not a second later: comfy, and finally feeling a fragment of peace come over his mind.


	27. Fulmination of Hope

_Hey, everybody! Just wanted to put this out there as a sort of little birthday present to myself. I've finally gotten out of that horrible fucking depressive lack of motivation, which means I've been busting ass to write this next miniseries._

 _While we are on the topic of miniseries: I'm proud to say that I most definitely learned my lesson from the Ice Blaze miniseries, which was six chapters long and most of it had absolutely nothing to do with the story arc for that series. It was supposed to just be his training and then journey to deal with Grogar, but we all saw how that turned out. . . Anyways, this one is much more concise, being the Fulmination miniseries. This time around, the series is going to revolve around the next sort of mini-boss Blaze is going to fight. The arc for this one is going to be pretty simple, but with enough material in it for four chapters, the introduction, the rising action, the conflict, then ending with the climax and boss-fight._

 _As I said last time: I'm still unsure whether or not I'm going to be able to continue this story, what with Friendship is Magic coming to an end. I've got a good reason for it to continue in the world building, but I don't know whether or not there will be anyone who could enjoy it. As it stands, I'm for sure finishing this miniseries, as it might clear up some of the loos-ends from earlier in the story, and help bring in some more character development and lore-building._

 _Yeah. . . I've had a lot of fun writing this, but only future me will know whether or not this story continues beyond the Eldritch monstrosity that is sowing Equestria's complete chaos. Hope you have a good time reading the chapter! - Hinterland Seer_

Chapter 27: Fulmination of Hope

The persistent sounds barraging his ears really wanted him to get up, but he just couldn't willingly pull himself completely from slumber, even after the shaking starting. He groaned for whoever was annoying him to leave him alone, then he tried to roll over, which only got him halfway to his side before something blocked his movement any further.

It was starting to irritate him, and the sleep was gradually leaving him, but the noise and the hoof shoving into his side were refusing to give in. He grumbled and inhaled sharply. "I'm up! I'm up!"

"Good, because the sun's well up and I was starting to get hungry." Asta said, though he found her voice unusually happy, because he considered the shit the two of them had just gone through. Now that his mind was starting to work again, he could feel her pressed against his side, and she had one foreleg running across his chest, while the other was planted firmly beside him. Her voice cut through his thoughts again, though just the sound of it was enough for him to feel a surge of relief that she was with him again. "So how about you get your fat flank up so I can eat? Besides, you said that you were going to meet with that assassin today, right?"

"Yeah. Just give me five more minutes." He grumbled, grabbing her by the foreleg and pulling her in for a tight embrace, which she begrudgingly returned with an affectionate nuzzle.

"Fine, five more minutes." She said into his neck, and then she sagged against him further, as if she were melting into him, not that he was going to complain. The demanding grasp of sleep was about to ensnare him again when she jostled him awake with a quick peck on his neck. "Do you know how surprised I was to wake up like this?"

He cracked his bleary eyes open, enough to meet her intense emerald orbs staring straight into his soul. In his surprise, he tried to snap his head back, but with the pillow directly beneath him, and Asta firmly sitting atop his chest, he didn't get very far. She was inches from his snout, and at that proximity he was hard-pressed to focus on anything other than her piercing gaze. "You had a nightmare didn't you?"

He blinked at her sudden question, the cheerful mood she had earlier was completely destroyed as the worry and fear in her eyes shone through brighter than anything he had ever seen. His silence caused her to sigh and lean back, giving him room to pull his head out of the depths of his pillow.

"Scale once told me how there were times in the past when you would get some pretty bad nightmares: she called them 'night terrors.' Basically, they would get so bad that you would wake up completely drenched in sweat. That's what happened last night, wasn't it?" Her gaze never left him as she moved, though she refused to let him up, planting herself firmly on his chest so she could actually wring the answer out of him.

He didn't answer immediately, unsure whether he'd be able to also keep this from her: having those nightmares were bad enough, and he didn't want to have to constantly bring them back up. "Asta, they're just bad dreams, nothing to worry about."

"But didn't you have a dream about losing Star before he disappeared?" She asked, leaning forward and planting her forehooves onto his shoulders to keep him down while she pressed for answers. He folded his ears back and finally worked up the courage to break eye contact, trying to look at anything other than her.

The moment he did, she lifted a hoof and forced his gaze back to her eyes. "Tell me what happened."

Though it wasn't a request, he could feel the weight of her worry in her voice, and the way she sat on him, it felt like she was on edge. Her throat was constricted, and the fearful tone it produced wrenched at his heart, only fueling the negativity his nightmare had produced for him. He pursed his lips, then brought a hoof to grab her foreleg. Pulling her into a hug, he whispered the highlighted details of his nightmare, and with each sentence, she seemed to hug him tighter and tighter, reciprocating the fear of losing him.

Silence hung in the air after he had finished his tale, the tension and relief mixing together as they let the emotions settle. "Well, at least it was just a dream."

"But that's just the thing: the last time that I had a dream as messed up as this one, it eventually came true." He managed to choke out, holding her even more tightly as he breathed into her mane. "There's no way I'm letting that happen to you: no bucking way."

"Then it's settled: you're going to go to the assassins, and you're going to help them hunt down Al Capony and end his cult of fanatics once and for all." She said with a resolute edge that he found both encouraging and a little worrying, his anxious gaze meeting her determined one as she pulled away from him. "Now come on: I wasn't kidding when I said that I was hungry, and you making me worry like that can really kick up an appetite."

He chuckled as she rolled out of bed, landing smoothly on her hooves and flashing him a winning smile, though he broke into full laughter once she did so. Her nose scrunched up as his laughing filled the room, further easing the tension that had filled in moments prior, and when he managed to stop wheezing and look at her, her scowl redoubled his fit. "And just what is so funny?"

"It's. . . hahaha. . . just that. . . oh wow. . ." He gasped for breath as he curled into a ball, his forehooves clutching at his sides in a desperate attempt to ease the burning in his lungs. "It's just that your. . . hahaha. . . mane is in a mess!"

She frowned at him before turning her attention to a truly unruly mat of mane, obviously the effect of shifting in her sleep to better cuddle with him. A groan pierced his laughing as she made a dash for the bathrooms, giving him plenty of time to regain control, which he was partly thankful for. That respite was exactly what he needed after such a rough night, though as he got out of bed himself, his mind wandered over the notable lack of Luna throughout his dreams.

He shrugged, perhaps it had been such an unusual practice that he just forgot about it.

Asta had proven to be highly skilled in redressing her appearance rather quickly, because he ran into her at the end of the halls, her mane and tail already wrapped in drying towels. He smirked at her but allowed her to lead them out into the kitchen, which was already rather busy, as most of the household was already up and about. Asta hadn't lied about the time, and he had to assume that she had stayed in bed just to be there to wake him up. Or the much more likely alternative, given his predisposition towards heavy sleeping, was that she really struggled to get him up on time.

He exchanged pleasant greetings with the majority of the ponies he passed, the mood of everypony seemed to be improving, which was always something that he was excited for. Breakfast was served pretty easily, despite the hoof-traffic around the room, and while the oatmeal did look good, even had freshly diced apples and cinnamon, he wished that he could have had a bottle of mead to go with it.

Perhaps he could go with Goldheart and get a fresh batch, store it somewhere safe. Yeah, he had to put that on his to-do list.

Asta was content to enjoy her meal this time around, and he didn't have to bother with convincing her to slow down, though he was more than happy to eat his at an enhanced pace. He may have been calm right now, but he knew that there was a sliver of suffering in the back of his head that was ready to emerge at the slightest moment.

Because he was so worried about that memory of his dream, he had turned his attention inward, and thus, he missed it when Asta asked him something. He blinked when she waved a hoof in front of his face with a smirk on her muzzle, though when he turned to her with a curious expression, he could see the worry still shining in her eyes. He adorned this mare, her devotion was downright adorable, but he wasn't so sure she should have ever learned of the horrors that his past had created. Her mouth opened, and the words finally came through his ears before he could lapse again: "Thinking about it again?"

"Kind of. . . just had some stuff on my mind, nothing that you need to worry about." He sighed, scooping up the last of his meal. The two of them finished their meals and rose from the table, and returned their dishes to the kitchen. "Come on, I overslept last night and could use some time in the air. Hopefully the weather teams have given us a bit of a break in the snowfall: I'd like to be able to get in some work before I go to meet with Rainbow Crescent."

Asta simply nodded and followed him as he trotted down the halls, heading to his room. As he entered, he had hoped to get dressed and be off, however, as he saw the state that the room was in, he knew he'd be there for a bit longer. He pulled his clothes onto the bed, allowing her to fuss over them as he grabbed his sword from where he had dropped it.

Frowning at the blade, he spun around and took a seat next to his bed, nodding towards it when she shot him a questioning look. "Would you grab my oils and whetstone? I forgot to do this last night, and I doubt I'll remember to anytime soon."

"Sure." She said with a smile, practically skipping over to the nightstand to grab the requested items. He was a tad curious why she was being all bubbly and all, but he decided not to ask, assuming she was just trying to cheer him up. She offered him the materials and studiously watched him as he spent about half an hour laboring over honing the edge again, making the occasional comment or question about what he was doing. He gain got the impression that she was trying to keep him distracted, and while he appreciated the effort, he felt like it was unnecessary.

Either way; he'd finished tending to the sword, and now he was free to go about with his day. Though the day was now probably going to be seeing what it was that he was to do with Rainbow and her Order. He figured he'd end the day with a flight, stretch, and go to sleep: then he was going to figure out just what Luna's deal was with letting that nightmare go on like it did.

"Come on." He said. The order was quick, though it lacked the bite that he'd heard from the military, but it was enough to get his sister moving. Not that she needed it: he had the suspicion that he was going to be hard-pressed if he ever needed to get rid of her.

Not that he had any plans to do so until it came time to kill Al and those bucking fanatics.

He shuddered as he placed his sword in its scabbard, the chilling thought that he was fully prepared to kill somepony sending ice down his spine. He had no doubts that he would follow through with the plan; the stallion had threatened his family, after all. But he just couldn't fathom that he was actually okay with taking a life: he had accepted that Grogar was an exception, and a single instance where he hadn't actually wanted to do just about anything in that cavern.

He shook his head to clear the unwarranted thoughts and turned to get dressed, casting a careful eye to Asta as he grabbed the clothes. She was eyeing him as carefully as he was her, though his cautioned look conflicted with her nearly hungry looking one.

He felt his body tense up, his mind settling with something akin to disappointment. 'Not again.'

"Asta, you mind waiting outside until I'm ready?" He asked, his voice tense even though he was trying to keep a neutral tone. She flinched at the frustration in his voice, and after but a moment of hesitation where her eyes shot between him and the outfit in his hooves, she gave a quick bow and hurried out of the room. He felt himself relax a bit as she shut the door behind her, dropping the clothes and sitting down for a second. He ran a hoof through his mane as he wrestled with his thoughts. "I did this, didn't I? Why must I keep getting myself in these kinds of situations? Why can't we all just be normal bucking ponies?!"

He sighed again, then dressed himself quickly, reaching for the scabbard propped against his nightstand, when a glint of light caught his attention. The hidden blade rested atop the stand, and he had to wonder when it got there, as he had no memory of taking it off. Shaking the distraction from his mind, he blamed it on his exhaustion and strapped the bracer around his sleeve, as Breaking Design had suggested.

She said that he'd understand soon enough why, and that symbol she had a banner of. . . where had he seen if before? He could feel recognition fumbling at the very edge of his memories, but nothing tangible came out of it, forcing him to groan in frustration. He'd figure it out later: right now, he had wasted more than enough time already, and he knew that he had an assassin to meet up with. He strapped his sword across his back, shuffled around to make sure the clothes settled properly, then pushed the door open. Asta had stood in front of the door, as if she were guarding it from anypony.

She looked to him, and he silently motioned for her to follow him, and the two began to head for the door.

Along the brief journey to leave, they came across Scaled Equilibrium, who looked to be heading down to meet with him. She smiled when the two came into view, but even as her mouth opened to greet them, she paused when she saw the new attire he was in. After a moment to gather herself, she smirked and twisted so they could walk side by side through the main room. "I see you've finally gotten yourself a professionally fitted outfit."

"Free of charge, too." He replied, grinning down to her. "Being friends with a Princess does seem to have some benefits."

"Yes, but it's such a shame that you refuse to accept the others literally anypony else would leap to get their hooves on." Scale said, poking him with a playful elbow. "Am I correct in assuming you are finally going to talk with Rainbow Crescent and her associates?"

"Yeah. . . how'd you know?" Blaze asked, stopping at the door so her could turn to her, a brow raised in confusion.

"You were asleep all morning, and when I heard that you had a brand new cloak, well, I thought the Order had used some of it's influence to get you all prepped for initiation." She shrugged pushing the front door open, revealing a clear blue sky, though the sun reflected harshly off of the snow still piled on the sides of the streets. "And with everything seeming like it's finally coming to a head between the Fanatics and the Order, well, it sounded like they were going to recruit you."

"You sound like you know a lot about those Assassins. . ." Blaze looked at her with an eye of suspicion, which only got her to chuckle.

"Yeah, I do, don't I? Well, if you really want to know, I suppose I could tell you." Her eyes twinkled in what he was certain was the excitement of revealing her position among their ranks. He knew he shouldn't have been so surprised: she definitely was the kind of pony who would join an order dedicated to protecting Harmony, or at least preventing total chaos. "I was able to talk with some of the Spirits residing among the streets around town, and they had told me what was going on. Well, some of them did. And when I asked if one of them would go and gather some information about the Order, they told me that there were Spirits already doing that, and gave me some very interesting details."

"What?" He asked, shaking his head in surprise.

"What? You didn't think I spent all my time brewing potions, did you?" She answered with a playful giggle. "Brewing has a lot of down time waiting for things to mix, and so I'd usually talk with one of the more vocal Spirits: it's proven to be a very fruitful relationship. So, yes: all my sources of information are from the long dead."

He sighed and shook his head, then decided to give the mare a quick hug before leaving through the door. Asta chuckled once they started to trot through the streets, heading through the streets towards the main thoroughfare of the city. He turned to her in confusion until she finally explained her amusement. "You also thought she was an assassin, didn't you?"

"Didn't it sound like she was going to admit it?" He responded, rolling his eyes at the ridiculousness of life for him at this point. "She really did look like she was going to surprise us with it. Though it still makes far more sense that she would avoid those kinds of ponies; what with all the killing both sides have been doing."

"Yeah, but if that it what it takes to keep you safe, then I'd happily kill anypony that stood in our way." She beamed proudly, puffing up her chest and trying to look as tough as she could.

"Asta. . ." He shook his head, rubbing a hoof down his face and trying to keep his emotions in check. "That isn't healthy, and it isn't normal to want to kill anything. It sucks that we have to kill somepony, and I would much rather we keep the casualties to a minimum. Besides, how are you going to do anything when you forgot that saber Luna gave you?"

He watched as her pupils shrunk in realization, and it looked like she had tensed up, as if debating whether to rush back home and grab the sword, or to stay here by his side. He made the decision for her by wrapping his wing over her shoulders and pulling her in, holding her back from flying off. "That wasn't me giving you permission to start swinging a sword at anypony: because if you ever, _ever_ , get into a fight, I want you to run the other way."

"But-"

"No! If you find yourself in a fight, the only reason I want you to fight back is if there is no other alternative, and I expect you to fully try to escape before all else." He said with such an air of authority that she didn't try to argue back, and he felt relief that he had resolve at least that issue. After a while of walking in silence, he felt her lean a little into his side, and he applied pressure on his wing, squeezing her and showing her that he wasn't angry. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I know." She mumbled, rubbing her shoulder against his leg then nuzzled into his shoulder. "Can I fly with you tonight? I was hoping to stretch my wings a little more after last night."

"Sure." He flicked an ear to the side when something buzzed into it. "You don't have to ask, you know that right?"

"I just wanted to make sure." She said. He hummed to himself and stepped forward as they broke through into the main street, and even though it was chilly out, business and traffic were flourishing. Because she had no clue where it was that they were supposed to be going, she was more than happy to let him lead the way, though she was a bit upset that he had reclaimed his wing.

Leading them through the crowded street, he kept every sense alert for anything and everything, from the general ocean of voices clamoring over one another to the creaking of wagons to the clacking of hoofs on the cobble street. He kept eyeing the crowd suspiciously, half-expecting somepony to jump out at him, or to run in with an old member of the creed. Thinking about some of the old thieves, he felt a pang of sadness; some of them weren't that bad, and he saw some personality similarities between them and his new family members. Perhaps he could convince them that Al was an insane pony that needed to be replaced.

Trotting towards the far end of the marketplace, he saw the stall that Rainbow had mentioned, a small stand that had a large variety of locks on display, and behind the stall stood the muddy green walls of the Roaring Hydra. He led the two of them inside, where they were greeted by a modest number of ponies either gambling at a table off to the side, or nursing a drink at the bar.

There was a mare singing along to some musicians off in the corner, giving the room a warm atmosphere. He glanced at the charcoal mare, then to the bartender, a burly orange stallion, and then to Rainbow sitting at a table as he scanned the room.

Upon spotting his target, he led Asta towards the table, taking a straight line there to avoid any of the drunks he was certain would be coming or going. Rainbow had her back to the wall, so she could have easily seen the two of them approaching, but she was turned to face another assassin. Whoever she was talking to had their hood drawn up, so he took it slowly as he approached, his hoofsteps muffled by his new boots. When he got to the table, Rainbow turned around and smiled at him; "Ah, glad you made it. I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up."

"I had no reason not to come." He said with a shrug as he took the seat right in front of him motioning for Asta to take the one opposite the mare. Rainbow looked between the two of them, obviously wondering why he had thought to bring the younger pegasus here with him.

"And you brought your little sister because. . ?"

"It was a recent development, but in short: wherever I go, she goes." He replied curtly. "But that's not the important thing, nor the reason why I came. You asked for me to show up because you wanted to have a chat with me about your little group of murderers and cutthroats, so I showed up."

"And I thank you for doing so." She said, giving Asta a final distrustful look before turning to him. "I'm allowing her to stay here because I heard that she is loyal solely to you, so I don't think I need to remind you that everything we talk about here stays between us."

"I can keep a secret." Asta muttered, glaring at the cyan pegasus. Rainbow reached forward for the bottle of wine on the table with her left forehoof, displaying the intricate bracer that Blaze understood as the property of the Assassin Order. Before her limb could twist, he got a brief glance at the carving set within the silvery steel, and instantly recognized the symbol etched into it as the one that was now on his cloak and was on the banner in the twins' shop.

Then the bracer was rotated and Rainbow 'accidentally' activated the mechanism, sending the blade out with a near-silent slink through the ambient noise of the inn. The assassin held it pointing at Asta until he sent his own blade to grab her forehoof and glared at her, increasing the tension between them a bit. Behind the mare, he could see the other assassin simply watching in mild intrigue, reclined back and sipping on a mug, his hood still obscuring his face in from the chandelier light.

Rainbow pulled her hoof back and sheathed the weapon. "You'd better hope your sister can hold her tongue, Blaze Burn. This kind of work is extremely sensitive, and we treat traitors to the utmost severity we can."

"She's fine. Get on with what you called me here for." He growled out, taking a deep breath to calm himself before he made the situation worse.

"Very well. If you say she can be trusted. . . Alright, you remember how we kind of got you initiated into the Order back when you were heading on up to the Crystal Empire and we crossed paths?" She began leaning back in her seat and relaxing a fair bit, though she took the entire bottle of wine with her. As he nodded, she took a long draught from the bottle, and only when she had downed a few rather impressive gulps did she continue. "Well, because I've reached the position of an actual Assassin, I had the authority to do so, however, you can't be recognized by the others until you go to our base of operations and enlist.

"Basically, you can carry the blade without any of our own attacking you for being a thief or impostor. However, you still need to join the ranks, else you might be branded as such. Considering all the deeds you've accomplished already, and the aid you've promised in our pursuit of Al Capony and his fanatics, I think you can reach the official rank fairly easily." She paused to take another swig. "What I'm trying to get at is that while I am technically an Assassin, you've only been an Aspiring Initiate this whole time. Go to our base, get recognized by our Mistress as an official Initiate, then work to become an actual Assassin. That's usually how it goes for us ponies: however, because you did go and kill Grogar for us, and because both Slate and I were there when you helped with Mist Artificer, I think I could put in a word to expedite your process along."

She offered him the bottle, which he took after a moment's hesitation. "Why should I care about all of this?"

"I'm just giving you a bit of information about what the Order is like for normal ponies, so you can understand why you get the special treatment." She rolled her eyes and crossed her forehooves. "For the first time in quite a while, we are feeling pretty confident in our ability to take down Al and those fanatics. Adding you to our ranks, somepony who has had quite some experience dealing with him, and somepony who has proven to be skillful, will only put us that far ahead of the game."

"But won't recruiting me draw you more attention from them?" He asked, letting her answer as he shared in the wine, though when Asta made a move at reaching for the bottle he had to pull it away from her. She may have been trying to look cool in front of the assassin, but he still wasn't going to let her get into the habit of drinking: she might start stealing his mead even more.

"It would, except we're pretty damn sure that they already know about our intentions." She shook her head in disappointment. "We try to keep our identities anonymous, if only for the sake of being able to get close to our targets without arousing suspicion. However, even if we had kept it down that you were coming to us to hunt those fanatics, they would have found out quickly enough as it were: you aren't exactly easily mistaken as somepony else."

"True."

"There is another piece of information that I would like you to know about, regarding the Order's agenda." She held a hoof in the air, serving as a serious warning. "You know that we've already been working at hunting down the larger members of the Fanatic Cult, or whatever it was that they tried to call themselves. However, we recently got word that there was supposed to be a meeting, something big; and it has something to do with that message they sent you through Mist Artificer."

"You mean the body they hung in front of my house?"

"Exactly. Apparently, these members have started moving around and getting ready over the last few weeks. Because of the activity, we've decided to slow the hunting, though it was never really much to begin with." She sighed, her eyes glazing over for a second before she fiercely looked up at him. "We can't afford killing somepony important, then having the others go back into hiding: not when we might have the chance to take out a large chunk of the important players in this nasty little game. So, when you come to join us, you've got to understand that we're working through an interesting period of time."

"Alright? When are you going to show me this base of yours?" He asked, placing the wine bottle on the table, before thinking better of it and giving it back to her before Asta had a chance to reach for it. "I guess the sooner we get there, the sooner we can put an end to this."

"I was hoping to have this be the precursor to the official meeting with our Mistress, and I'll be taking you there shortly after this, once Sunshine here delivers the message." She said, motioning to the other assassin, who pulled down his hood, revealing a yellow unicorn with a fiery orange mane. The stallion rose from his seat and his horn flared to life, emitting a radiant orange glow and his pink eyes slammed shut. Then there was a loud pop and then the assassin disappeared. "It was important that you understood exactly what you were going to be getting yourself into with us: our Mistress is. . . she's a little brash when it comes to the new bloods."

"Wait, you're already thinking about taking Blaze to your leader? Even with everything that's been going on, shouldn't there be like some sort of delay before you just accept new members?" Asta asked. Rainbow turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Didn't I just say explain that? Blaze already has done some things to help our cause, and it is pretty well known at this point that he's not exactly a fan of the fanatics: and they aren't very friendly towards him either." She pointed out. "Do you realize how fast word spreads when something happens to the degree that those ponies did when they hung up the mutilated corpse of one of their own just to send a message? Our Mistress learned of that less than an hour after it was discovered.

"And as if that wasn't enough, Blaze helped us a bit when he was up north, dealing with Grogar. We aren't desperate for recruits, but somepony like him is valuable in our line of work, so the sooner we all come to an agreement, then this issue can be resolved." She turned to him, her expression hopeful. "As for what you also need to know: now that you've got some attire that will definitely fit in, it's even more imperative that you join our ranks."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Your robes. Did you notice that they were fashioned in a similar style to our own? Or that you now bear the symbol of our Order?" She pointed a hoof towards his belt, where the mentioned symbol glinted in the light, before her forehoof appeared on the table, revealing the same symbol on her bracer. "You've already gotten the attire started, and there would just be a few more things to get before you have the full set, but for the most part you are dressed like one of us."

"So _that's_ what they meant when they said that you'd understand eventually." Asta remarked, appearing thoughtful as she tapped a hoof to her chin. He looked to her for an explanation, a questioning look. "You know; Breaking Design and Insignia, the tailors that made your outfit. They made that passing remark at the symbol on your belt, saying that you'd understand later or something like that: they were talking about this."

"So you met the twins, huh?" Rainbow smirked shaking her head. "They've done some work for us in the past, mostly in designing our clothing or producing it. I knew I'd recognized the style, they must have changed some of it to better fit you. Makes sense, I guess."

"So, just how many ponies are actually a part of your Order?" He asked, his hooves tapping the table as he adjusted his sitting position to lean forward, his intense gaze meeting her even one. "I want to know whether or not your group even have the numbers for something like this: because I don't want us to go along this entire way only to fail at the climax of this conflict."

"We've got the numbers, trust me." She replied evenly. "With Mistress Ahad leading our Order, there are well over a dozen ponies with the rank of Assassin, including myself and Slate, who hold substantial skill in combat. Though none of us had the luxury of training with a Princess. Still, we've also got a fairly strong body count out in the streets in the form of Initiates and various other associates who are capable of aiding our efforts in other ways. When the time comes to strike, all you are going to need to worry about it doing the killing."

"And speaking of which: what are you going to expect of me until we get to taking down Al and his cult? I understand that I'm involving myself with a group of murderers, but I'm still uneasy with the idea of spilling blood when it isn't needed." He felt his jaw tighten as he watched her for nonverbal cues, his body tense as he waited to hear who he'd have to kill.

"That depends on what our Mistress thinks." Rainbow sighed, he gaze dropping for a moment as she studied the grains in the table. "Blaze Burn, after all this time, how did you plan to eliminate Al Capony without taking lives? From what I heard, you had to kill plenty in the caverns up north, and you aren't really a colt anymore. So why are you still so hesitant to do what is necessary?"

"I'm not hesitant to do what is necessary." He shot back defensively. "I understand perfectly that we have to kill Al, and probably take out the biggest other threats that these fanatics have. But what I don't want to do is go burning the entire group at the stake: if we don't have to kill, I don't want to. It's unnatural and just wrong."

"Blaze, if there were another way, none of us would be here right now: killing is something you're going to just have to come to accept doing if you want to stay with us." She said cautiously, raising her gaze once more, a hardened edge in them that seemed eager to fight his own. "Here in the Assassin Order, we have committed ourselves to safeguarding Equestria, and this entire world from the threats of Chaos and Corruption. We work in the dark, to serve the light: and we have come to understand that sometimes, you must adopt your enemies' tactics in order to truly defeat them. I know you can be successful here: from your training with Luna to your drive to see these fanatics removed. All you have to overcome is this naive belief that you can spare some ponies: every single one of these fanatics have welcomed the life of chaos, and thus: they sealed their own fate.

"You want to know what is truly expected of you?" She stood from her seat, pulling her hood over her prismatic mane. "You are expected to protect all of Equestria from not only this Cult, but also from freaks of nature like Grogar. It is expected that you put your innocence aside in the pursuit of peace for others."

"She has a point, Blaze." Asta muttered, though she doubted he heard her, as he had also risen from his seat to stare down the assassin.

"If you want to back down now, in this foolish hope of preserving some fruitless cause, then take your leave, and let the grown ups deal with this threat." From the corner of his eye, he saw Asta wince at the words, but the motion was lost in the rapidly rising anger at her accusations. His throat tightened and squeezed down a primal growl, but before his anger could force him to do something he'd probably regret, she finished her thoughts, the passion in her stance fading a bit to stoic resignation. "But if there is any measure of steel in you, then I ask that you come with me, so that you can aid us in ending this menace for good."

She didn't wait for him to answer, choosing instead to grab the wine bottle and trot around him, heading for the door. She stopped at it to give a half-glance over her shoulder to see if he was coming, but when she saw that he had remained rooted in place, she sighed and turned to leave, shoving the door open and flaring her wings to take to the air.

Blaze was locked in place at the harshness of her words, but strangely humbled by the passion in her voice: his inner conflict fueled by the genuine tone she was speaking with. This was actually something she seemed to care deeply about, and it only deepened the struggle he was having. He only broke out of his stupor when he felt a hard hoof slamming into his side, and an angry mare frowning for him to go talk with the assassin.

"Blaze, your about to miss your one opportunity to join the only group capable of helping you." Asta said in an expectant tone, though it was her persistent shoving that got him to move.

He knew that she was right, but as much as he did want these assassins' help in defeating Al and his Cult, he was struggling to come to terms with the idea that he'd likely be killing a lot more than just Al. Eventually, she had managed to shove him clear of the tables to the side, and he was nearing the central isle to the inn, and he decided to put the conflict on hold so that he could catch Rainbow before she disappeared.

He nodded to Asta and trotted to the door, getting outside just in time to see the robed assassin take to the skies. He flung his own wings open, knowing that he could catch up before she got too far away for Asta to eventually find them.

"Rainbow Crescent!" He called out as he jumped into the air, pumping his wings to get airborne as quickly as possible. If her steady pace was anything to go off of, she hadn't heard him, and he was sincerely hoping that Asta had taken off before he broke her line of sight. He pulled his legs tight against him and put on a burst of speed, hoping to overtake the cyan mare before she got too much further. "Rainbow Crescent!"

She heard him that time, slowing down and rolling onto her back to see him soaring after her, and while he was grateful that she had finally slowed for him to catch her, the wind blew her mane over her face, obscuring her expression. She stopped leading him away and began to slowly circle to the ground, the two of them descending to the streets of the residential district. Once his hooves touched down, he did his best to catch his breath after the sudden burst of effort, though he did want to wait to see if he hadn't lost Asta.

"Change your mind?" Rainbow asked, looking at him with a slightly annoyed expression. He shrugged, turning his attention up to the sky when he heard the telltale sounds of wing beats overhead. Asta gently drifted down and landed beside him with an air of grace and poise that took the two of them by surprise, even if Rainbow still stood with her slightly annoyed look. "Hey! What's with the wasting time? I've got things to do, so if you're coming with me or not, I need to know."

"Of course." Blaze nodded, pursing his lips and returning his attention to the assassin. "I've decided to go and see what it is that I can do to help you guys take down these fanatics; even if I have to do some things that I'm not going to like."

"I'm glad to see that you're actually willing to show that you can make a sacrifice; I think that we just might be able to make an Assassin out of you yet." She said, a faint smile of relief appearing on her muzzle as she nodded down the alley to their side. "At least I've gotten you closer to the base, so it won't take that much longer to get there. Follow me."

He nodded, motioning with a wing for her to lead the way, and the three of them made short work of trotting through the streets. He did wonder briefly about why they were hoofing it, but decided that the assassin obviously knew what she was doing, so he didn't bother asking her.

"Try not to open your mouth too much when while we're handling the arrangements, Blaze Burn." She said as she stopped before an unassuming door, turning to him with a serious expression. "I'd rather have this go as smoothly as possible, which means I can't have you talking with everypony you come across."

She knocked twice sharply on the door, waited a second, then knocked another time, and after a moment's pause, the door slid open without so much as a whisper. She looked to the two of them, giving them a warning look before delving within the darkened entryway, leaving the door open so that they could follow after her. He stepped through the door, feeling the weight of finality overcome and subdue his emotions as he did so, as if he were finally actually accepting that this was the path he was taking. He swiveled his ears and listened as Asta followed him into the lengthy hallway, the door shutting behind them.

The sound of the large wooden barrier slamming against stone was enough to get him to flinch, but he chose to forget it, opting to roll his shoulders and press inwards. Rainbow had covered over hall of the ill-lit hallway before he forced himself to step forward, though his longer stride allowed him to nearly catch up to her by the time she approached the secondary door.

He stopped behind her as she halted to push the hefty door open, casting a warm glow into the entryway as candlelight washed over them now that the obstruction had been cleared. Passed the door was a wide flight of stairs, leading into what he assumed was the proper foyer, as it was decorated with two Assassin banners on either wall. Beneath each banner was a nightstand that had an assortment of candles glowing atop them. He stood at the door, his eyes scanning the far end, where a large arc marked the beginning of the proper base, or what he assumed was the base, while Rainbow started stepping down the stairs.

He snapped himself back to the moment when Asta nudged his flank for him to keep moving. "You're blocking the doorway, and I want to see what it looks like."

"Sorry." He muttered, finally hopping down the steps and landing beside Rainbow Crescent, who was waiting at the bottom, tapping a booted hoof on the ground. She waited for him to finish looking around at the large open space around them before trotting forward. Blaze matched her pace, eyes scanning over the room: carefully eyeing the other robed figures moving about the room. Several of the ponies had stopped whatever they were doing to see the newcomers, and though he tried to keep his expression serious, their open curiosity was slightly disarming.

Several of them were looking at him in what he thought to be surprised happiness, while others stared at him in confusion. Once he'd managed to tear his gaze from the ponies standing around, he did his best to look around.

As he crossed the room, he saw a multitude of halls and adjacent rooms to what he assumed to be the great hall: halls leading deeper underground and rooms that he only saw the briefest parts of. Just before Rainbow led him down the hall opposite the entrance, he glanced to his left, and sitting in a large alcove, he spotted what looked like a young adult dragon, with a hide of glistening purple scales and velvety wings tucked to it's side. It was curled on a bed of hay, with it's back turned outward, and a double line of thick green spines protruding from it's back.

Seeing such a large creature even in the city, let alone inside some building, made him stop in his tracks, staring in bewilderment that these assassins had actually managed to get it here.

Rainbow must have sensed that he had stopped, because she turned around at the archway to the next hall and trotted up to his side. "Her name is Flamewing, and you'll probably get to know her better later: whenever it is she decides to call to meet you. Come on, we've got to have your meeting with Mistress Ahad, then I'm sure everypony would love to have a chance to talk with you before too long."

He nodded to her distractedly, his eyes still firmly fixed on the slumbering dragoness, Flamewing apparently, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of adrenaline pulsing through his veins at it. Here he was, so close to a true dragon, a large, uncontrollable predator that might easily lay waste to the city before either Celestia or Luna could stop it. And these assassins just had her sitting around in a secret base?!

He spun and trotted to meet Rainbow as she pushed along the hall, passing by door after door, heading towards yet another open archway. "Care to explain why you guys have a bucking _dragon_?!"

"She came to Equestria to hunt down some pony that had tried to steal a dragon hatchling: apparently a group of ponies, whom I'm more than certain were fanatic Cultists, had gone to the dragon's homeland in hopes of acquiring young dragon body parts." Rainbow explained, stopping once they had reached the intersection, revealing a storage room on one side, and a large vault door recessed to their left. Just ahead on them was a dark door that looked impressively heavy. "The dragon's were furious at the attempted murders and dragon-nappings, and had done some pretty nasty things to the ponies they caught. Still, some must have made it back, and she came here to hunt them down, ran into us, and joined our cause."

"Did she ever find the ponies that escaped?" He asked, now thoroughly invested in the tale.

"Of course she did." Rainbow Crescent smirked. "It only took her a few days to track down the group that they were working with, and she burnt the entire place to the ground. Mistress Ahad had been stalking the place at the time, and when she found it in smolders, she offered Flamewing a spot among our ranks."

"Interesting." He nodded, his opinion on having the dragon here steadily shifting from one of fear and distrust to one of increasing intrigue. "Alright, now I'm curious: how many different species of creatures do you guys have here? Both as actual assassins and as other benefactors?"

"I'll let our Mistress answer that, assuming she's up for it." Rainbow said as she resumed the trek to the door, stopping just outside. "We've delayed this meeting for long enough, and I'm sure you both are anxious to meet each other. Just wait right here, and I'll come get you when she's ready."

Without waiting for him to say anything, she heaved the door open with her shoulder and disappeared behind the dark door, letting it glide closed on silent hinges. He took a seat beside the door, his mind buzzing while he waited: the possibilities of having a dragon here, and being associated with one. . . this truly was turning out to be an interesting day. However, the more he thought it over, the more worried he was getting, what with the story Rainbow Crescent had given him about Flamewing burning down an entire group of ponies. He knew he was going to have to grow up and accept the blood on his hooves eventually, but that kind of brutality, the kind that he knew came naturally for predators. . . did he want anything to do with that?

Asta plopped her flank down beside him, resting against his side and calming his thoughts for a second. He used the relaxation to turn to her, his mind still undecided. "What are your thoughts on Flamewing?"

"I think that it's super interesting how they've managed to ally themselves with one: and that story of how this Mistress recruited her gave me some info to play with." She replied after a moment's thought. "It'll make this fight end that much quicker to have her on our side, which I know is what you were concerned about, but it'll also be that much more brutal. I'll admit: I've never met a dragon before, and there wasn't exactly a whole lot of information in the library."

She paused for a minute, tapping her hooves together thoughtfully. "You once had an interest in the various creatures of Equestria, how much do you know about dragons?"

"Not a lot." He admitted. "I don't think there have been any more publishing about them, so any books you read from the castle library are the same books that I read, though I was able to get some extra stuff out of the Princesses. All I've learned is that they are natural predators that have little competition in the southern reaches of Equestria, where both Bugbears and Hydras are less common. They are fierce and incredibly savage, though Luna told me that the one time she ran into one, it was struggling with several injuries from some horrific fight. Whatever they are truly like: they can be hurt, but they are much more likely to hurt us."

"Hmm." She hummed, nuzzling him while they sat in silence, waiting for the cyan pegasus to beckon them in.

After a couple more minutes, the door slid open, and Rainbow motioned for the two of them to step inside, though she shot a distrustful glare at Asta, which he had to return to her. He was the first to enter the room, and was immediately struck by how drastically different it was from the rest of the building. So far, it had been the same gray stone, the floors were polished, the walls were cut smooth, and the ceiling had been stone brick. The only real decorations had been the occasion banner or small painting, though the furnishings had seemed to try to make up for it. Rugs surrounded by couches and chairs, other than that, the place was mostly business.

But this room, it was lavishly decorated, with a large oak desk taking up the center of the room, covered with papers. Behind the desk was a high-backed chair that seemed to speak with an air of luxury and comfort, of enjoying a crackling fire and a strong, but sweet glass of alcohol. He noted the thick curtains drawn back, revealing a massive window that displayed the hollow streets outside.

Once he had fully stepped onto the lush carpets, he paused, looking to the mare he was here to meet: an unassuming mare dressed in a rich black dress. She had what he had come to recognize as the trademark Assassin hooded coat, though hers reminded him of a starless night, flowing with rivers of the blood of her fallen enemies. Her hood may have been pulled down, but he got the feeling that she wasn't nearly as innocent or helpless as her face appeared to be.

The Mistress was a light scarlet pegasus, her wings contrasting heavily with the dark attire she adorned. Her bright bluish-violet eyes shone with a resounding sense of duty, displaying with utmost certainty that she was devoted to her cause, and he found himself nearly entranced by the unyielding strength her gaze held. He managed to free himself from the raw power of her gaze and moved on to her mane, which had been pulled back and tied to mimic a pony's tail. Her mane, and the small bit of tail he was able too see, were striped a dark arctic blue and turquoise, and seemed to accent her robes far better in his opinion.

"Blaze Burn, we've heard so many great things about you, I'm glad that I get the opportunity to finally meet the target of Princess Celestia's affection." She greeted with a smile, raising a hoof and gesturing widely. "What do you think about our home? I trust that Rainbow Crescent has taken care of your needs well enough."

"From what I've seen: this place is pretty interesting. You've gotten an entire community set up in hiding underneath an unassuming building in the middle of the city." He answered. When her attention shifted from him to a point behind him, he knew that Asta had finally worked up the courage to enter the room, much to the Mistress' surprise. "We've actually only just gotten here, as per Rainbow's direction, so that this meeting could proceed as quickly as possible. I was hoping to be able to do some exploring at some point after this: learn what's where and start getting to know what everypony is like here."

"A wise investment, no doubt." She nodded, her frown sticking to Asta for longer than either sibling would have preferred. "It is a true disservice that we are currently able to give you the full experience joining our group: in truth we are in the middle of some sensitive work, and I'm afraid everyone is a little on edge. It is my hope that your presence here is to accept our invitation into the Order, which would also help to ease some of the tension others may have been feeling. But I forget myself, it would seem that proper introductions are in order, as I already know who you are, but it may not be true the other way around.

"My name is All-Feather Ahad, and I am Master Assassin of the Equestrian Assassin Order." She said with a flourished bow. "It is a pleasure to finally meet with the great Blaze Burn, bearer of the ancient blood and slayer of Grogar the Necromancer."

From the corner of his eye, he watched Asta fidget uneasily, but he didn't have a chance to say anything to her as the assassin before them turned to address her: "Asta, sister to Blaze Burn; while I am glad to see you are alright, for his sake, I am most curious about your presence here. Tell me, while it was upon my order that Blaze Burn was invited here, why did you take it upon yourself to enter our halls uninvited?"

"I can answer that, actually." He decided to answer for her. "There have been some things that came up recently, aside from just the fanatics hanging corpses outside my door, that have made me uncomfortable just leaving her sitting around while I run off to deal with you guys. Wherever I go, she might be safer coming with me."

"Well, I won't lie and say that this decision pleases me, Blaze Burn; but for the moment it seems that I have few choices in the matter. She has already seen our base, and she knows how to get here, so we can't just have her falling into the wrong hooves." All-Feather said, her eyes squinting at Asta for a second, before she shifted back and seemed to relax considerably, though her expression reverted to neutral. She turned and trotted further into the room. Both Blaze and Asta watched as she stepped passed her bed, a large item covered with thick, pure white linens, and grabbed a bottle from the table next to it. "But I'm not going to deny any possible recruits, especially if they are close to someone like you, Blaze Burn. If you thought it best to bring her along, then I'll humor you under the assumption you wanted her to enter our world as well."

"What? That's-" He tried to protest, but her flat stare at him shut him up pretty quickly, allowing her to return to the center of the room in silence. Once she had trotted to the heavy desk, she dropped a bottle onto it, and sat on the chair.

Just sitting down with his compliance seemed to be enough to alter her mood, and she offered a weak smile, though distrust resounded in her stance as she reached into one of the drawers out of his sight. Dropping two ceramic mugs onto the desk, she cracked the bottle open, allowing a heavy scent to permeate the air, slowly stretching to the nostrils of both him and Asta. Pouring the dark brown drink into the mugs, her expression softened further, until what he thought to be a genuine smile appeared on her lips. She spoke then, not even looking up as she stoppered the bottle and pushed it to the side.

"Of course, because Asta is so young, aye: younger than even our youngest recruits, I will leave the decisions of what she does up to you. Until she has become of age to properly become initiated, anything Order-related activities she participates in are to be under your discretion, as her older brother. I have an older brother, did you know that?" He looked at her with a guarded expression, wondering just what she was going on about.

"However, that is not why I summoned you: no, we have far greater things to talk about." She added, placing deliberate hooves onto the desk and leaning forward with an air of sobriety that conflicted with her hopeful smile. "I'm not going to lie, Blaze Burn: we could really use you here, for both the hard work and for the morale of all the assassins here. If they all knew that you had finally taken up our cause, then it might inspire them to keep fighting, and with hope restored, we'll be hard pressed to fail.

"What I want you to understand, Mr. Burn, is that while we don't necessarily need you, it would make things considerably easier. I've given you plenty of reasons to consider accepting my offer, but if there is any doubts in your mind, all I ask is that you think it over. You once told somepony that you wanted to be rid of Al Capony as quickly as possible, and we have a means of doing not only that, but also taking down the very core of these fanatics for a very long while. Coffee?" Her confession was something he had not entirely expected, but was not particularly surprising for him: if he wanted to judge based off their open willingness to accept him. Reaching over to one of the ceramic mugs, she pushed it towards him in a gesture of kindness.

He glanced down at the mug before carefully reaching down and picking it up, giving it a cautious sniff and looking down at the dark liquid swirling within.

The strength of the scent of this drink was nearly overwhelming, as it was something he hadn't ever inhaled before, and it gave him pause about taking a sip. He glanced up to her expectant look, his brow furled. "What is it?"

"Coffee." She answered, smiling and taking her mug with a firm hoof and taking a hearty swig. "It's a drink we prepared back home, in Saddle Arabia; I don't think it's taken much of a hold here in the heart of Equestria yet. We take the seeds of the coffee plant, dry and roast them, crush the roasted seeds, or 'beans,' then we steep the resulting powder like tea: and the product comes out to a rather stimulating drink. It's proven to be quite useful at providing energy, and is one of my personal favorite morning drinks."

"Coffee. . ." He mumbled as he carefully brought the drink to his lips, feeling the hot liquid run down his tongue and the bitter strength of it nearly got him to spit it back out. Coughing down the drought, he put the drink back on the table, off to the side so that Asta could try it if she wanted to. "It's a little bitter for me. Perhaps something that could sweeten in up might improve the taste. . . have you tried putting milk in it?"

"Eh, guess it's not for everypony." All-Feather sighed, putting her own mug back on the table after another draught . "We've got a steady supply of the beans here, already dried and roasted, ready for use if anypony wants something strong to drink. It's actually one of the many benefits of being an Assassin."

"And speaking of which," He said. "I'm sure you already know about my opinions on murdering ponies, even evil-doers, and that in the past it would have made my acceptance here a little difficult. But if you hadn't heard, then allow me to give you an update: I've already come to terms with the fact that Al Capony needs to be killed, as there is no other way that Equestria could ever be safe while that stallion still breathes. I'm more than ready to accept your invitation to this little group of murders. . . but I'm still not willing to just go about killing ponies because they pose some minor threat."

"Most of the empowered ponies within that Cult are more than just minor threats to Equestria, Blaze Burn: each and every one of them has proved to be at least capable of plotting and planting chaos around the land. None are to be trifled with, and most of them have been exceptional at spreading anarchy within Equestria even since the time of the Chaos War." She said in a dead serious tone, her happy demeanor shifting to one of the pure formality of her line of work. "Be that as it may; I've issued an order to stay our blades, at least until we find out what those ponies have planned. Abstaining from the bloodshed is necessary right now, so I doubt you'll find many complaints there.

"However, I must warn you: when the time comes for us to remove this plague on society, I fully expect you to throw any hesitation to the wind, and aid us in killing every last one of them." She said, her eyes falling flatly on him with such ferocity glistening in those violet orbs that he almost felt compelled to accept her declaration.

It was only when Asta started to cough on the coffee did the tension break, if momentarily, while the two standing off turned to check her. When she waved off Blaze's concern, he turned to face All-Feather once more. "When the time comes, I'll let you decide what to do with the others that Al associates himself with; that monster my family one too many times for me to allow him to live. I'll be working with you guys for as long as that monster continues to corrupt Equestria, and if there is anything short of killing that I can help with, let me know."

"Will do." The Assassin nodded, visibly relaxing at having finally gotten him to her side, and she pointed towards the door with her scarlet wing. "For now, let's get you acquainted with your fellow brothers and sisters in the Order."

She stepped around the desk and pulled the door open, using a surprising amount of grace to do so, and greeted Rainbow on the other side. The cyan mare glanced at him, then smiled to Mistress Ahad, stepping back so that the three room occupants could exit the room and return to the main area, where the others had resumed their original duties. Rainbow let Ahad lead them onward, slowing down so she walked to the left of Blaze, with him being sandwiched between her and Asta. "So, you're now an Initiate. What's going to happen with her, though?"

Rainbow motioned to Asta with her head, and Blaze turned to her, pursing his lips as he thought about what _was_ going to happen to her. After a moment to think, he found a speck of worry hardening in his chest, and the lump in his throat was difficult to talk passed. "For now, I think it's best that I keep her by my side, at least until I have a good idea of just what is going to happen."

"You're going to drag her around because of the fanatics?" Rainbow asked, her voice and face informing him of just how incredulous the idea sounded to her, and while he was ready to agree with her, he couldn't just go about telling everypony about his deepest fears and worries.

"That and other reasons." He admitted, draping a wing over the shoulder of the mare in question, his heart calming down a bit as she leaned against his leg. It slowed his pace a bit, but having her at his side was better than meeting the other Assassins a few moments sooner. Once the three had followed All-Feather back to the large clearing the all stopped so that the Mistress could start the lengthy rounds of introductions.

The first two ponies that she brought to meet him were Slate and a bright pink mare, both donned in full robes and hoods drawn up. The mare pulled her hood down, letting a short, spiky mane bounce into its natural shape while she gave him a cheerful nod. "I'm Aqua Rose, this stallion's marefriend."

Aqua Rose had said with a nudge into the gray stallion's side, getting a nervous chuckle out of him before he looked to All-Feather. "And we've already been introduced to each other, back when Rainbow Crescent offered to take him in. If neither of you mind, I'll be going back to work on those repairs you asked of me. Aqua, feel free to talk with him."

Slate's abruptness was cut short when the pink mare stepped forward and stared Asta down with an unusually curious expression. "You must be Asta, Blaze's sister, right?"

"Yeah?" Asta replied slowly, leaning in Blaze's side while she stared right back at Aqua with a slightly uncomfortable shake in her voice, her forehoof inching up to push back the pink assassin should she get to close. The affirmative answer caused Aqua to grin even wider, and there was a second of fear where the other ponies assembled thought that her snout would split in two.

"That's just so bucking cool! Like, what is it like to know that your brother is this super intense pony that caught the attention of both a Princess and the master of lunatics? I mean seriously; how many ponies get to say that their-" A boot found its way into her muzzle shutting her up pretty quickly. All-Feather frowned as she looked into Aqua's eyes.

"We've talked about this, Aqua: I expect you to put your energy to good use running for us, and you should know that somepony like Asta isn't fit to even be here. How about you run along and see if there are any reports that need tending, and maybe Blaze will let you talk to her later. Remember that there are other ponies eager to meet Blaze." Said pony could only watch in confusion and mild discomfort at the way this mare was being treated, but he dare not say anything about it, else he ruin the introductions further. Either way, Aqua didn't seem to take offense to the treatment, and instead she smiled and nodded happily, turning and trotting away.

He really wanted to know what that was all about, but All-Feather had already motioned for another party to take the empty spot, and a burly golden mare that had a stupidly big war-hammer strapped to her back walked up. Though she had the actual vest and leggings of the Order, he thought it was strange that she sported no hood or cape, displaying her stocky frame with an authoritarian aura. Her there seemed to be a void following her head and flank as she stepped forward, flickering like cloth in the wind, and it took a second for him to realize that it was just her mane.

"Howdy." She greeted once she had gotten up to him, her thick accent reminding him of the apple farmers from down south, and she even had freckles on her cheeks that added to the image of a hardy farmhoof. "Glad y'all decided ta make it here an' help us show 'em how we like to keep things runnin' as smooth as a glass of honey cider on a sweet summer afternoon."

"Yeah, no problem." He smiled, offering a hoof for her to shake. By the size of the hammer on her back, he should have guessed that she was going to to crush his hoof, but sometimes he could be an idiot, and so when she reached forward and accepted the gesture, he found himself gasping in surprise.

"Oops, sorry there partner." She apologized the moment it became evident she'd done some damage, earning an honest laugh from the rest of the group. "Sometimes ah ferget mah own strength. Mah name's Lucky Apple, but everypony 'round here just calls me 'Hammer.' Gotta say, it sure is mighty fine meetin' somepony who appreciates a large weapon."

"I can see why you got the name." Blaze responded, flicking his hoof as he eyed the weapon looming over the mare; his curiosity and astonishment that she would use such a thing overwhelming him.

"Yeah. This here's mah beauty, an' ah call 'er 'Truth' 'cause when she hits. . . well, the truth hurts." She chuckled to herself, turning to the side so that her companion could step forward. The mare behind her was also an earth pony donning the hood-less robes, though she had opted for the cape. Her coat was a light tan, though he could only tell because of a thin sliver slipping through her crimson mane, displaying just enough of her face that she would have been able to see. Strapped to her back was a crossbow that seemed like it should have been too big for her to use, though he assumed that his opinion was just because she seemed to shrink when the attention shifted to her.

Still, she stepped forward, her hooves hesitantly pulling herself forward until she was beside Hammer. "This here is mah little sister, Apple Tarnish, an' she sure was excited ta learn that ya were comin' 'ere to join."

"You pretty young to be an Assassin." Asta remarked, stepping out from under his wing to offer her a hoof. "But I guess you'll still be able to teach me what it's like to have an older sibling showing you what it's like to be one. I'm Asta, Blaze's little sister."

Her approach seemed to get a positive reaction out of Apple Tarnish, because she stood a bit taller and smiled, her mane receding to reveal her eyes, which seemed to be exact copies of Hammer's. The two younger sisters shook hooves and stepped to the side to do their own introductions while Hammer turned back to Blaze. "Ah feel ya in regards ta yer little sister: ah was torn about it mahself, kicking and bucking like a wild bull to keep 'er outta this life, but things got so much easier when she joined. It may not feel like it now, but trust me when ah tell ya that there is no safer place in Equestria than in this building: it's like a bunker, and the magical defenses are topnotch."

"Good to know." He responded, though it was very clear that he didn't agree. "Am I right in assuming you're from that apple family? I do believe that it's like a tradition to name your foals something related to apples."

"Yer darn tootin' we're part o' the family!" Hammer beamed proudly, welcoming the change of topic as they entered familiar territory. "Born n' raised on the family farm just east o' these here woods, where the river pours from this place. Least, that was the case before the place was wrecked when ah was just a filly, when mah flank was as blank as the overnight blanket of fallen snow. Them there fanatics ruined the place in the name o' Discord, an' ah don't even understand how it helped whatever they wanted."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Blaze responded, his ears falling down as he felt a bit of empathy for the mare.

"Don't be: wasn't yer fault they were all a bunch of loonies. 'Sides, ah've come to terms with the fact that mah farm ain't there no more, though ah just wish ah had the chance ta show Apple Tarnish it back in the hay day." She waved off his apology. "Looks like we'll have some more time ta get ta know each other later: ah've taken up too much o' yer time already."

Blaze thanked her with a nod and let her go, preparing himself to meet the other ponies, though after the strange farmer mare turned warrior, he doubted anypony would really catch his attention. The next pony was an older stallion by the name of Wind Walker, a pegasus who had an eye patch and a heart of vengeance against the Cult. After that, he got to meet another couple, this time in the form of two mares, both unicorns, who were uncomfortably interested in getting to know him further in private. He would have assumed they were flirting with him, as Twilight had acted the same way towards him, but here was a couple of mares, so he did his best to rule out the possibility.

The two mares talked with him a bit, getting him to open up about his own personal desires for joining with the Order. After he had indulged their curiosity, he got to learn some bits and pieces of their history, how they had been yet another victim of the fanatics spreading chaos.

One thing that he had learned was that many of the assassins here were victims to either Al himself or other members of that Cult. He questioned the mental stability of many of them, as Wind Walker had seemed especially spiteful, and the mares Tide Knocker and Elaine van Colt seemed. . . the best way he would describe them was off. Hammer, while she seemed to have a warm heart and a level head, sounded bitter, and though he wasn't going to blame her, she was still so young that he wondered just how this was all going to play for her.

His impressions on the next three ponies stayed well within his observations of broken ponies who had lost something dear to them because of the fanatics. The pegasus Gloom Needle hobbled up to him with an expectant look in his eye, hobbling because Al Capony had severed his blue forehoof, and had begged him to make the zealot unicorn suffer.

Aether, a hotheaded mare unicorn, had introduced herself as the Order's finest enchanter, and though her temper was clearly directed towards the Cult, she had kept her history a secret. If he were to be honest, the straightforward trust they had put in him, pretty much a stranger they were literally just meeting, was a little disconcerting. Aether had been the first pony that he actually felt was justifiably distrustful, or at least had been upfront about it.

It was perfectly possible that the others were simply lying to gauge how he'd react.

After Aether came the final pony he would meet that day: a green pegasus who's jaw looked to have scars running along her mouth. They were the visible remnants of some horrible past that he was suddenly doubting if he actually wanted to learn of, and as she approached him, he felt a pang of hesitation. Here were the truly broken ponies, he was certain. They were the ones that he got the impression were going to see this through no matter the cost.

"We call her Shout." All-Feather said from his side, returning after grabbing another mug of coffee. The day was wearing on, and he was also feeling the effects of close to two hours of introductions, but after his first experience with the bitter, almost acidic drink, he decided that he'd wait before having it again. "It was her idea, sort of a play on the fact that she doesn't speak."

"Don't speak? Is that what the scars are? Are you mute?" He asked, regretting the words as soon as they came out, and helplessly watching as a small pained expression crossed her face and she winced. Then she seemed to recover and shook her head,opening her mouth and gesturing with a hoof to her tongue, which suddenly split down the middle. Understanding washed over him as he stepped back: she'd been mutilated, and it must have left her traumatized. "Ah, I'm sorry."

Shout shrugged, nodding to All-Feather, and reaching to take the mug of coffee, which the leader offered without a second thought. The green mare turned with the drink and fluttered off, leaving just Blaze, Asta, and All-Feather standing near the hallway. He turned to the Arabian; "I was told that I'd be able to meet the dragon, Flamewing, whenever she felt like it. So what's the deal with her? Rainbow explained how she got here, but what got her to stay?"

"I won her over. Simple as that." All-Feather replied, a twinkle in her eye.

"Nothing is ever that simple." Asta stated, trotting around to face the older mare with a knowing smirk. "She came here to hunt down some ponies that thought to steal some of her own, she found them and burned them to the ground, and somehow you just managed to curb her bloodlust and recruit her to your cause? Yeah, sorry, but I'm not buying it."

"When she decides to speak with you, you can ask her for yourself. I think it'll help you get along, and it might be enough for her to decided to actually hold a conversation with you: you'll find out pretty quickly that she isn't one for talking." The scarlet pegasus said with a shrug, spinning around and indicating to the line of doors in front of them. "For now, feel free to explore the place, these are all bedrooms, just find an empty one and claim it. I'm off to get some work done."

"Before you go." Blaze said, reaching forward to catch her attention. "Why is it that Flamewing has to approach us?"

"You'll find out when she speaks with you." She responded, finally trotting away, leaving the two pegasi standing there without much else of a plan for the day. Once her hoofsteps stopped resounding off the stone walls, Blaze sighed and turned to Asta, his mind a little overwhelmed with the surge of information.

"Good thing you don't need a room, huh?" Asta giggled, pushing into his side with a hoof. "Come on, the day is dragging on, and while this place is super exciting, I know that everypony back home is probably going to start wondering just where you are. Besides, don't you have a flight for Luna?"

"You just love reminding me of my past mistakes, don't you?" He asked with a roll of his eyes. "I'll just grab a room just in case: it looks like there are plenty of options, and having somewhere I can go to for a night that isn't home isn't a bad idea."

"Yeah, but what's the point if you're literally never going to use it?"

"Who says I'm never going to use it?" He cocked an eyebrow at her, stepping down the hall and going to a random door, trying to push it open. When the door didn't budge, he guessed it was already claimed and tried another, luckily pushing aside a door to reveal a pretty bland room: a single cot pressed against the far wall, a chest near the base, and a nightstand just off to the side. The room was lit by a magic light hovering against the center of the ceiling. He eyed it curiously, then shrugged and trotted inside.

The thick woolen rug on the ground dampened the gentle thumping of his boots on the stone floor as he stopped before the bed. He turned to Asta, who was looking around in clear disappointment. "Not much, huh?"

"All the more reason to stay in your own room back home, which has a larger, much more comfortable bed already there." Her urging to return home wasn't going to get lost on him, but he still wanted to explore a bit more, so he walked over to the bed and sat down on it. He internally conceded that she was right about his bed back home being far more comfortable, but there wasn't really any way that he could reasonably reveal that to her. "At least back there you'll have everything you need right there, and no pony has to trek across town to grab you if we need something."

"And at least here, these guys won't have to trek across town to grab me if they need something." He said. He led her to the door, noticing that she seemed to think that he had finally submitted and was going to take her home. She was in for a surprise.

He trotted through the halls until he stumbled across the apple farmer Assassin, who was sitting on a chair tirelessly polishing her hammer. As he approached, he noticed that Apple Tarnish was also fiddling with her weapon: the crossbow unstrung and sitting in her lap. "Hey Hammer, you got a minute?"

"Sure thing, partner. Whatcha want ta know?" She smiled as he walked up, dropping the rag in her hoof to give him her undivided attention.

"I was just a little curious about those magic lights in the bedrooms. They didn't seem to be powered by anything, and I was just wondering if they were supposed to be on all the time: that would seem to make sleeping a little difficult, wouldn't it?" He asked. Asta groaned at his attempts to delay their departure, and he flicked her side with a feather, earning him a startled yelp from the young pegasus. The golden mare just chuckled and nodded towards the hallway.

"They dim down to a very low glow once the sun goes down, allowing anypony to sleep as long as the small amount of light ain't a problem. Ya can thank that little bit o' magic on our old Master Assassin: a unicorn with a penchant for practical spells that he could use in a surprisin' number o' interestin' ways."

"Oh, thanks." He smiled his thanks and trotted away.

"Hey, Blaze Burn." Hammer called out, her normally easy country accent tainted with just a touch of sadness. He stopped and looked back at her, noting that there was definitely some regret shining through her orange eyes. "Ah get what yer doin' and all, but just think about how easily them there fanatics were able ta disrupt yer life. If ya have somepony ya want to keep safe, sometimes putting them in a bit o' a tough spot might make them able ta protect themselves, making yer job as the elder that much easier."

He didn't respond. He didn't want to: her words rang true with some of his own beliefs, but they also conflicted with his instincts on just about every level. He turned and led Asta out of the room, through the massive archways and up the gray stone steps.


	28. Fulmination of Strife

Chapter 28: Fulmination of Strife

The two took to the skies nearly immediately upon leaving the Assassin base: through Asta's own desire to get home, and at the urging of Blaze's frustration of Hammer's words.

Though the skies were clear, and the sun was still glistening in the sky, the cool air was doing its best to penetrate his thick clothing. The icy bite of the gentle wind blowing through the city skies caught him by surprise, mostly because he had gotten comfortable in the clothes surrounding him, but also because he always enjoyed the cold. The wind wasn't even blowing that badly, though every time that Asta brushed passed him sent a small bit of air stirring his way.

He shivered and pushed on, hoping that getting some air under his feathers would help. Watching Asta do several flips and rolls did distract him from the worries of earlier, as it was clear she was ready to soar: a sentiment he shared with her wholeheartedly. He glided on a current of air, admiring how she had been increasing her flying skills over time, before he felt that same longing as she did: the one to just _move_.

Pulling himself out of the current, he pumped his wings hard, and rocketed up, easily overtaking the mare and bursting above her, earning a startled yelp in response. He did an exaggerated loop before rushing passed her, rolling as he did so and laughing while she tried to adjust herself as he whipped by.

"Watch it!" She cried out, flying forward to catch up with him. He only chuckled as he rolled onto his back and watched her accelerate until she was matching his speed. She had a wicked grin as she looped around him, showing off her flying skills, as it was something he knew that she knew how much he enjoyed displaying. There truly were fewer feelings as amazing as soaring through the open skies, free to go where one pleased, and to have the entire world beneath them.

Though he was weighed down by his gear, he had no difficulty in reaching extreme speeds, whipping in the air above the city with Asta tailing just behind him, the two engaged in a dance of speed and precision that had both their hearts pumping in no time. Feeling the blood surging through his wings, lending warmth and strength to his extremities, he pushed himself further, flying faster and higher than he had in some time, pulling himself into one of the largest loops he thought he ad ever tried to do before. The wind was picking up at an unbelievably speed at this height, and he felt himself struggling to keep straight, the currents trying to rip him away.

Still he pushed, climbing to the point where the air was bone-chillingly cold and the wind was roaring in his ears. Now that the forces going horizontal to the ground were nearly unbeatable, he pulled back and found himself inverted, allowing the wind to pull him along.

Sparing a single glance downwards, he saw that the city looked to be about a third it's normal size, still nothing compared to that one time he did that super insane trick or whatever it was. Asta was just a brown speck above the brown and gray blob of a city, and it looked like she was desperately trying to keep up with him, which he was certain was insanely difficult given his natural advantage.

But, seeing that she had dedicated so much effort into staying with him, he decided to reward her, so he tucked his wings against his side and let gravity pull him out of the current. The wind of air pulling him along was soon replaced by the roaring wind of descending at alarming rates, and he felt adrenaline and exhilaration bloom within his chest, his heart pumping them through his body and giving him a high feeling, his thoughts only focused on the way his body lined up to work with the rushing sea of air.

He slowly pulled his wings open, allowing himself enough time to pull out of the dive with comfort: he wasn't ready to destroy his body quite yet. Even though his wings provided drag against his rapid gliding, he maintained a fair bit of momentum, speeding towards the brown and green blob that was Asta off in the distance and approaching rapidly.

Fearing a collision with the mare that was already close enough that he could see her malicious grin, he twisted his wings and started doing wide barrel rolls, whipping passed her with an uncomfortable amount of space between them. His heart feeling like it was in his throat, he did a wide banking turn, eventually getting around to see her flying towards him at a much more sedated pace. They both slowed down, their breathing increased with exertion, but still within a comfortable talking pace. He couldn't stop the chuckling from escaping as the slowly drifted together in the air.

"What?" She asked, smiling happily as she started lazily spiraling around him, her face plastered with an excited grin.

"You just had to play chicken with me, didn't you?" He asked once he had gotten his fit under control, happily watching her for her response as she performed her contented roll under him, the mare then turning and floating above him. "You knew that I'd lose, so you just had to race directly at me."

"Maybe." She said playfully, giggling as he sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation. There was a comfortable moment of silence as they flew towards a small group of clouds that had slowly drifted over the city. The two happily drifted along, until he realized that she had been hanging back just enough to drop on top of him, the sudden weight landing on his back causing his wings to buckled and for him to start plummeting towards the ground.

He grunted in shock, slamming his wings down to regain control over them, before finally adjusting himself to the mare giggling like made and clinging to his back. Once he had stabilized himself, he glared back at her, his mood temporarily shattered from her little stunt. "And just what the actual buck was that?"

"You regained control pretty quickly, there, Blazy." She giggled, her face a little flushed in what he was fairly sure was embarrassment, though he figured it could easily have been that she was just acting like a foal. Either was possible.

"Yeah, I kind of had to." He said, his irritation finally subsiding a bit; there was no way he could really stay mad at her for something like this, what was likely just a poorly thought out prank. He turned his attention to flying them back up to where they had been, then he looked back to her, as she was suddenly pretty quiet. "Alright, Asta: what's going on? You're face is as red my mane: what's on your mind?"

She tried to meet his gaze for a second, but she could only maintain contact for that second before she muttered to herself, burying her face into his mane. He slowed down his wings, stalling them in the skies so he could talk to her with minimal distractions, but what he had hoped to sooth her ended up getting her to twitch in a panic. He swung his head to see why she was shifting around on his back just in time to feel her lurch off of his back, nearly flipping him as she supported herself in the air.

He swung around, looking at her with clear confusion, hoping that she would explain before he had to ask, but the questioning words caught in his throat at her appearance. She was fluttering just before him, her hind legs crossed in a nervous fashion while she rubbed one stiff foreleg with her other, and though she was flapping her wings, they were as stiff as steel.

By now, her face was more red than, and she refused to meet his gaze. "I-It's just that yesterday I had read up on some interesting pegasus facts, and. . . well, I wanted to know some things."

"Like what?" He wasn't sure what she was talking about, mostly because he had no clue what books she would have even been able to read.

"Well. . . one said t-that a strong-flying pegasus was pretty. . . popular." She said, her voice going so meek that he had difficulty hearing her over the gentle breeze flowing around them. She did her best to flash him a reassuring smile, but all it did was add to his confusion over what she was trying to say. It was clear that her explanation did nothing to quell his confusion, and her smile fell flat as she facehoofed. So she stopped any other thoughts she was going to carry on with so she could better explain what she meant, until one final thought wound it's way into her head.

Her mischievous grin reappeared on her face. "Come on, and I'll show you what I meant."

He blinked at her sudden shift in tone, and felt a spike of concern for her, so as she flew passed him, he obliged her, if only to stay close enough to her that he could intervene in necessary. She fluttered on, barely going above a walking pace, as if she were starting to warm up all over again, and not wanting to strain a muscle. He thought she might have hurt herself, but before he could ask her if she was okay, she pumped her wings once and started doing her lazy rolls around him again.

He opened his mouth to question her motives again, but decided that this was probably something she felt like she needed to do on her own. It was also something he fully planned on asking Celestia about once he next saw her: he was going to investigate those books personally.

Now that they had picked up the pace, he could see that she was leading him towards the clouds again, and it dawned on him that she was looking for somewhere private to talk. He felt a pang in his gut, as if it were warning him that something was off, and while he agreed somewhat, he knew that it had to have something to do with why she was so fidgety. He picked up the pace, sensing that what she was trying to get to was time sensitive, and the moment he did, her aura of urgency increased, making her fly circle around him even faster.

His concern was not ceasing to grow, but now he felt like something needed to be said, because he would be lying if he said he wasn't a little afraid for her right then. "Asta, just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's. . . wrong. . . silly." She smirked breathlessly, which did nothing to abate his worries. On the contrary; they only reinforced his reasons to worry, so he tried reaching out for her hoof, hoping to catch her and stop her, but she darted away from his prying limb a moment before it could grab her. As she jolted above him, he felt a splat of water hit his cheek, and he quickly wiped it free, glancing up to the sky and wondering where that drop of rain came from. The nearest bunch of clouds, and the only visible clouds were still a ways in front of them.

He glanced back to the encircling mare, wondering why she was breathless, and feeling totally lost with just about everything that was happening around him. He blinked and tried to slowly move to one side, so that when she finally flew by him on that side, he'd be able to quickly reach out and snatch her: maybe he could get a straight answer out of her then.

Just as she came up from underneath him, flying off to his left, he tensed his muscles, readying himself to grab her: it looked like she didn't notice what he was doing. She came up, and his hoof shot out, yet once again, she seemed to react just in time, dipping beneath his grasping appendage and darting away again. Only, this time, as his hoof retracted, she darted closer to him and retaliated, lightly whipping him with her tail she she shot passed his face.

He knew she was playing around, and the action didn't really do much of anything aside from a light sting across his cheek, but it still surprised him. Was she actually toying with him? Just what was she doing?

He growled in frustration and darted forwards after her, and the wind stung against his face, the whip her tail gave him making his eyes smart. Not wanting her to get away from him, he quickly wiped away the excess liquid clouding his vision and pushed forward. She looked down at him, her face still glowing, and he thought he could feel the heat coming off of it, as if her head was a burning fire. He felt his own cheeks warm up a bit, though he hadn't had the slightest clue why.

Frowning at her games, he tried putting on a burst of speed, hoping to catch her by surprise again, only to reach out and have her dart away from him. Damn her and her fleeting advantage on him.

She whipped around his reaching hoof and flicked his snout with her tail again, leaving it stinging. He tried reaching again, only for her to absorb into the cloud right behind her, leaving him stalling in the air, surprised that they had already reached the tiny cluster of clouds above the city. He touched down on the soft, puffy surface, feeling an unnatural warmth rising from the cloud across his face.

He brought a hoof up to his cheek to wipe at it, trying to erase the memory of her tail stinging him, but was greatly surprised, and more than a touch surprised to find his face burning.

Panting from the effort of chasing Asta, he looked around the cloud for her, using the opportunity to give his wings a moment to rest before he'd take back the skies. Her giggles seemed to surround him, and he was growing increasingly frustrated by her antics, yet before he could act upon that frustration, she was on the cloud with him. Her wings fluttered stiffly, and she seemed to be hesitant to actually land on the cloud, though she was heaving air out her muzzle just as heavily as he was, her face somehow burning brighter than ever. He gasped for air, his mind stuck at how he was so easily winded. "Asta. . . what. . . the buck. . . are you. . . doing?"

"Oh, Blazy. . ." She sighed wistfully, staring at him with half-lidded eyes. "Don't you know about the ancient ritual? All pegasi know about it."

He frowned at her statement, as it did nothing to appease his frustration, but something in the back of his mind was trying to inform the rest of him what it was. This ritual. . . there was something about it that he knew. . . he knew, right? What was it? He blinked and shook his head as the air around them got considerably warmer, as if the very sun were sitting right next to them, and he felt the tips of his ears burn hotter than he'd felt in a long time. He stumbled as he tried to take a step towards her, as if his body were forcing him to sit still while it tried to muster the strength to think.

"It's the. . . thing about. . ." He trailed off as Asta dipped a bit closer to him, though when he glanced at her, it looked like she were lying on a bed in the air: she was flat and had her forehooves crossed in a patient manner.

"Yes: it's the thing about us." Her wings must have been straining to keep her up like that, but he could barely think about pretty much anything. The air was getting unbearably hot around them, and it truly felt like Celestia was playing with them, but that was by far the least of his concerns. He stared into Asta's eyes with a blank expression, not really paying attention to the fact that she was inching closer to him by the second: his mind was now focusing all willpower on how tight his clothing was feeling.

That was the focus, until a strong, nearly intoxicating scent invading his nostrils, filling his lungs as he inhaled and draining his mind of any remaining capacity to think. His eyes focused for a second on hers, which happened to be inches from his and were steadily shutting. There was an uncomfortable amount of warmth radiating from her breath as she closed the remaining distance between their lips.

 _(Hinterland Seer here with a more than adequate Warning, though if you've read up to this point you can already tell what's about to happen. Either way, there is about to be some seriously taboo shit about to go down, and if this is something your either uncomfortable with, or are simply just not here to read, then hit Ctr+F, and type in "Regrets are to be had" and it'll take you to the end.)_

Losing himself to the moment, his own eyes shut themselves as he leaned into the kiss, a flicker of a thought popping up that this really shouldn't be happening. Unfortunately, that thought was crushed by the curiosity of how she had had time to improve at kissing, and she pulled herself closer to him and wrapped her her forehooves around his neck. He did the same, and after several seconds of passion, they pulled apart with gentle gasps of breath.

Staring into her eyes, he could see the fires of passion eating away at her restraint, dancing around her irises and begging to be released, to be given the freedom to consume them both. He smirked once, then leaned back in, feeling a small part of himself take over, like a predator pouncing on its prey, and he felt powerless to stop it. They locked lips again, more fervently than before and without any semblance of hesitancy, both opening their jaws with a furious passion that expressed itself in their tongues thrashing and twisting, fighting each other for dominance and exploring the other's mouths. They continued this until neither could hold their breath any longer, and they separated with a loud gasp for breath, a long tendril of saliva still spanning the distance between them.

He gazed longingly into her eyes, a look that she was reciprocating with grand enthusiasm, and a dopey grin on his face as he refilled his lungs. He ran his hooves down her sides, the most primal parts of his body appreciating how her toned muscles shifted and moved, before finding them planted firmly on her hips and pulling her to the soft surface of the cloud.

She held onto his shoulders with her forehooves, and gave him a brief peck on the snout before leaning back so he could have a good look at what she was offering him. Her torso expanded and compressed with each breath, and even though her leafy green tail was whipping back and forth like mad, she watched with utter glee as his eyes zoned in on her sopping wet sex.

She let him get a good view before prying herself out of his grip and spinning around and landing on all fours again, her tail wagging back and forth, teasing him with sparing views of her dripping prize. She stared at him over her shoulder, giving him a sultry look that Twilight would have been proud of, flicking her tail at his snout when he stepped forward. "Patience, Blazy."

They were still breathless, and while neither really wanted the break, she felt like she needed to tease him a bit. She reached a hoof under her belly, feeling it trace between her minuscule teats and then she struck gold. He grinned at her as he watched her gently run her hoof along her narrow slit, and he eyed the liquids that poured out with a hungry expression. While she worked herself up for him, he used his own hooves to undo his leggings, giving his member some air.

"Now, Blazy. . ." She said, gasping and biting her lip as her hoof rubbed against her winking clit. "I. . . I want you to warm me up, okay?"

"Warm you up?" He asked, his face showing the momentary flash of confusion as he stared at her opening, which by now was absolutely drenched. He smirked as he took a step forward, each movement jostling his member and getting it to twitch anxiously. "Asta, I don't think you could get any warmer if you were in heat, but I'd be more than happy to lend a hoof, it that's what you want."

He reached forward with a hoof and delicately ran it along her slit, relishing the waves of scent that poured over him as he did so, his mouth watering ever so slightly and his member now properly throbbing. He felt a shudder run through her as his hoof brushed against her pearl, so he worked it in circles around her, enjoying each and every moan that escaped her. He started slowly, being as gentle as he could, until she started to grind her hips into his hoof, her body twitching for more pleasure.

He could only comply with her wishes.

He started to rub her opening faster, working her into a frenzy as his hoof treated her special honey pot with each downward stroke. Her moans got louder and deeper the faster he went, but it was slowly loosing its effect on him, so he slowed down until she stopped exclaiming her pleasure, and instead shifted both hooves to underneath her hips, getting a strong grip on her legs.

She turned to question why he stopped, but before she could get a word out, he plunged his snout into her marehood, his tongue running the entire length of her opening. She let out a yelp of surprise, before every sound become one of euphoric proportions, and not a single intelligent thought was to be heard. He would flick his tongue against her clit, circling it gently before running the entirety of her slit, before suddenly finding itself back to that winking little nub. His attention got her to push her rear against him, desperately trying to enhance the experience beyond everything she could imagine.

He pulled his tongue free of her clit after a couple of circles, and began to kiss and nip at the inner lengths of her thighs. Her response was immediate, in that her tail flung itself from across her back to around his face, pulling his snout back to her marehood.

He chuckled to himself, and relished the moans that escaped her muzzle as his hot breath washed over her, inciting a small drip of liquid to pour from her. He knew she was getting close, as her legs were quivering, and he could feel her body clenching and shaking, so he got back to work. The teasing could happen later.

He pressed the widest part of his tongue against her clit, then ran it the entire way up her marehood, doing it slowly so that she could feel each and every bud on his tongue as it flicked passed her quivering opening. Then, without missing a beat, inserted the tip of his tongue into her sopping sex, feeling her muscles contract around him as she gasped in pleasure. He made sure to enter slowly, but she seemed to have a different idea, as she rammed her marehood back, bringing him snout-deep inside her.

His eyes widened in surprise, but he recovered quickly enough, and began to work with the limited oxygen he had.

His tongue ravaged her quickly, getting her to thrash and shake every time his bottom lip pressed against her pearl and working her into a total frenzy. When her legs started to convulse, he pulled out and planted his lips around her clit, sucking and gently nibbling while her body shook and convulsed. He smiled to himself as he watched her marehood contract, no doubt in his mind that her walls were contracting and convulsing and trying to milk a member that wasn't there. Yet.

He gently leaned away, letting her legs go and trying to rise, only to have her fall limply in front of him. She panted and gasped for air, sprawled out on the floor with no strength to do much more than try to breath. She stepped forward and loomed over her, nuzzling her face once she had recovered enough to not struggle for air.

"Blaze. . ." She sighed, returning the nuzzle. Once they separated, she looked at him with another sultry grin, gathering the strength to pull herself onto her hooves, which looked like a struggle for her, even when he backed off for her. "I. . . need you. . ."

She didn't finish. She didn't need to: her tail flung itself out of the way, opening herself up for him, he knew exactly what he had to do. He leaned forward and inhaled her scent greedily, feeling more ready than he had ever felt in his life, then pulled his head up. Due to his much larger size, mounting her proved easy enough, and the moment his forehooves touched her sides, her wings flung out, stiffening for the rutting she was about to receive. He felt his own wings slowly unfurl as the tip of his member brush against her sex.

It drove her crazy.

Aligning himself, he braced himself against her, and even with how wet she was, it was difficult sliding inside, her walls immediately clutching tightly to him. She let out a small pained cry, and he stopped, looking down to her with concern.

She turned to him, nodding and smiling, though she was clearly struggling. Still, if the mare said to go on, then he was going to go on, so he adjusted his stance, each movement making her clench around him even tighter, to the point that he didn't know how she could stand it. It felt like he was getting crushed. Then, once he felt ready, and with her anxious nodding, slowly started to push inside her again, inch by agonizing inch. She groaned in pained pleasure until he hit the very end of her marehood, feeling her deepest spot pressing tightly against his tip.

With still a couple of inches left, he waited for her to get comfortable with his length inside her, despite each ragged breath she took making her body press against him even harder. After a few meager seconds of waiting, she nodded for him to continue.

He smiled and leaned forward, giving her a gentle kiss on the neck, then he slowly started to pull out of her, stopping when all that was left inside was a small portion of his head, before slowly plunging back inside. He started slowly, almost agonizingly slow, giving her plenty of time to adjust, waiting for the cue to proceed. That cue came in the form of her beginning to push her hips against him in rhythm to his gentle thrusts, each one earning a small moan of pleasure.

He put in a little more effort, resulting in more consistent moans of pleasure from her, all the while he struggled to contain the huffs he was letting out.

Her wings began to flap furiously, though they had a very limited amount of space to work with, as his own had fully extended now, and brown feathers began to beat against his barrel. The simple act of her flapping her wings had a strange effect on him, however: it was as if his own wings were swaying in the nonexistent wind, and he could feel his blood straining between flooding his member and filling his wings. This, of course, left his head absolutely empty of any thoughts, and all he could focus on was the overwhelming sensation of Asta's walls clamped around him, squeezing tighter and tighter while she bucked against him.

It wasn't too long before her usually consistent movements started getting erratic, resulting in his instincts demanding he go harder. So that is what he did, earning a pleasure-filled moan from her as he did so.

Not very long after that, he felt a wave of euphoria as her walls clamped as hard as ever around him, and then the convulsions started as her sex tried milking the seed that wasn't there. He couldn't slow down, though: not now. He didn't give her a chance to breath through anything, instead he chose to pick up his pace even more, forgoing any sense of subtlety or patience. He wasn't going as fast as he could, but his thrusts were eliciting a constant stream of moaning gasps from her, as if her trying to ride out the waves of her orgasm weren't enough.

She was able to let out a few euphoric cries before she slowly started coming down from that high that he noticed the first real difference in anything outside of their passionate efforts. The observations mainly came in the form of a slight stirring breeze around them, and his wings being the culprit behind them.

Unfortunately, that was as far as he could focus, because the sound of Asta begging for more cut through his attention. He was surprised to see that she was holding up, well. . . he would have been if he was able to think.

Still, there was something in the back of his mind that was tugging for control over his wings, and he didn't have the capacity to maintain control. He lost any actual control some time ago. . . and so that little itch in the back of his head began to bring his wings to a flurry, giving him more focus on what his hips were doing, and the rising tension beginning in his nether regions.

He felt his forehooves slid down Asta's sides until they clamped her wings still, and as he pitched forward, he began to drill into her with renewed enthusiasm, the pair of them letting out pleasurable cries. Neither took the time to notice that they had slowly begun drifting away from the center of the cloud, carried softly by his automatic wings.

Neither were able in the moments after, either; with their hips bucking at maximum potential, and with the pleasure slowly mixing with pain and discomfort, any mental function was considered treason of the highest.

Blaze felt the pressure around his member begin to rise at an alarming rate, and even though Asta did seem to be capable of handling more, he was on the brink, and getting closer with every thrust. His ears finally started working again, and through the heavy pulsing of his blood, they told him of the delightful moans the two of them were producing. That cue was then replaced by the very sudden and forceful urge to bite down on something, anything, in the wake of the seed bursting from within. He plunged himself inside her as deep as he could, feeling a tightening pressure around his tip as it brushed against her deepest parts, while he leaned forward and clamped his jaws near the base of her skull; much to both their surprise.

His wings lock up, standing straight out and barely keeping the two of them from dropping to the cloud just beneath them. The two stay locked like that for a few seconds, before his muscles warned him of the exertion he had just performed, and promptly dumped the pair of entangled pegasi onto the cloud.

The landed with a thud, and yelped in surprise.

With his softening member finally being released by the vice of Asta's trembling sex, he struggled to his hooves, his wings feeling completely dead and flowing in the wind weakly. He was struggling to contain his panting, though she seemed to have no such reservations, panting as though she had just run a marathon. She leaned her head back and grinned at him with an utterly satisfied smile, allowing her wings to fold outwards, slumping on the surface of the cloud while her slit dripped with the product of their labors.

"Blaze. . . that w-was. . . amaaazing." She managed to groan out in between breaths, somehow managing to get her tongue to lull out of her mouth in the process. He smiled gratuitously, planting his hooves in a wide stance so he could catch his breath, which he was thankful didn't take long. He leaned down and nuzzled into her mane, inhaling the thick scent of her sweat, and using the strangely attractive scent to clear his head.

 _(Regrets are to be Had)_

Idle thoughts now gone, and with his blood finally returning to his skull, he pulled himself away from his sister, feeling the weight of his actions finally bearing down on him. He tripped as he stepped to the right, his hooves catching on her as he made his way to the closest edge of the cloud.

He began retching just as he got to the side, though a small pool of vomit dripped on the very edge. He emptied whatever was left in his stomach in the form of projectile vomit being flung off the cloud and down to the unaware ponies below. It was only once he was, once more, struggling to his hooves that Asta noticed what he was doing, though she was in no state to try to comfort him.

He wiped his muzzle with a hoof, then turned and flashed a pained, if sympathetic smile towards her, then hobbled his way over. He offered her a hoof to get her up, and though he commended her efforts, he realized that she was in no position to do anything involving her back half, so he scooped her into his hooves and silently took off, much to her annoyance.

"Okay, Blazy: what was that back there?" She asked as he slowly drifted down from their sky-bound perch, doing her best to meet his blank expression. When he didn't answer, she just sighed in disappointment and nuzzled against his neck, sticking her snout inside of his drawn hood and taking in as much of his scent as she could. She had a sneaking suspicion over what this was about, though she didn't feel like it was as big of a deal as she figured he thought it was.

He was certain it was a much bigger deal than she was likely to ever admit to thinking it was, and the only reason he was able to stop dry heaving once his stomach was empty was by shutting off any emotional processing. He came to the conclusion that Asta looked to be in heavy need of a bath, and he felt like one might help him before bed. So he was going to do just that, starting with getting her home with as little trouble as possible. He opted to glide silently above the city until he was over their abode, dropping into the large backyard before the sun came close to the western horizon.

They much have been up there for far longer than he had thought, which might have gone to explain why he was so exhausted. As he stepped up to the door, he looked down to her, guilt and regret welling in the pit of his stomach at what he had done, before gently setting her on her hooves.

Though she was shaky, she was able to hold herself up, so he stepped up to the door, reaching for it even as he turned back to her. "You should probably take a bath, then try to get something to eat before heading off to bed."

He pulled the door open, motioning for her to step inside, though the slightly tired look morphed into irritation when she made no motion to move. She was looking at his in disbelief, but the longer he looked at her, the more depth to the emotions he could see: her confusion and shock, then the pain and sadness. He didn't realize how far his gaze pierced into her until her ears flopped against her skull and she wordlessly darted inside, her wings tucked tightly against her barrel and her tail firmly planted between her legs.

He sighed and wanted to berate himself, knowing this was yet another conversation he was going to have to have with her. He was really hating his bucking life right about now. Either way, he would have to go and get a bath, something to eat, then he was itching to get out and go for a flight.

He let Asta have the baths to herself, unsure if he was going to be able to tolerate being with her in any sort of isolated fashion for long.

Instead of charging into what he was certain was going to be another difficult conversation, he turned and trotted down the halls to his room, grateful that most everypony seemed to be gathered in the front. He shut the door to his room, letting his eyes adjust to the dim lit room before trotting to the candles and lighting a few. Once the room was lit, he walked to his bed and slowly began to strip off all his gear, setting the hidden blade on his nightstand and resting his sword against it. He flung his cloak on the bed, then the vest and leggings, before dropping his boots next to the bed.

Breathing a heavy sigh of relief to be stripped out of his clothes, he started performing some stretches, trying to work the knots out of his shoulders and his back. His wings were sore, though he wasn't too surprised at it; the strain he'd been putting on them as of late had been unusual.

Once he felt relaxed, as much as he could after what he had done, he left the room and silently trotted into the baths, stopping at the door to press his ear against it. No sound came from the other side, so he pushed it open and stepped through, glad to see the room empty.

Filling a tub with steaming water from the fire buckets, he slipped into the tub and began the arduous process of scrubbing his fur clean of all the dirt, muck, grime, and sweat that was accruing from his activities. He wished he was able to enjoy the hot bath, he really did: but his mind was still stuck on what had happened, and was working double-time to figure out why it happened. He let his hooves do their thing on their own as he tried to piece together why he had reacted as he had.

It bothered him how powerless he felt, how out of control he had been: whatever happened had stolen his ability to control himself. He thought about everything that had happened, from the moment he felt himself slipping, and concluded that it all began once she started doing those strange loops around him. Her tail flicking against him had only furthered the descent, and then he had to really focus on events to try to find his reasoning.

Slapping the surface of the water with an angry hoof, he realized that there was no reason to it. There was no justification! He had bucked his sister, and he had done so willingly and readily. There wasn't any resistance left in him when she made her advance: he had been weak, and had succumbed to her want, and his base desire.

The dominant feeling he was left with was revulsion: how could he have been so ready? So willing to rut her like that? He had to shake his head before his anger got worse and he did something he regretted, choosing to sink deeper into the steaming water, letting it rise up to his neck as he forced himself to submerge. The heat did soothe his raging mind, it only a little, and he held onto that brief shred of peace with a vice grip, expanding it and letting it overtake any other emotion. Meditation was something Celestia would have definitely told him to do, and now felt as good a time as any to use it.

He soothed over his turbulent emotions, letting his mind become as still as the waves dying off around him. Minutes could have passed, or it could have been hours: he didn't care. He needed this moment of relaxation more than he needed answers or anger.

He would need to talk with Asta about what happened, so that he could understand why she had so readily done what she had.

Nodding to himself, he sat up and pulled the plug from the tub, standing as the water slowly drained away. He shook off a significant amount of water, then stepped out of the tub and trotted over to the towels, drying himself off as good as he could. Once he had prepared himself to leave, he stepped out and made a beeline for his sister's room.

Pausing to collect himself at her door, he gently pushed it open and peeked inside; noticing that Asta had a single candle lit on a table just off to the side of the door. He turned his gaze to the lump of brown fur and feathers lying in a heap on the bed, and he felt a pang in his heart. So he pushed the door open enough to step inside, before shutting it behind him with enough force to catch her attention.

"Asta, I'm not mad. I just want to know what happened." He said gently as he walked over to the bed. A lump wedged itself in his head when she didn't move, so he carefully sat on the bed to wait for her.

After a couple of minutes of silence, she finally stirred and rolled over to look at him. Her green mane was plastered to her face, still wet from her bath, and her eyes were red and puffy. It hurt him to know that what he had done had caused her to cry, but he couldn't just give up when he was yet to get his answers. Still, he offered her a tender smile, then he opened his wing and lifted a foreleg, giving her a prefect nuzzling spot against his side.

She took the bait, shuffling to her hooves on the bed and worming her way against his side. She buried her head against his chest, obscuring his vision from face with her matted green mane. He wrapped his wing around her and pulled her against him, running a hoof through her mane to calm her down the moment she started choking up.

He was confused, he was upset, he was disappointed, but more than anything, he was worried. After a minute, he pulled her chin up so he could look into her sorrowful emerald eyes, and he felt everything except his worry melt away. "All I want to know is why."

She sniffed and wiped her eyes with a hoof.

"We went over this before, but I'm not mad at you: I just need answers." He pleaded, leaning down so he could stare into her eyes in the most immobilizing way possible.

"I-I just wanted. . ." She sniffled again, pausing so she could regain control over herself before she burst into tears, throwing her head back against him. There was another bout of silence, though he knew that he had to let her get this out so he just sat there patiently, putting a reassuring hoof across her shoulders. These tears only lasted for a few seconds before she sniffled and wiped her face with his chest. She smiled as she leaned back to meet his gaze. "I just wanted to make you happy: with everything bad that had been going on. . ."

"So this wasn't about you?"

". . .Well. . ." She smirked and wiped her face clear of any remaining tears and shrugging off his hoof. "I mean, wasn't it pretty obvious what I was doing? I did that whole dance for you, just like the book said, and I even asked Celestia about how to do the more complicated parts. It was supposed to be that special ritual. You know?"

"What dance?" He asked, his face turning to one of confusion. "And what ritual?"

"You don't know?" She actually recoiled back from him for a moment, clearly shocked that he was oblivious to her implications. Her eyes went cross as she hummed to herself, clearly thinking over the new information, until she sighed and nodded to herself. "Well, I don't really think that I'm the pony that you should talk to about this: go talk with Goldheart if you want to know more about it."

"And that answers my questions. . . how?" He asked, replanting his hoof on her shoulder, donning a stern look in hopes of getting a clear response from her.

"I already said: it was supposed to be a special moment for us, so that I could make you feel good. Did I do a good job?" She replied, biting her lip as if this wasn't as big of a deal as it was. The way she was looking at him, he thought that she was genuinely asking for feedback, and it made his stomach churn. He sighed and pulled her in for a hug.

"Asta: I will always love you, even with all your flaws." He answered cryptically. "Even if it means I'm going to bust my flank both ways with Al Capony and getting you a coltfriend, once you're old enough, of course."

"That sounds nice and all,-" The sinister smirk on her face told him everything he needed to know, but her hoof appearing in front of his muzzle silenced any rebuttal. " -but I don't need a coltfriend when I have you. Whatever you say, Blazy, know that you are the only stallion that will ever be in my life, and nothing you do will ever change that. And it's all because you love me!"

He wanted to argue the point with her, he really did, but she had grown quite a bit since he first found her, and she forcefully shoved him out of his room. The door was slammed in his face before he had a chance to say another word to her, though he was mostly frozen in shock.

This wasn't the first time she'd promised that, and while he knew it wouldn't be the last, he had a vow to get her attention away from him at some point. He just had to find the perfect guy, one that wouldn't make her want to murder him: he figured that was the hard part of getting her a coltfriend. Finding one that could handle. . . all of _her_. And one that wouldn't break so easily, if her athletic achievements were to continue to grow as she did.

He sighed to himself and trotted into the kitchen, ignoring the surprised greetings of everypony along the way. He went straight for the pantry, and began his desperate search for any alcoholic beverage to forget the long day he'd had.

Unfortunately, there was a serious lack of anything good to drink, and he sighed with such disappointment, that he was certain that all of Equestria could hear it. Backing out, he was greeted by the cheerful smile of Scale, in between her clenched jaws was a basket of what looked to be some more of her alchemical ingredients. He gave her a curt nod then reached to take the basket.

"Looking for something to drink?" She asked once she had gracefully dropped the basket into his waiting hooves, earning a halfhearted chuckle from him followed by a second short nod. "Figures. I heard that there were some stirrings among the streets and alleys on the other side of the city: know anything about it?"

"Depends." He shrugged motioning for her to lead him back to her room, where he knew she would want to take him. "Asta was a sort of unwelcome surprise, but they eventually accepted it for what it was, other than that: really it was just a sort of initiation/introduction to the Order. If there was any stirring that side of the market-way. . . maybe we could talk about it later, hmm?"

"Sure." She replied, pushing the door to her room open and stepping aside so that he could enter. As he stepped into the room, his nostrils were bombarded by the heavy odor of various herbs being mixed into some awful concoction in the cauldron. The fire underneath of it was barely more than embers, and the horrific mixture was slowly simmering, but the nauseating stench was nearly overpowering. "Just drop those anywhere: I'll get to them once we're done talking."

"Something on your mind?" He asked as he placed the basket off to one side before turning around to her expectant expression. His ears practically slammed into his skull, and he groaned internally at what was about to come.

"Sort of. But you already know what I'm going to say." He would always appreciate it whenever she actually cut straight to the point: it was so much more appealing to him than when they had to deal with the mess of talking with her Spirit friends. "You and Asta came in through the back door, and you two positively reeked of each other: what happened?"

He sighed and kicked at the floor for a second before opening his mouth to start the explanation. By some stroke of luck, there was a loud knock on the open door, and the two whipped their heads up to see who was asking for attention. Goldheart chuckled and stepped through the portal. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No, nothing." Blaze sighed, rubbing his face with a hoof. Goldheart stepped further into the room before recoiling, a hoof shooting straight to cover his muzzle.

"Sweet Celestia! Sweetie, just what the buck are you cooking in here? Dragon poison?" The three let out a light chuckle before the mood sobered again as the Sage turned to Blaze, who was now staring at the ground in a vain attempt to delay the inevitable. Goldheart picked up on the mood quickly enough, and his gaze swapped between the two in confusion. "So. . . uh. . . what's going on here?"

"If I promise to explain, would you two agree to come with me to grab something to drink?" He asked, giving the two elders hopeful looks, the desperation in his eyes was clearer than the skies earlier that day. Unfortunately, his size did nothing to improve the look of his puppy eyes, but his pathetic attempt at it garnered enough sympathy that the others looked to each other for a second. They turned to him and nodded in unison. "Thanks. I know a pretty decent bar. . ."

They trotted in silence to a small watering hole that he had been to a couple of times, entering the cramped, dimly lit building and taking three of the seats at the minimally occupied bar. He motioned to the mare standing behind the counter, and ordered the three of them bottles of mead, a drink they've shared on occasion. As the mare trotted off to grab their drinks, Scale cleared her throat to get his attention. "Alright, Blaze: you dragged us all the way out here, now what the hay is going on?"

"Please don't be mad at me. . . I may have run into a bit of a difficult situation on the way back here from the Order's hideout." He explained after a moment's hesitation, pausing again as the bartender placed three corked bottles of spiced mead in front of them. He stopped his thoughts so he could bite down on the cork and pry it loose, before downing half the bottle in a single draught. The other two slowly took their drinks, leisurely opening them as they watched his show.

"Well. . .?" Goldheart asked, obviously waiting for further explanation.

"Well, so yesterday close to the end of my sparring with Luna, Asta came back from her studies with Celestia a little more happy than usual: she had this bounce in her step that she gets whenever she is in a fantastic mood. She never explained why, at least, until today. . ." He sighed and placed his bottle back down to glance at the two ponies flanking him. "On the flight back from across town, she was acting all strange, and while she's usually acting strange around me, this was different: she was giddy about something.

"I was feeling a little uncomfortable, but then she started doing these weird wide barrel roles around me, and that's when shit started to go downhill." He said with a sad shake of his head. "Apparently: when she was with Celestia yesterday, she found some old books in the library, something about ancient pegasi, and had talked with Celestia about them. She said that in those books was some kind of dance or ritual or something, and that she wanted to try it out on me. . . which she did."

Goldheart let out a muffled groan, obviously understanding where this was going, though Scale seemed equally interested and worried about the situation. Neither intervened so he could finish his story.

"I was only a little concerned about what she was doing, maybe a touch uncomfortable, until she smacked me with her tail: it felt like a. . . a jolt of lightning going through me. I didn't feel like myself, and everything just seemed different about the world. She led me to that small cluster of clouds over the city, trying to hide within, and forcing me on top of them: and she used that shelter to strike at me."

"Strike?" Scale asked, only looking more clueless than before.

"She popped back up and asked me about this supposed ritual, which took away any coherent thoughts I had, and leaned in to steal a kiss. Like: an actual, romantic-like kiss. She was going for the full effect, and I was too stunned to really do anything against it." He shook his head, then when he couldn't get the horrifying memories out that way, he slapped himself as hard as he could, giving off an impressive sound of a true smack. The action caught both his friends by surprise, but he recovered before either could help. "It only gets worse.

"I-I sort of lost myself in the moment, trying to think of the ritual, what it was, and why I was so unbearably _hot_ as she pulled herself against me. I. . . failed to stop myself from returning her affections, and before I really knew what was going on, I was giving her some special treatment that I really shouldn't have been giving her."

He winced at the finality of the statement, but managed to turn to gauge how the Sage would react; though his wince increased as he saw the total shock on her face. His ears pressed fully against his skull, he finished the rest of his mead before grabbing hers and downing it as well.

"I ate her out, and then proceeded to finish her off." He dropped his head into his forehooves, resting them on the counter and wanting nothing more than to fade from the room right then. "I rutted out my own sister. I actually willingly bucked her, and I _enjoyed_ it. What the buck was wrong with me? Why the buck was I so willing to actually go through with that: when I've been trying so hard to get her to lay off pursuing me? Where did I go wrong here?"

"It wasn't your fault, Blaze." Goldheart sighed, taking a heavy sip from his bottle. When the young pegasus turned to him with a curious gaze, he smiled softly and offered him what was left in the bottle. "What happened was something far more primal than you probably expected to have to deal with."

"What are you talking about?" Scale asked, leaning behind Blaze to look at the aged pegasus.

"It's a pegasus thing." He shrugged without looking away from Blaze, who was busy downing the rest of the third bottle. "You left your mother at a young age, correct? Well, normally it'd be the parents who would explain this to a pegasus once they started to hit puberty, but I guess that should have fallen to me or somepony back home when you started bucking Twilight. I'll take the responsibility for not preparing you for it.

"What happened is something we just refer to as a mating ritual for pegasi: what it entails is that when a mare finds the stallion she wishes to breed with, she'll indicate so by performing this dance around him, darting to and fro while occasionally whipping him with her tail. she'll get him to start chasing her until he can finally claim her, then the two would breed." He explained. "It's not that common of a practice nowadays, with higher populations and the interbreeding of all the races of ponies, but it still pops up every now and then."

"And she just thought she would-"

"Hang on there, Blaze." Scale interrupted, her face going deathly serious as she pulled him to look directly into her eyes. "He said that this is some kind of mating ritual, which means she was looking to more than just 'claim' you as her significant other. We all know how she is, so I need to know: did you finish inside of her?"

"Uh, what?" He shook his head and tried to pry himself free, but her grip was too strong.

"Did. You. Plant. Your. Seed. Inside. Her?" There was a pause as he realized what had actually happened, then Scale began to use every swear known to pony-kind as she flung herself off of the bar stool and began to walk to the door. She stopped halfway to turn to the two guys. "I'll be home to try to brew up some sort of contraceptive that should stop her from actually getting pregnant."

"But can't a mare only get pregnant during heat?" Blaze asked after another bout of significantly awkward silence. Goldheart sighed in response.

"While it's not particularly likely: yes. Mares are just much more likely to conceive during heat because of the increased libido." He motioned to the door and tried to get out of his seat before a white hoof planted him back in it.

"Hang on." Blaze said, his voice strained as he tried to keep his emotions from boiling over, though they clearly shone in his tense stance and nearly pleading gaze. "I didn't just call you two here to tell you what happened; I could have done that back home. I wanted to get personal advice on what the actual buck I'm supposed to do now: I can't really punish her for what happened because of my willing participation. But I also can't just let her get away with doing something like this: I've tried so hard to get her attention away from having my affection. I needed help, but now Scale's gone and I don't know what to do."

"I suppose it's about time I took the proper position of teaching you everything you actually should have learned a few years ago." Goldheart sighed, spinning in his stool and flicking a hoof to the bartender. Once another two bottles had been acquired, he pulled one and immediately began to nurse it. "I can't tell you what to do: I can only give you an idea of what others might do.

"Before I do, however, we should go over everything else about this old bucking ritual that Asta decided to bring back." He nodded to the bottle that the younger pegasus had yet to touch, granting him permission to nurse one himself. "The first is that when I say that this is an ancient ritual: I mean truly ancient, like older than the unification of Equestria ancient. This was the biggest means of mating for pegasi before our tribe joined the others, and so the traditions were locked in with the time."

"What do I really need to know?"

"That what Asta did today was a display of utter devotion and allegiance: mares mated for life during those times, and only to the stallion that had won their attention. A stallion could have multiple mares, though it was rare, but those mares would only breed with him." He explained. "So by participating in the ritual, she was promising herself to you, and you alone."

Blaze put the barely touched bottle back on the counter, his eyes feeling a little hazy as he wrapped his head around the weight of the situation. Goldheart was kind enough to pat him on the shoulder and give him some time to think about it before he continued to explain.

"What you have now is a mare that will never betray you, if she truly understands what she was doing, though by your descriptions, it sounds like she does. I'm going to ask her some questions about today, and try to gauge her understanding of just what she decided to do, and see how genuine she is: but don't get your hopes up, Blaze."

"I know." He rubbed a hoof to his temple. He understood exactly what was about to happen, because her devotion to him was frighteningly absolute.

"I guess the only other thing that might help you right now is knowing how to avoid this kind of thing in the future, though I doubt you'll ever meet another pony who would willingly engage in the ritual. If a mare tries to do it with you, just drop to the ground: find somewhere to land and get out of the situation. What this does is it shows the mare that you have no interest in pursuing her, thus, she won't get the chase that would display your desire to mate." He finished his drink far before Blaze did for once. "And while this might not help you anymore, it might interest you to know how a mare would usually choose their mate, though Asta is obviously going to be an exception.

"Normally, stallions would have to fly around and compete for the attention of a mare, and would be subject to trials of speed, endurance, strength or intelligence. My mother told me of a story her grandmother told her: how my great-grandfather had searched for the largest desert amethyst possible, and only once he offered it did he win his mate. I've read in the oldest scrolls in my hometown that a stallion did win over his own sister by defeating every other stallion seeking her in aerial combat."

Blaze just nodded along, his mind still struggling to actually accept that Asta had declared her loyalty to him alone. He figured she would stick by his side, but this was all surreal: he had to find those books that she got these ideas from and read just what the buck it was she had filled her head with. Then he heard what the elder was talking about. "Wait. . . what?!"

"Ah, I see you didn't learn a whole lot about Saddle Arabia, huh?" Goldheart chuckled. "I'm not quite as shocked about this whole affair as one of you true Equestrians would be, given my cultural heritage. You see; back in the older days, it wasn't uncommon for the wealthy, the influential, or the royalty to breed within their families. I personally believe it was because they wanted to maintain this false sense of 'royal blood' and the purity of their lineage or whatever. I'm more surprised that Asta actually understood some of what the rituals were more than anything."

"So you're saying it was actually common for siblings to mate?" Blaze recoiled at the thought.

"Sort of. It was only something the top of the top did, and even then it was only when there wasn't another option for joining powerful families. All I'm trying to say by this is that I'm not going to judge you or Asta no matter what comes out of this thing: I've already known that things like this were allowed and encouraged in some places. I've seen it happen to a degree, and I'm not all that surprised that Asta would take this chance if she learned of it: even if she might not fully understand what she is getting herself into."

"Back up just a second." Blaze held a hoof up. "Are you really telling me somepony out there actually thought it was a good idea to rut there brother or sister? There is a place that actually accepts siblings who buck each other?"

Goldheart nodded, earning a groan from him. "Don't ever let Asta get hold of this information, lest she decided to take me on an 'extended vacation' to someplace where she could get away with this."

"You are completely allowed to treat this like a bad situation, but I just ask that you take a moment to think about it this way: Asta is obviously willing to follow you everywhere. She loves you in a way that others may not, and whether you want to admit it or not, you obviously carry some kind of reciprocation for her. It may just be your age speaking, but you have showed a genuine attraction to her, else you would not have fallen to the ritual like you did."

His words hurt Blaze a lot more than the young pegasus would have been able to admit. In fact: they stung so sharply that he inhaled quickly, his jaw clenched, then his limb shot out and he shoved the elder off of his stool. "You just shut the buck up right now! How can you say such a thing!"

"Blaze stop!" Goldheart shouted, jumping up from the ground and latching onto the large pegasus' shoulders and desperately trying to get his attention. "Listen to me!"

Blaze stared down at him, his blue eyes seething with anger, but behind that he did his best to hide the fear, the pain, and the anxiety at the possibility of any truth to the statement. Only when he saw the regret in Goldheart's expression did he soften his stance and lean back so the elder could talk. "I'm sorry. I didn't convey my thoughts appropriately. What I'm trying to get at is that you love Asta, and you have shown a great capacity to care for her needs. I doubt this ritual would be able to hinder your ability to care for her, and I know you will always watch out for her."

"Yeah?"

"You want to see her happy, but you aren't really able to accept the means in which she desires to be appeased. I think you need to sit down with her and try to come to an understanding of what your goals are, and what you both are hoping to get out of this relationship: whether it is simply as two very close siblings, or whatever it is that she clearly wants." He patted Blaze's shoulder. "After everything that's gone on between the two of you, I think that the last time you two went over it, she didn't quite convey just what she wanted."

"And it's just so irritating having to repeat myself to her." Blaze grumbled, turning to stare at the bottles before them.

"Blaze Burn. . . I think it's like I already said: you do genuinely want her to be happy, but in your youth your body may be quick to please her in any way. Whatever it is, I have hope that it'll pass after some time."

"How much time?" The younger pegasus turned around again, his eyes shining with hope. "I can't stand the thought at what I've done with her, and I dread the idea that she will have gotten a taste for the act and want even more. And I'm terrified that I won't be able to deny her."

"Don't worry." Goldheart sighed, rubbing a hoof through his graying mane while glancing at the door. "If you really dragged us here to get our personal opinions, then it's only fair that I finally open up about mine. My culture was okay with the higher ponies joining siblings together, and while I don't completely agree with it, it still did rub off on me."

"You're not really about to-"

"Not entirely." Goldheart stopped him with a stern glare. "If you don't want to help her, then you might have to fight against her every step of the way, but we all know how much it's going to destroy her to have her idol reject her. I'm afraid of what damage has already been done from what you've already been forced into saying."

"But it just isn't right for two siblings to do that! At least, not here in Equestria, it isn't!" Blaze continued to protest.

"Then listen to this: Asta clearly has something wrong in her head, and while I wish I knew exactly what it was, I can make some generalized statements from what I've seen. She idolizes you, and that has manifested itself in a sexual attraction, which is, in no doubt, fueled by her age and that awful time for everypony during puberty. She is confused, things are happening in her body and in her head that, even if she were completely 'normal' in a sense, that she'd still be in for a rough time.

"I'm not going to tell you to pursue her, because that is something you would have to justify yourself, but I am going to warn you that she is fragile, and you should proceed with caution." He finally started to walk to the door, motioning for Blaze to follow. Before the larger pegasus could start moving, a coin purse flew from the elder's waistband and landed amid their drinks, before being promptly scooped up by the mare behind the counter.

Blaze growled to himself but decided he didn't have much of a choice and continued following the elder.

"If you do decided to follow her into a closer relationship, then it might help to alleviate some of the struggles she's going through right now. Or, you might be able to wait it out and try to rework your current relationship with her once some of these more glaring and immediate issues die down. Whatever you decide to do, go talk with Scale about it: she's upset at what you might have done, and you're going to have to explain your reasoning to her on your own. I'm terrified of that mare."

"Before I do, could you please explain to me why it is that you are fine with me. . . courting her?" Blaze asked, feeling his nerves rising.

"Did you seriously not listen to anything that I just said?" Goldheart stared at him in disbelief, until he shook his head and opted for deep breathes until he was composed. "I'm not against it because it was somewhat normalized back in Saddle Arabia, for one. And I've also seen that Asta is desperate to earn your affections, and it may prove to be one of the better ways to immediately deal with her issues.

"Both choices are going to have their inherent issues, due to the complicated nature of ponies, especially during such a developmental time in their lives, but I won't try to say which is the right choice, and which is the wrong one. All I am comfortable saying is that Asta does love you, and these efforts to get you to rut her are definitely a product of her coming of age. Everypony knows how much you two care for each other, so nopony back home would doubt the sincerity of your union, even if is seems a little strange. And at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters? That the two of you are happy?"

"I mean. . . I don't even think that going down that road would make me happy." Blaze countered after a moment o actually collect his thoughts into one single place. "And I've been pretty confident in my decisions to try to steer her away from this, so even if I were to let this happen: all that work trying to help her would have been for nothing, and I'd feel like a lying hypocrite. Why does everything have to be just so bucking complicated?"

"That's life." Goldheart muttered, glancing towards the youth with an air of sympathy. "But if you truly are adamant about avoiding these affections, then you better talk with Scale about how to go about it in the most healthy way possible. She should know what to do to help ease you and Asta into a more natural lifestyle."

"Yeah. Just when I finally started making some progress on purging the weight of Al and his goons from our family, and the threat they pose, I get slammed with this shit."

"Ah, I must admit that I've not kept myself as updated on the course of that pursuit as I probably should have, given the circumstances. Would you mind filling me in on just what happened in their little hideaway?" Goldheart's expression flipped to one of pure intrigue.

"Sure." Blaze shrugged. "It was pretty much just the basic introductions between everypony, though from what I learned, there are apparently several more members of the Order that weren't there at the time. I got to learn the names of everypony that was there, including the name of a dragon that stays there."

"A dragon! How exciting!"

"Yeah, it was pretty interesting. . . even if she didn't talk to me." He chuckled. "Her name is Flamewing, and she's supposedly one of All-Feather's personal recruits, and she only joined because the Mistress managed to convince her to stay and root out these fanatics. Still, the opportunity to see a dragon up close like that was really exciting, as it was one of those things that interested me when I was studying under Celestia."

"You were particularly interested in the other species of Equestria, no?" Goldheart asked, earning him an excited nod from Blaze.

"Yeah, and now I can say that I've met both Changelings and dragons, though I'm equally anxious to see who else I'm going to meet before this journey ends. Other than that, it really seemed like the majority of the ponies that had joined up with the Order were suffering in one way or another: losing somepony close or something important to them."

"A bunch of misfits just like us." Goldheart remarked, and the connection was not lost on Blaze.

"I guess I just have a skill in finding and befriending the most broken ponies out there, as much as I would rather have not had to deal with Al at all. Still, I suppose being friends with the undesirables such as us does come with it's advantages: like interesting stories from equally interesting characters." He smiled to Goldheart as they trotted down the streets. "I'm actually really interested in learning more about Flamewing: just think of the knowledge that she could share with us! We could build an alliance with dragons with what she could share, and the books. . . oh the books we could write to expand knowledge on the other races!"

"I know this will sound stupid, but I never thought of you as the scholarly type."

"Eh, it's just a passion for learning about the other races, and maybe a little in better knowing that I've stopped one race from trying to murder us all." He chuckled self-consciously, berating himself for growing selfish and trying to expand knowledge before protecting his family. Though that knowledge very well could protect his family. . . "Seriously, though: having a dragon helping us to hunt down Al and those fanatics will expedite this process so much, so I guess I'm just ecstatic to finally be doing something."

"Aren't we all." Goldheart added as they approached the front door to their cozy little home of misfits. "And speaking of getting something done, how ready are you to face the wrath of Scale?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Blaze quipped, breathing deeply as he tried to center himself as much as possible for the abuse he was about to endure.

The inside was fairly quiet, considering how many ponies were gathering around the fire for warmth in the aging evening. Scanning the crowd, neither of them saw Scale, so they skirted around the gathered group and slunk off the her room, stopping at the door. Blaze turned to Goldheart, trepidation rising in his throat. "You don't have to follow me, you know that right? She's probably going to be pretty pissed, and I don't see any reason why you should suffer with me."

"Because I think I can mitigate the damage somewhat. Just as long as you know what you want." Blaze nodded his thanks at the support, then turned and tried to swallow his growing fear, though it remained firmly planted in his chest. He reached forward and gently pushed the door open, and all the light from the fire and candles were immediately sucked into the darkened room just beyond the door. After another second's pause, the two stepped into the room, letting their eyes adjust to the darkness lit only by the smoldering fire underneath the boiling cauldron.

Aside from that, it seemed like nopony else was in the room, though it was difficult to tell.

"Open the door so more, just so we can see in here." Blaze said as he stepped into the room. Goldheart pushed the door against the wall, flooding the room with more light. They looked around, though Scale was nowhere to be found. Grabbing a pair of candles from one of the various shelves lining the walls, they each lit one under the cauldron, casting the room in a superior light. "Nopony in here."

He continued forward, planning on heading into Scale's actual bedroom when a shiver ran through his body, and he felt the prying eyes of somepony staring at his back. He paused and slowly turned around, seeing Scale frowning at him from the open door.

"Scale. . ." He began hesitantly walking towards her until she stopped him with an upheld hoof.

"Before you get into it: yes. I've already taken care of Asta. That was a monumentally stupid thing you did, and you should consider yourself lucky I managed to fix it before it got serious." She said, stepping inside and shutting the door behind her, all the while keeping her stern gaze on him. She stopped at the cauldron, then she began to nurse the fire under it with some dried branches, the flickering flames greedily taking to the wood even as it was shoved under. "Why this shit had to get to this point is beyond me."

"I wish I also had those answers." Blaze muttered, stepping up to the other side of the cauldron and peering into it's ugly depths. "But actually this ancient bucker and I came here so that we could probably get some advice from you, and maybe talk about some of what you might have missed from earlier."

Scale sighed, but didn't stop stirring the pot with a long wooden spoon.

"I tried to make things clear with Asta that I wasn't going to reciprocate these feelings she had, and I've tried so hard to get her to lean off of them. It just seems like she isn't even listening to me, and I was hoping you might be able to tell me what I've been doing wrong or at least help get Asta off of my back?" He looked at her in desperation.

She looked up at him, her gaze going from one of irritation to one of exhaustion, and after a moment to stare at the stirring liquids before her, she pulled the spoon from the pot and leaned back. "You haven't been the only one trying to explain to her why this obsession she has is unhealthy, and you are definitely not the only one who's been ignored. I thought I might as well try to give it another go and get some kind of answer out of her why she did it, but by the heavens is she being difficult!"

"What do you mean?" Goldheart asked.

"She's basically been ignoring our points this entire time! She said that she heard what she said, but that she wasn't going to ignore her heart, and while I'm proud of her for sticking to what she wants, it's just so damn frustrating!" Scale said, then her gaze turned to Blaze. "She's adamant that you are the only stallion for her, and nothing we've said along the way has done anything to sway her opinion. You've managed to get yourself somepony that's just frustratingly devout, and I don't even know what the buck could have gotten her to this point. I get the you saved her, but you saved all of us, and I don't think anypony else is totally head over hooves for you."

"And now you understand what I've been dealing with for a while." Blaze commented, slowly rubbing his temples with both hooves, disheartened by the news. "I don't share her affections, but I'm not just going to cut her out of my life: she's still far too important to me to do that to her. I need your help in finding a way to make living with her bearable."

"That's. . ." She stared at him for a second, her eyes piercing him in such a critical way he thought she was about to accuse him of lying to her. Then her gaze dropped and she started chewing on her lip as she thought. There was a tense minute of silence as she worked that thought out, until her face finally settled on an even more exhausted appearance. "I suppose that might help explain her attitude."

"What will?"

"You care for all of us, which is pretty damn apparent, but you've taken Asta in like your own flesh and blood: she's the closest pony you've got. I guess it was that special treatment that got her all crazy attached to you, and why she's become so obsessive. In her mind, you were giving her extra attention because you were interested in her: even though you weren't."

"And along with her hormonal issues, and that book she found with Celestia must have put that idea in her head to try to prove her own interest." Goldheart nodded. "So along with all the usual crazy things she's going to deal with, along with the abnormal development and any emotional development she had to do, she got the wrong idea about our family. Wonderful. Any ideas on how we go about correcting this?"

"Maybe." Scale said as she stood, her eyes were unfocused as she put all her effort into finding a solution. "She's still young, but she's hit that age where she won't be as impressionable as she used to be, and I fear we may have our work cut out for us. Give me some time to think of something we can do. For now: just don't lead her on."

"I haven't been leading her on, and look where that got us." Blaze replied.

"Then actively work on keeping your distance." Goldheart suggested, though the entire group immediately winced as the words came out, so he backpedaled as fast as he could. "That came out wrong. I meant actively do things that she couldn't possibly interpret as you pursuing her."

"Easier said than done if what we've seen holds any indication." Blaze said, sitting down on the floor and staring at his hooves. This was a right mess, and he was doubting whether there would even be a clear solution to this all: abandoning Asta wasn't an option, but he wondered how many things they did together would she perceive as him leading her on. "Try to figure something out fast, Scale: I don't want anypony to suffer for too long, and Asta is probably suffering right now."

There was an echo through the house as everypony was called for dinner, so the three of them nodded to each other and stepped out into the gathering ponies for food. Blaze's mouth watered as the sweet scent of caramelized carrots and oats wafted through the building.

Everypony got situated at the large tables, while several of the older foals began to pour out of the kitchen bearing bowls and plates. He scanned the gathered ponies for Asta, until her bright green mane poked out of the crowd as she tried slinking her way towards him. He let her plop herself down at his side, though he politely pushed her firmly into her seat when she tried to lean up against him, giving her an uncomfortable half-smile when she looked at him in confusion.

"We're talking after dinner." Her ears were pressed against her skull throughout the entire meal, which was finally being dished out. He kept an eye on her as he ate, mostly because he was worried that she had a full plate just sitting in front of her. She hadn't touched the thing even as everypony else had eaten their fill.

He looked around, sharing his worried look with the few ponies that were curious plate of food, and as the others began to disperse for the night, he stood from his own cleaned plate. Asta hadn't moved a whole lot, so he leaned in front of her and grabbed her plate and started heading away from the crowd. As he predicted, she shuffled out of her seat to follow him, so he led her back to her room.

Passing through the door, he set the plate of food on her bed, turning around to see why she had stopped at the doorway. She was shifting on her hooves with an air of expected anxiety, so he sighed and sat down on the bed, giving her time to prepare herself as much as she could. He tried to keep a calm stance, wearing a tired expression as he watched her for how she'd react: only making her awkwardly shuffle across her room until she was standing in front of him. He leaned to the plate and grabbed it, giving her enough space to sit beside him, and offering her the food once she settled onto the mattress.

She wordlessly took the food, though there were a few seconds of blankly staring at the food before she dug in.

Smiling that he'd made some progress, he wrapped his wing around her, and reached back to grab the brush sitting behind him. She instantly leaned against him when she felt familiar feathers brushing against her back, even though she hadn't paused from gorging what somepony could have guessed to be her first meal of the day. She was comfortable, but he knew that that wasn't going to last much longer, so he wanted her to be as at ease as possible, so he shifted so he was in a better position and slowly began to brush her mane, feeling her tense up the moment he started. However, just a few strokes in, she eventually relaxed and let him work on her while she finished her meal.

The now empty plate was tossed onto her bed, but the brushing never stopped, so she tried to extend the moment by resettling in his grip, giving him better access to her mane. The moment ended much too shortly for her liking, and he put the brush away before she could offer him her tail to work on next. When she looked back to him, he had that tired expression that she was worried about seeing.

"You know why I'm in here, so please just give me the answer so we can try to put this behind us." He said in a determined tone, one that crushed the relaxation she had been relishing in, and once again her ears were pressed against her head.

"Right now?" She whined, leaning back into him as much as she could and looking up at him with desperation in her eyes. He didn't fall for it and frowned down at her, giving her a raised eyebrow in response, and the stoic reaction was enough for her to cut her antics short. She looked down at her hooves for a split second before finally leaning forward and crawling out of his grasp. "Fine.

"I guess you finally did talk with Goldheart about the ritual, so I won't have to talk about that. . . I'm really sorry that you didn't know about it beforehoof, but in the moment, you had been reacting to my advances, and I had thought you were okay with it." She said, though her speech was broken by considerable pauses. "But I know that you took Twilight's taste for the erotic, and I was hoping to do some exploring myself-"

"Asta, you're barely old enough to even know what bucking is, and you are still far too young to actually be doing it!" He interrupted.

"But I've had these urges ever since I started getting heats, and they're just so hard to control!" She snapped back. "I can barely control it most of the time, and that last time, when I first tried it with you, I actually felt relief for so long afterwards that I thought that maybe if I just did it every now and then that I'd be able to better control myself."

He glared at her, trying to think of how he wanted to respond, as a number of protests were popping up in his head, but before he could voice any of them, she continued: "Besides, you did end up helping me today, and it was because of that that I know how you feel about me. I know-"

"No. I don't feel that way towards you, Asta! For buck's sake, you're my sister!" He growled, stomping a hoof onto the bed before throwing himself off of it and stomping over to the wall before whipping around to face her. "I love you more than just about anything else in Equestria, Asta; but that's just not something that I ever wanted to share with you. It was always something that I wanted you to grow older and get a firmer understanding of before you went off to find the right special somepony for you. I'm not the right pony for you-"

"But that's just it, Blaze!" She said, hopping off of her bed so that she could face him down as best as she could. "Because of today, you can't say that you don't share some shred of attraction to me: if you did, then you wouldn't have rutted me so easily earlier. I think you do love me like that, but you're just too far stuck in this mindset that you need the approval of others that you are in denial."

He opened his mouth to respond but her hoof shot out and stopped him before he could, and her expression went from utterly defiant to sad and tired, looking as tired about this as he felt. "Blaze. . . I just want what's best for you, and I want to be able to help you with your needs, so that you could help me with mine. But if you really are as uncomfortable with this as you say, then I'd be willing to cut back on my forwardness.

"I. . . I know that you never really did have any interest with the Princess, and I guess I was hoping to claim the spot she desired since you were so fiercely adamant about refusing her. I-I'm sorry that I've made you so uncomfortable." She stepped back and plopped onto her flank next to her bed, staring at her hooves in open shame at the genuine regret she was feeling.

Seeing her being as vulnerable as this, he felt his anger subside, and a strange calm overtook him. He walked up to her and sat next to her, wrapping his wings around her and pulling her into a deep hug, sticking his snout into her mane and giving her a soft kiss. "Asta, I get what you were trying to do, but I didn't want that from our relationship. There are other ways that you can satisfy whatever needs you have, just as I have other ways of satisfying mine: and I'm sure somepony out there might eventually be willing to help you in that endeavor, but that pony just isn't me.

"Thank you for looking out for me, but there are just some things that I'm not comfortable exploring right now, and a romantic partner isn't something that I need distracting me from protecting you all form Al and his fanatics. I forgive you for what happened today, all I ask is that you handle yourself in the future, so it doesn't happen again. Can you do that?" He leaned back and looked down at her, curious at the tears she was shedding, though she wiped them quickly enough and gave a grateful nod.

"I promise I'll try to avoid doing it again."

"Thank you. Maybe you should head off to talk with Goldheart about what happened, so he can explain to you exactly what happened, and what was so significant about that stupid ritual." She giggled when she learned of his opinion of the ancient ritual, but was just glad that the repercussions of her actions had been contained, so she nodded happily and separated from him. "But before you go, where is this book that I learned you read about this from?"

She blushed at that, and chuckled to herself as she trotted over to her bed, grabbing what sounded like several things from underneath it, before she pushed a lump of items back and pulled out a dusty tome. She smiled and offered him the book before practically shoving him out the door, much to his surprise.

"Alright, have fun reading that, I'm just going to go talk with Goldheart for a bit so you don't really need to see me tonight so goodnight!" She blurted out the moment she got the door shut, and then she was gone before he could question why she was suddenly antsy to get out. He cocked his head to the side as he stared at where she had just been, then glanced down at the book in his hooves, then back to the empty space. Humming to himself, he shook his head and turned around, trotting into his room.

Dropping the book onto his bed, he sighed to himself and rubbed a hoof against his face, hoping that the stress of life wasn't going to cause it to shorten and force him bald. That wouldn't have been too ideal.

He turned from the bed and slowly walked over to the large dresser, and he let himself relax as he stared at the tiny blue blanket folded neatly on top. He let a variety of happy memories flood through his head of his times with Star, some of the few that could really help him calm down if he needed to. It was only once he had gotten a healthy dose of happy feelings from the best memories of his life before shit hit the fan real hard did he dare to turn away.

He returned to the bed, climbing on top and crawling over to the recently re-stuffed cloud pillows, and he let himself share a thankful thought to the world, sending it particularly towards Goldheart or whichever pony was so kind as to help him. He grabbed the book and settled down to get some good reading done, something that he noticed he hadn't done a whole lot of ever since he left Celestia's charge. He shifted against the pillows and got comfortable, pulling open the aged cover to reveal faded, crumbling yellow parchment, and the ink was slightly difficult to read.

So he squinted and did his best to decipher the ragged texts of various aspects of the ancient pegasi cultures, though his understanding of the language they wrote in was limited. It was the biggest regret he currently held from his studies: not fully being able to grasp the ancient language. Still, he understood the basics, and was able to infer most of the texts, though much of it was pretty well known already.

He skimmed and struggled through the book in equal parts for several hours, though the time passing by left him unfazed as he studied the parchment in his hooves. However, after a rather adventurous day, filled with many exhausting things, and the many tiring conversations and struggles, he was approaching his limit. But, stubborn as he was, he refused to give in until he had finished learning everything he could from this book, though he already knew he needed to return it at some point. . .

Maybe the next day or the one after that. . .

He nodded to himself, glad that he had come up with some form of a plan, and he tried to grab the book to turn the page, hoping to finish reading this next segment on the colors of the rainbow, but they seemed glued together. He frowned to himself and put the book down, still nodding at the genius of his plan.

The book was feeling pretty heavy, and the pillow against him were so comfortable, maybe he just needed to rest his eyes for a second, then he could finish the page. . . yeah, that sounded like a good idea. He slurred to himself as he wiped his eyes with a hoof: "Just a second to get some energy."

He was out before his hoof reached his face.

 _The shifting void around him stirred angrily, and the massive clouds of smoke seemed restless beyond reason. He would have vomited had he been standing on anything substantial, but the place he recognized immediately as his subconscious had no real knowledge of that term._

 _Instead, he looked around, wondering why things seemed so energetic, and why there was an intense heat blasting around him. He knew he was dreaming, that nothing around him actually existed, but there was a chaotic aura in the air, as if he was standing near the sight of a very recent lightning strike from one of those powerful storm bolts that never actually hit ground, but left the air tasting of iron._

 _There was nothing to be seen but the endless haze of formless smoke, twirling violently and slipping between illusionary shapes that somewhat resembled forms in the waking world._

 _Ever confused at the temporary status of things here, he twisted in place, trying to see if perhaps Luna were bucking with him. She never struck him as the pranking kind, but the world was full of surprises and she was the only other pony that had any reason to be here. He remembered how she hadn't made a lasting memory of her last visit with him, and he considered the strangeness of what tonight would bring._

 _He flared his wings and jumped into the non-existent air willing his sword into his hoof and scanning the area for something, anything, that indicated what was going on._

 _Unfortunately for him, once he was airborne, a cloud of thick, billowy smoke began to rise around him, getting his eyes to smart and a cough to develop as he tried to work his way out of it. He lost his bearings in this forsaken place in the effort, and felt his wing clip something solid that most definitely should not have been there. Coming to the conclusion that this must have been some sick test that Luna decided to put him through, he righted himself to the best of his ability and swung at the place he believed the object to be, only to be met with smoke and empty space._

 _He frowned, trying to find any clue as to what was going on, when there was a large whooshing sound from above him. He flinched and brought up his sword and let gravity drag him down, intending to deflect whatever was flying towards him. He realized the futility of his sword when the object split the smoke and revealed itself as a large chunk of black rock._

 _He tried to swerve around the rock, but it lurched forward when he twisted, slamming into him and propelling him downwards, and out of the smoke. He tensed as he braced for an impact that never came, only to be met with the rock fading into dust, blowing away in an imaginary wind. He froze himself midair and looked around, utterly confused about the turn of events, before he finally noticed that the temperature was steadily rising, and was already at an uncomfortable level. He forced himself to the makeshift ground, willing his sword back as he spun around, trying to reveal the perpetrator._

 _Nothing._

" _Let's take a moment and break the ice." A deep voice boomed into his skull, so full of malice and hate that he felt it tug at his mind and heart with relentlessly evil intentions. He knew that voice. . ._

 _The temperature around him rocketed to a sweltering, unbearable degree, and the dust and smoke around him literally burst into flame, despite his efforts to put them out and cool the air. It felt like he was stepping through a bonfire, as if he were literally the log being set ablaze, and he was sweating like mad because of it. So he willed an arctic blast to blow through the area, for what little good it did to alleviate his suffering. He was sitting in an inferno._

 _That was it, the magic thought that finally brought into sight the being responsible for his unconscious suffering. A massive ring of fire opened up in front of him, and that resounding, evil voice began to laugh as a large white stallion stepped forth. The fire licked at his hoofs, and each step left a print of fire, while his pristine coat glowed from a fire flickering at his back where a normal mane should have been. His wings spread from his side, stretching unbelievably far and each feather looked to be coated in ash, presumably from the fires burning at this thing's neck._

 _Where Blaze had worn robes and cloaks, this monster bore solid gold armor, thick plates lining its neck, and draping down its sides, while a wicked helmet now adorned its face. From the flickering fires all around him, Blaze had a hard time of discerning any details from the armor itself, though he could argue that he had other priorities to observe then. What drew his attention the most was the large, glowing white horn equally ablaze that now rested on this freak's head, poking out of the golden helm like a spike fit specifically for a freak._

" _I can hear your thoughts, and I love the flavor you put into your insults, my dearest friend." It spoke, and while every word was utterly tainted with evil, there was a smoothness to the voice, an alluring quality that strongly conflicted with the imagery, that caught Blaze's attention. He tensed up as Inferno stepped closer, leaving burning hoofsteps as it went. "I wish for my intentions to be known._

" _See, I pity in watching you suffer. . ." The thing smirked as it began to circle the pegasus, who was finding himself frozen in utter terror at his lack of control even within his own mind. Whatever was happening was supposed to only be within the realm of Luna. "I know the feeling of being damned alone."_

 _It did a final circle of him, then nodded in approval and squared against him, lifting his chin so they could look eye to void-filled spaced, even though this monster was easily twice as large as Blaze. "I've got a storybook of my own, my friend, one where we were utterly betrayed by the Princesses, by everypony who we ever cared for._

" _I came here, now that that insufferable mare is unable to waltz in on our precious time, in the hopes of getting you to see the truth." It said, finally letting him go and stepping back, gesturing with the same gripping hoof towards the burning clouds of ash, which were slowly trying to take form. Blaze was utterly terrified, but an image of Asta sitting there, smiling happily and innocently, was enough to spark his defiant and stubborn nature, so he straightened his shoulders and spat towards the monster._

" _I don't give a flying buck why you came here, or whatever it was that you were planning on doing, you freak! You are not, nor will you ever be, my friend, and I won't have you standing here debasing those that I do care about: my family that I look after and who would never betray me!" He stomped and flared his wings, summoning his sword and taking a greedy swing at the smug bastard before him. Inferno didn't even bother to flinch at the incoming blade, instead choosing to blink and force the blade out of existence. Blaze stood there, mid-swing, flabbergasted at what had just happened, and slightly unnerved by the total control Inferno was displaying._

" _When will you learn that you won't overpower me?" Inferno asked, taking a somewhat bored expression upon thwarting the attempted assault, which caught Blaze even more off-guard at how casual the freak seemed. "We are the best of friends, and you will have to recognize that I am your better if every way."_

" _Bullshit, you bucking bastard! Get the buck out of here, and never come back!" Blaze tried again, making an even larger sword and swing it with greater power than ever before, only to yield the same results as before. Though this time Inferno stepped forward and placed a calm hoof on Blaze's shoulder._

" _Am I going to have to break out into song for you? I understand you're dreams are often quite melodic, and I've put some effort into coming up with a short poem to display my thoughts." It smirked. Stepping back and puffing its chest and strutting around him in a circle. "Don't you see I am your pride? Agent of War? Bearer of Needs? And you know its right. I am your war; arming the strong, and aiding the weak. Know me by name. . . Shepherd of Fire!"_

 _The way the monster sang was extremely conflicting with Blaze, as he truly despised whatever it was this thing wanted with him, with however it wanted to turn him against his own family. But that voice was terrifyingly beautiful, in its horrific way. He growled and tried to block out the noise, but it seemed to not just be coming from the freak's mouth, but resonating within his skull as well. There was no escape._

" _Well I can promise you paradise: no need to serve on your knees." Inferno continued to gloat, rising along a steps of pure fire as it shot an unbelievable fireball towards a smiling picture of the sun that had been conjured in the sky. "And when you're lost in the darkest of hours, take a moment and tell me who you see, won't tell you who not to be."_

 _As the thing continued, the staircase of fire shifted into a wall of ash, one that rapidly encroached on the surroundings and eventually closed Blaze in, leaving him staring at the distant, hazy gray sky where a single figure stood, beaming down at him light some unholy abomination trying to be some holy savior. "Even in my darkest hour, one that I need not remind you already passed, the only ponies that I ever needed were right there by my side, willing to help me and give me something to live for. They were my saviors, and my paradise is something I can achieve all on my own: a world without Al's bucking fanatics where my family can be safe and happy! I see them: my family then, and I will continue to see them now!"_

 _He focused his will, and sent a beam of light towards the wall blocking him, tearing open a gaping hole. His love fueled the beam that charged straight from his chest, from his heart and from his will to protect them. And with that will, he battered down the oppression that Inferno sought to enslave him with. Said monster merely appeared before him, frowning at the sudden defiance. "You listen here, you freak: I am your war. I am the strong, aiding the weak and defenseless. You hold no more power over me than Al does: just another monster in need of slaying before anypony can be safe."_

 _There was a tense silence as the two stared each other down, until the silence was broken with the hearty laughter of Inferno, who roared into the skies with amusement. "Through the ages of time, I've been known for my hate. But I'm a dealer of simple choices: for me it's never too late._

" _Blaze Burn, oh Blaze Burn." It continued, wiping one of it's void-eyes with a gleaming hoof. "I will grant you this victory, so that you may understand that it is us who shall win over others in the future. In the end, you will come to me, and you will graciously welcome me with open hooves, and a barren heart. I will come to you then, and I will not hold it against you, for I understand that you are still ignorant to the truth."_

 _It turned and it's horn flared up, opening a swirling vortex of fire just a few steps away. It paused before entering the portal, giving the pegasus a single glance over his shoulder. "I shall warn you of the reasons why I have always been right, so that you will slowly accept that I am, and always have been, the right pony you need to listen to. Remember these reasons, for they are but the pieces of the ultimate truth: the reality you will accept, and the one that will break you. When you break, call to me, and we shall become friends forever."_

 _Blaze didn't have time to respond, though he doubted he would have even been able to come up with something to say to that declaration. Inferno fearlessly entered the fiery vortex, being swallowed by the tongues of heat and disappearing before all the light in the dreamscape faded steadily._

 _He stared at the afterimage of the flames, scared for his life at the encounter, and strangely satisfied that he had defied a malignant force all on his own, without the need of the much more experienced nightmare fighter there to guide him._

 _Then the shock and utter terror finally caught up with him, and he felt himself slipping from this realm, leaving him with precious time to consider just what the buck was happening around him, and why the world always seemed to get more complicated. Though, as he slowly began to exit the world of dreams and reawaken, he wondered just what it was that this Inferno had hoped to achieve, other than turning him against the only ponies that ever mattered to him. Perhaps that was just it: perhaps this was another super villain that only wanted to see a potential threat destroyed before this supposed confrontation later on._

 _But if that were the case, then what was that freak saying about fragments of the truth, and why the buck was he even considering their existence?_

His eyes snapped open to the inky darkness of an Equestrian winter in what was the deadest parts of the night. This was something that he _had_ to speak with Luna about.

* * *

 _Post-Chapter Author's note: Hey, so about the delay in between this chapter and the last. . . well, in truth, I've struggled a lot to get this one done, in part because I'm also working on A Carriage Drawn by 6, and in part because I'm super uncomfortable with writing clop of any kind, though having my internet cut off didn't help at all. Yeah, I got this chapter done within a reasonable amount of time for my new pacing, but then being dirt-poor hit me real hard, and I lost the ability to upload._

 _Ever since I've started actually taking writing seriously, I've just been self-conscious of my abilities and I want to make the best, most believable world I can. However, that means that I want things to be realistic or plausible within the world, and I just don't have enough experience with writing pony porn to fit within my comfort zone. I went over it a couple of times, but I'm certain that it's not quite up to par with just about anything, but I've accepted that I'm not able to really improve it. I guess it's one of those highly uncomfortable things that I'm going to need to just get done with. And no, I'm not really against the idea of clop, hell it's what introduce me to the fandom, but I'm just not skilled enough to comfortably_ write _it._

 _And to answer the inevitable question of why I wrote it if I was so uncomfortable, the answer is that I believe this is a necessary part of the character development and relationship building between Blaze and Asta. I'm a sucker for character development, and I prefer to write character-driven narratives, which is why the overarching narrative here is a little lacking. I just enjoy building these characters so much, and I wanted to give them as realistic and natural feeling growth as I can._

 _That brings me into the next part here: I wanted to discuss something somewhat important in the character mindsets. I don't believe I've written any Mary Sues, mostly because each one here has a major flaw or negative experience to life, but with Asta specifically, I believe that a person in her position could easily become obsessively attached to their viewed 'savior,' which is what happened here. So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and as always: any feedback is greatly appreciated._

 _\- Seer_


	29. Fulmination of Reason

Chapter 29: Fulmination of Reason

Grabbing his hidden blade from the nightstand and biting down on the scabbard to take his sword, he rushed out of his room, moving down the pitch black hallways by memory. He fumbled with the straps to his hidden blade, trying to hastily tie it down, when the tip of his scabbard brushed against the wall, forcing him to lean away before he collided with it. He was in a rush, yes, but he had no desire to wake up the other ponies: they would need the sleep.

He repressed a victorious shout when he finally got the bracer fixed, and now no longer needed to hold onto the unreasonably hefty blade by just his jaw strength. He stopped once he was in the main area so he could take his time and not trip over anything, and so he could actually get to the door without making too much noise.

It was moments like this that made him eternally grateful for the stealth training the Creed had put him through for stealing: he didn't know how any other pony his size could have possibly made a stealthy pass through this building like he had.

Once he found the door, he propped it open, letting the faint light from outside bleed through the new opening as he flung the scabbard over his back and tightened the belts over his shoulder and torso. He knew he didn't have a specific time limit to get to the castle, but the sooner the better, so he left the straps mostly loose and barreled out the doors, frowning at the light snowfall coming down. "When did the weather crews have time to set up this shit?"

Cursing his own misfortune, he continued through the flakes of stinging ice, which were especially cold after jumping right out of his warm bed. . .

He shook a snowflake out of his eye and forced his wings down, launching him into the air and just barely clearing the roof of the warehouse across the street. He figured he'd make up some time by taking a direct route there, and it would also reduce the likelihood of running into any unwanted midnight attention.

As much as he thought it was a good idea to take a tiny shortcut, and to have a small advantage over any encounters, the wind had really kicked back up. Without any buildings to break it, he felt the horribly freezing wind claw into him the moment he cleared the rooftops, getting him to instantly grind his teeth and try to keep his eyes clear of the raking snowflakes. He started to regret the decision to pop up here, but he wasn't going to let some small bit of wind and discomfort distract him, so he pushed onward, pumping his wings as hard as he dared under the restraint of weariness. This could all be over quickly enough if he just made it to the castle and got to speak with Luna about her absence from his dreams. That and he wanted to know if she knew anything about what that freak, Inferno, was on about.

The wind never let up as he struggled over the streets, though some areas did seem unusually stronger than others, and he had to wonder how much of it was natural wind and how much was that cursed Everfree wind.

Seeing a line of torches in the distance, he sighed in relief at getting closer to his destination, and now that the sleep was actually leaving his body, mostly because of the blizzard temperatures, he could think a bit more clearly. He needed to know why she had neglected to speak with him twice in a row, as it was never something she had skipped. If there was one thing that she had stressed the importance of more than all during his training, it was consistency.

He needed to know what was going on, and if this might have had anything to do with the development with the Assassin Order, or if he just got screwed over in some other way. He did figure that it didn't matter a whole lot, all that mattered was that something was keeping Luna from helping him hone his skills, and he needed to know if it was him or her or something outside of them.

If it was him, then he needed to figure out what it was, because Luna had been there to help him with so many other issues, and he liked to think that the two of them had been bonding enough that she'd be more than willing to help. Hay, even if they hadn't been bonding, he knew that this kind of interference was not in her style, unless she had been skipping the sessions herself. In which case he had to know before he went to her with complaints, but there was something that was telling him that that wasn't the case, especially with how eager she had appeared when he had taken to her little specialized training. Something about his heritage or some other.

But the biggest worry he had was that whatever was happening was outside of them, in which case he really needed her to be on his side while he tried to figure it out. If somepony had been interrupting his practice, he knew that Luna would be furious, and that she'd rightly put a quick end to it, though he had to wonder just how they could have managed it. Timing? Maybe it was a combination of Luna being busy, or perhaps some other kind of spell that would help break dreams?

He clenched his jaw as he tried to figure it out, letting himself drift between two buildings next to the central street, feeling his body loosen at the break in the wind. He landed in the snow, and shivered as some worked it's way between his hidden blade and forehoof.

Giving himself a moment to collect his thoughts, he tried to fix up his appearance so that he didn't look like some homeless pony bum-rushing the gates armed with a sword. Even with his size and the night guards' enhanced senses, this kind of weather would make identifying difficult. Once he'd made himself somewhat presentable for a trip to the castle, he trudged his way through the snow and down the main street, glad that the wind had blown most of the snow over the street. The guards at the gate were barely visible, but at least he could make out the torches around them and along the ramparts.

He trotted up to the gate, giving the four guards there a curt nod while he waited for them to do their thing and open the gate. While they stoically braved the snow and worked on opening the barred gate, he watched them, internally wondering how cold there purple steel armor must have been, though the helmets did look somewhat protective from the wind.

One of the guards distinguished herself as the captain of the watch with a silvery helmet in place of the usual purple, and as the other three guys finally got the path cleared, she shuffled to the front of the group and twitched her velvety black wings. "Come on, Burn: I'll escort you to the door."

He cocked his head at the assertion, wondering why he'd be needing an escort; this wasn't the first time he'd had to go to the castle alone, and certainly wasn't the last. Still, orders were orders, and these were Luna's personal ponies, so he shrugged and stepped through the gates, with this mare by his side. The moment they passed through, the gate slid shut behind them, providing the pair with even more coverage from the elements.

Just before they passed from underneath the gatehouse, the captain stopped and turned to him. He looked down at her, slightly annoyed that she was delaying his meeting, but still curious what she wanted.

"Blaze Burn, it's nice to finally meet you; I've heard some things about you from the others." She started slowly, pulling her helmet off to reveal a silver mane streaked with white that shone brightly in the torchlight. Pressing the helmet to her breastplate, she looked down at the ground, as if she were gathering her thoughts, a pursed her lips. "Shadow talked with some of the others about having Princess Luna make our changes permanent. He said that you gave him the idea."

"I did."

"And after some discussing, we all agreed that the idea was solid, so we went to her with it, and it's official. You've done us all a service in protecting both Sisters, so I wanted to thank you for allowing us to better perform our duties." She flared her wings so he could get a better look at them in the light. "But I also wanted to warn you that there might be some backlash from somepony somewhere that the transformation wasn't a good one. Still, it's been great knowing that I now wear my duties with my skin now, so I hope that your service under the Sisters is as fruitful as it is unique."

". . . uh, thanks?" He looked at her with a furrowed brow, not understanding why he had to hear this. "I just thought that the whole bat-thing was more intimidation, so you'd be able to stop more crime or whatnot."

"It was a smart decision." She nodded, putting her helmet back on, instantly destroying whatever emotional moment she was going for. "My name's Star Streak, and you'll get some more leniency with me for what you've done for us."

"Sure thing. Just doing what I can." He said, deciding he'd wasted enough time. He took the lead and walked up the snow-covered path up to the large castle doors. True to her statement, once he reached them, Star Streak spun around and returned to the gate, a fact he was indifferent towards. That interaction was something he was uncertain how to feel about. He rolled his shoulders and pushed a door open, sliding inside swiftly to avoid tracking unnecessary snow in with him.

The interior was deathly quite, something that was equally expected and eerie given the size of the structure. He looked around the entrance hall, and seeing nopony inside, not even guards, he centered himself and walked down the carpet and through the second set of doors, walking straight into the throne room.

Now, he understood perfectly well that Luna had other responsibilities to attend to during the night, and given that so few ponies were actually awake now, he also knew that there really wouldn't be much of a nightly court to speak to ponies over. But he still expected there to at least be guards watching the thrones, and not a massive, empty hall full of flickering torches and whispering winds echoing from the outside. He repressed a shudder and walked until he reached the base of the steps heading to the two massive, velvet backed thrones.

Not even a note on her seat.

He hummed to himself in thought, trying to think of where a Princess of the Moon would spend her time if she wasn't sitting around waiting for court. Dining room? What would she be doing in there at whatever damned time it was?

He sat on the steps and tapped a hoof to his chin.

What happens to Luna when she goes into dreams: does she physically appear there, disappearing from those awake until she returns? Does she simply stand still? Does she have some kind of pool or special chamber in which to perform her nightly duties? He sighed in frustration and stood from the steps, determined to roam the halls until he found somepony useful to direct him to her location.

With a newfound goal in mind, he walked straight back out the throne room double doors and turned to head down the servant's halls. His disappointment and concern were gradually growing as he pushed the next set of doors open, as the lack of anypony was starting to get to him.

Was the middle of the night in winter really this deserted? He hadn't truly ever stayed at the castle this late, and now he was starting to wonder why. Trotting at an even faster rate, he continued searching the halls for what felt like hours, though he doubted it was actually that long. He recognized the area he was in, fairly close to the kitchens, so he decided to take a peak and see if that held any promise.

The halls started to echo with the hoofsteps of somepony other than him, which got him eagerly galloping down the halls, his irritation at the state of the castle turning into extra energy in need of burning. The sounds were coming from beyond the kitchen, so he simply barreled passed the door, though he spared a side glance at the cracks in the door: not even a light on in there. He kept charging down the hall, ears straining to determine where those hoofsteps were coming from, until they resounded from just around the corner.

He slowed down from his reckless gallop now that he knew exactly where somepony was, but he still carried enough momentum to fling him passed the corner and come to a sliding stop before a patrol of guards.

It wasn't a pleasant greeting for either parties when he did so, as the guards reacted with surprised swiftness, brandishing their weapons and preparing to jump on him, while he desperately tried to back away. There were a few very tense seconds as the guards scrambled to keep up with his backpedaling, while he did what he could to inform them of who he was.

Each of the guards' faces turned pale when they realized who they were swinging at, and a torrent of apologies poured forth as they all calmed down.

"Where's Princess Luna? I need to speak with her urgently." He said once they all had returned to a more relaxed position. The guards looked between themselves, each one shaking his head in the negative, which only crushed the anticipation he'd built up at finally meeting another pony during the night exploration of the castle. When they had nothing more to share, he sighed and bade them a farewell before returning to his lonesome journey through the halls. At least they had told him most of the staff had been running sick due to the weather.

Not that that helped him.

He walked down the halls dejected, with the need to even speak with Luna fading away the longer it took to find her, assuming he ever did. He kept wandering the halls, hoping to find somepony else that would be of actual use, or if he was exceptionally lucky, one of the Sisters themselves. Turning corner after corner, he was met with the same cold stone halls, broken only by the segments of carpet and the occasional window or decoration. Eventually, he stopped really paying attention to where he was going, just letting his hooves lead him to something useful, hopefully. With his body on autopilot, his mind turned inward, hoping to answer some questions that he had for Luna, like what the buck was the deal with Inferno? Why was he tormented with this evil monstrosity that was vying for power over him, and why did it have a grudge against everypony?

'That thing mentioned that it was betrayed by everypony that it cared for, if it ever even did care for anything.' He thought to himself, replaying that dreadful dream encounter with the freak, his curiosity over why the thing was so intent on destroying his family. 'It lost everypony, but why did it have to target me? What about me makes it so interested in breaking my family?'

He tried to find some connection, but everything he thought of only came back as a dead end, leaving him with fragments of something that could be a truth, but nothing with any substance to it. It wanted him to ally with it, but he couldn't figure out what that thing was going to gain, other than having him lose his family.

He kept pushing his brain for an answer, but nothing was coming out. He only stopped when he turned his focus to where he was ever so briefly, and noticed that he had started taking some stairs down, and he had to snap his attention fully into the present so he could figure out just where the buck his body was taking him. He paused mid-step and looked around, immediately noticing the statues embedded within the walls to either side of him, each of an armored pony holding a sconce, with a warm torch burning in each.

The statues told him all he needed to know, that he was on his way to the vault, though he couldn't imagine why his hooves had decided to take him down here, as there was nothing that he needed. Unless there actually was something down there. . .

He decided to humor his body, so he continued pushing onward, opting to keep focused on the task at hoof, and figure out where the hay Luna was. Surely she wouldn't be down in the vault, unless there was something that demanded her attention down here. He shrugged his shoulders and hopped the remaining steps, being greeted by an empty hallway and the first rows of traps and hazards still untouched.

He tried to justify his coming down here, but there was the sound of magic in the air behind him, so he didn't need to.

Spinning around and reaching over his shoulder to get a firm grip on his sword, he settled into one of the defensive positions he had learned, whipping out his sword right as the relieving sight of none other than the Princess of the night herself appeared before him. He let out an audible groan of relief as he relaxed and put away his sword. "You have no idea how long I've been looking for you."

"Why art thee not asleep?" She asked immediately, the tone her voice was hard, as if she had been trying to get into his dreams for some time. He flinched at the harsh tone, and had to blink several times before his brain could come up with an answer.

"That's kind of the reason I was here in the first place, actually." He started, nodding in the direction of his home. "I had another run in with that Inferno asshole. You know; the one who claims that you and your sister destroyed his life and had tried to convert me to his crusade?"

"Ah yes, the specter from thine mind." Luna frowned, sending a glare towards him as a thought appeared in her head. "But that does not answer our question. Why art thou awake, let alone here in our castle?"

"Well, you didn't show up to help me out, so I had to fend him off on my own, even though it is pretty bucking clear that he has advanced knowledge of the inner machinations of dreams. He decided to let me go, and as soon as I woke up, I rushed over here. I don't know when you tried reaching me, but I've only been here for maybe half an hour, so I'm sorry that this caused any inconvenience: I was just trying to get here so that we might be able to figure out what the buck is going on. I thought it was important since you were otherwise occupied."

"Blaze Burn," Her tone somehow managed to get harsher. "We hath been attempting to enter thine dreams for nigh on three hours, and our attempts have been delayed thanks to thine efforts of staying awake."

"What? You never showed up in my dreams last night, and tonight, there was no way that you missed my dreams, because I was sleeping just fine for some time. I went to bed only an hour or three after sunset, so you definitely should have run into me while I was dealing with that Inferno bucker." He added, stepping forward in an attempt to prevent her from towering over him. "I've been waiting for you to show up so we could continue with our lessons, but both nights have been missed because you were a no-show."

Luna was silent for a second, her ears dropping against her skull while she stepped back, her eyes downcast as she processed the new information. He waited for her response, as her genuine surprise to hearing that she wasn't able to get to his dreams caught him off guard. When she looked up, her features had taken a more frustrated appearance.

"So. . . thou hath not been avoiding sleep for the sake of saving thine hide?" She whispered to herself, obviously still trying to figure out what was going on, which was exactly not what he had wanted to hear. She growled in an animalistic way that he hadn't heard from her before, and the clear display of frustration she was now venting was alarming. He wasn't sure whether this was the best place to be, but he didn't really have anywhere else he could go, so he knew he was going to have to brave this. "What kind of foul play is going on here, that somepony would think to take control over _my_ domain, to demand loyalty from _my_ subjects, and to deny me access to _my_ birthright?! This monster of thou, this _Inferno_ -"

The venom was now coming out in full force, and Blaze could only retreat back a step as her frustration grew into anger. "- will pay dearly for what it hath taken away from us! We order thee back to thine quarters, so that thou might take to slumber so we can wage war! Thou shalt sleep peacefully, for the foul manipulator shalt be purged!"

"Princess-" He tried to calm her down.

"NO! We hath be insulted, and that villain hath transgressed into our sights, taking as it pleased. Well, no more! 'No more' we say! This thing hath brought upon itself a war!"

"Luna!" Blaze shouted, finally getting her attention enough to finish his thought. "Luna, I don't think you're going to be able to get it to come back, because it doesn't just come when I dream; it comes whenever it pleases. I can't just bring it here to you, and I don't think it's going to willingly go to you, judging by what it said to me tonight."

"And what did this trespasser declare to thou?!" She shot at him, earning a frightful wince from the pegasus.

"It-it told me that it had come to talk because you were unable to reach us, so it felt ready to make an attempt and converting me." He replied, taking a step back with each word, just as Luna took a step forward. "It. . . Inferno kind of seemed like it was planning on waiting until you were no longer there to intervene, so I doubt you'll be able to lure it into the open, so to speak."

"But this thing is responsible for blocking our duties as a Princess, and we art not permitting such behavior!" She said angrily, though the emotions were clearly running their course and slowly dying off.

"But we don't know that; all I know is that it said you were unable to get to it, meaning that it knew about the block. However, I don't think that this was because of it: I had a pretty bucked up nightmare last night, and you did nothing to help. This was before Inferno did anything, so while it's possible that it orchestrated the previous dream to test whether shutting down your powers would even work, I happen to think that there is something else going on here. You even said that you thought I had been awake trying to avoid our sessions, when I've never shown any hesitation before." He said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible as he finally held his ground, now that Luna wasn't terrifying the ever-loving buck out of him. "I have my own reservations about this thing's involvement in whatever is preventing you from getting to dreams, or even realizing ponies are having them. What could even do that to begin with?"

"We. . . I do not know." She sighed, the last of her rage finally passing through and leaving her looking far more uncomfortable than he'd seen her in a long time. This must have thrown a strain on her. "I will have to go through some of my things and see just what could prevent my senses from detecting a sleeping pony."

"Well, at least we got this out of the way, though I doubt we're completely done with it." He nodded, feeling another wave of relief that he'd avoided something bad from her anger. "And I suppose that it's only been two dream sessions we missed, instead of something more considerable. And I haven't really been skimping on the flights, though tomorrow is going to be interesting."

"Indeed." She replied, now far more enveloped in her own thoughts to listen to what he was saying. "Meet me at the armory tomorrow evening for our routine. I need to do some digging."

"Of course, Luna." He offered a short bow then stepped to leave before a thought came across his mind. "Princess. . . I don't know how much you've been aware of the on-goings of the city, but I'm starting to work with the Assassins to hunt down those fanatics and Al Capony. Things are finally looking up for our homes."

"Mhm." She nodded, though it came through just as her horn flared up and she disappeared in a puff of dark smoke, leaving him standing alone in the hall.

He didn't take it personally, she only ever seemed to show so much patience with something, and he was more than certain that she was now totally absorbed by the prospect of catching whatever was behind this dream issue. So once the aftereffects of her magic faded away, he returned to the top of the stairs, sparing a single glance back down and wondering ever so briefly just what it was that had made him go down there.

Whatever it was, he didn't need to worry about it anymore, he got Luna up to speed on the dream thing, and now that she was working on it, he had started to feel significantly better about it. He paused to actually look at his emotional state, now that he wasn't desperately trying to understand what was going on, and was relieved to find that any stress he had about it was rapidly disappearing. He supposed that having an immortal Princess bent on unraveling this mystery helped alleviate any worries.

The trip back home had proven to be uneventful for him, besides a brief nod to Star Stream at the gate, he made short work of flying about the streets, even if the wind had been bitter and relentless. His manic dash to the castle must have heightened his senses, because the snow wasn't nearly as irritating this time around.

He made it back home with no problems, something that he was noticing was getting far less likely to happen, and stopped just inside the doorway to shake the snow out of his mane.

Just as silently as before, he started making his way through the darkness, relying heavily on his memory of the place to guide his hoofsteps as he crossed the room. He stopped at the entrance to the hallway when a flash of a memory imposed itself on his vision, and he once again saw Asta flying off in that frilly white dress that Al must have had made for her. His distress returned tenfold when he thought about what that dream meant: the last time Al had taken a sibling, Star had vanished, leaving behind that bucking awful note. With everything progressing as fast as it was, and with Al once more working on doing terrible things in the name of chaos, he was absolutely terrified to lose everything he had worked so hard to achieve and earn back. Things were happening, and now his gut was demanding he make sure to do good by his promises and check on what remained of his family. This was not to be ignored, so he began to make the various detours necessary to ensure that those he loved were still here.

Scale's room was first, as it was right there, and he'd be lying if he wasn't nervous of just waltzing in on her room to check on her, but the need to see her here overpowered any trepidation. He silently pushed the door open, being greeted by the total darkness of her brewing station. He took the careful approach, taking small, safe steps across the room until he came upon the door to her bedroom. Inhaling lightly, he nudged it open, and though the blackened room made things nearly impossible to see, his eyes had adjusted enough that he could see a bundle on the bed. His ears were strained to the max, but he could hear the gentle breathing of the Sage, and so his needs were satisfied that she was still here.

He had never actually set hoof inside Goldheart's room, and he only vaguely remembered where the door was, which only made getting there in the middle of the night ever more difficult. It took him longer than anticipated, but he still got there in the end, so he cracked the door open. Much to his surprise, there was a candle lit on a table just to the right of a large bed, casting the faintest of lights through the room as it reached the end of its life. Peaking his head passed the door, he eyed the bed, and found yet another surprise for him: Goldheart was asleep, and he had his hooves wrapped around a peacefully slumbering Twilight.

He pursed his lips and slid back out of the doorway, silently sliding it shut before leaning against the wall right next to it. He felt a small pang of disappointment at the loss of his buck-buddy, but at the same time he felt a rise of genuine happiness for the two: even if he never would have guessed that either had the desire to find a partner. He wished the two a peaceful sleep and continued onto his next targets.

Now that he was entering territory much less to be full of surprises, he made his way to Sweet Flower's room, happily finding the unicorn curled in her bed. Muffin came next, with his room literally right next door, and came with the exact same response.

After he shut the door, he swallowed his nervousness at the last pony he felt he truly needed to check on. Of all the ponies he wanted to be safe, of all the ponies that were likely to be up worrying over him, it was her safety and her opinion that he cherished most. He let the others enjoy the night, since it seemed that he was the only pony of late that was having issues getting proper sleep, and picked himself up off the wall.

He made short work of getting to her room, but he had yet to face the hardest part: opening that damned door. A part of him was screaming to just push the bucking thing open, take a peek to see that she was safe and out of harm's way, but there were still other parts that hesitated. He knew this was simple, yet holding back his hoof was the fear that, should she be up, he'd have to go through something uncomfortable. And everything uncomfortable with Asta had tended to end one way. He tried to support his need to check on her, and achieved enough success to unlatch the door, though it still remained shut before him.

After screaming for this to be over with, he finally managed to force himself to open the door, letting it slide inwards on silent hinges.

As expected, the room was dark, all the candles having long since been burnt out, though the open window let it the minuscule amount of light the clouds let the moon shine down to the ground. Asta's bed was still centered on the back wall, so he stepped forward and cast his anxious eyes on the lump underneath the blankets. He was satisfied that she was safe, that she was here and that Al hadn't ruined the best thing in his life, yet his hooves still remained firmly planted to the spot.

He tried to leave, but his body wasn't doing a good job of following his command, so he stood there, watching over the mare as she slept. He was happy that she wasn't burdened by the knowledge he had stuck in his head, that she wasn't weighed down by the constant fear that he could lose everything so easily.

He told his hooves to move, and they finally obeyed, though not in the way he had intended: he found himself stepping up to her bed, where he plopped down on the ground next to the bed and placed a hoof on her mattress. The blanket was pulled back enough to reveal her blissful face in the dim moonlight, complete with a tiny smile resulting from some positive dream or another. He found his need to leave dying off rapidly, and he felt himself slipping into the peace of sharing whatever happiness he could with her.

His hoof went up and started to brushed her mane, pulling the few loose strands free from her face and tucking them behind her ear, which twitched happily at the attention. He felt his lips curving into a content smile at having his life finally have good things coming for it.

He continued to brush her mane, doing the action more to keep himself at peace than to care for her appearance. Eventually, however, the brushing managed to ease her awake, and she shifted under his hoof, her eyes weakly cracking open in confusion. He flinched at the movement, finding himself rooted to the spot in shock as her bleary eyes focused on him. There was a moment of silence while the two registered what was happening, one in fear the other in weary confusion.

"Hey Blazy." She mumbled, a drowsy hoof reaching out from under the blankets to hold onto his own, which had remained planted just behind her ear. "Whatcha doin' in here?"

He was at a loss for words for a second, his chest feeling like it was blocking his throat from taking any air, let alone allowing the passage of words. He remained mute until her smile widened a little as the sleep began to slip away from her, and the brown hoof that held his pulled him closer to her. She nuzzled into him in greeting, which finally got his mouth working: "I just had a bad dream, and wanted to make sure that you're safe."

"Bad dream?" She asked sleepily as she pulled back. He felt a touch of sadness at seeing her happy smile replaced by a curious frown. "What about?"

He had little time to come up with something to do, and he didn't want her to worry over him, especially at this hour. He didn't know what to do or say, but he knew that the longer he delayed an answer, the more it would upset her, and that was something he just didn't have the heart to put her through right now. He wanted her to be happy, to smile so he had something to keep him going.

Deciding on an action, even though he didn't want to lead her on, he returned her nuzzle and stood up so he could unstrap the scabbard and hidden blade. "Don't worry about it."

She watched in growing coherency as he stripped the two articles he had on him, and a very pleased smile grew on her muzzle as he stepped over her and crawled in under the blankets, wrapping his forehooves around her even as she squirmed with delight.

As long as she was happy, he wouldn't mind cuddling, though that little voice in the back of his head was screaming in utter rage at the action.

"Just go back to sleep, and everything will be okay." He whispered into her ear as the two settled underneath the blankets, his body eagerly welcoming the shared warmth she had after he had been out in the blistering cold. She didn't respond in words, but she snuggled as closely as she could, wrapping every appendage she had around him and burying her muzzle in the crook of his neck. She sighed in contentment, something he agreed with wholeheartedly.

Before he had time to worry about the repercussions of his actions, though it would have mostly been one part of his mind screaming and yelling at the rest, she was out cold, snoring ever so lightly, with what he imagined was the smile of a mare who was completely happy.

The biggest downside he was willing to admit to about this situation was that he had too many worries and fears to allow himself that level of peace, but he did give himself leave to a smaller measure of it. As long as his family was safe, and this amazing mare right here was happy, then he saw little reason to complain. The rest of the world could eat a bag of dicks for all he cared: he just wanted his own to be content.

That was his closing thought as he felt his eyelids grow heavy, and he did give himself enough freedom to wear a very content smile as the exhaustion clouded his mind in the relaxation of sleep, and the comfort of cuddling with the most important pony in his life.

The morning sun was shining brightly, and it was bothering to the greatest degree for him, so he tried to pulled his foreleg over his eyes, but there was something holding it down. Disappointed that that option had been removed, he pulled his wing over his entire head, and sighed gratefully now that the light was not boring through his eyelids. However, even with the relative comfort of his feathers protecting him, he was now conscious enough to remember that sleep was a luxury he shouldn't really be focused on right now. The body wedged between his forelegs certainly didn't help anything, either.

He slowly lowered his wing, though his eyes still remained firmly shut, and he tried to exercise his mental awareness around him. There was definitely a mare snuggled into his chest, and he could feel her legs wrapped around him in a vice grip of comfort, her snout shoved just right so that he could feel each breath as a tickle against his ear. He didn't need to guess who it was, but he decided that he'd take one based solely on the somewhat pungent scent pervaded the air around him.

He gathered the willpower to crack open his eyes, and was greeted with the interior of Asta's room, until he cast his gaze downwards, where he was greeted with her bright green mane shoved right up into his muzzle. That helped explain the strength of her scent.

He was glad to finally be up first, for once, though: it meant that he wasn't being forced from his eventful sleep, where he could at least try to pretend that everything hadn't gotten crazy complicated for him. And not having a growing filly jumping on him to wake him was an obvious plus, so he would take was he could get as it came to him.

Happy as he was, he decided to do what he could to not wake her up, lest the day actually have to begin, and he wasn't so sure that he was ready for that to occur just yet.

With that in mind, he felt his cozy smile fade as he thought about what he truly wanted to do today: there were things that had to get done, things that should probably be done sooner or later, and then there was whatever he actually felt like doing. The list was a little daunting, but he'd learned enough to not want to waste time. He figured that Luna would probably be asleep, so he'd have to talk with her later, and he didn't want to talk with Celestia: she wouldn't take to his other plans with the Order too well. He then thought about what he was going to do regarding the Order, his options were to go about and look for things to do, or learn more about them in general, or just try to get to know the ponies involved. He thought about each of the new ponies he'd already gotten to know, and he was curious about the other creatures that might exist as Assassins. Then his thoughts turned to the one who introduced him to the ranks.

Rainbow Crescent had once told him that if he ever wanted to talk, that he could go to where she was staying, at that Mare house or whatever. With everything moving the way it was, he found the idea of getting some information from a willing Assassin particularly useful, and he liked the idea of building up that friendship: she wasn't totally compatible, but she seemed genuine enough.

Having found an idea for today that he was interested in pursuing, he decided that he might as well go and get up, ruin Asta's sleep for once, and look into grabbing a bottle of mead, if the Sisters' forbid he be lucky enough. He smirked at finally being in the position to wake somepony else up rather rudely, and turned his attention down to the mare sleeping very peacefully in his grasp. He flicked her in the ear with a feather, then pulled up with both forelegs to rip her out of the comfortable confines of his body and inhaling loudly before exclaiming: "Time to get up, Asta!"

The motion, along with the loud noise, were more than enough to get the mare to shoot straight out of the bed, her wings springing into action and launching her up to the ceiling. Her head whipped around with wide eyes as she tried to get her bearings over what had just happened, until her glare dropped down to him, where he lay curled up on the bed, laughing his flank off.

"Not funny, Blaze." She spat, steadily lowering from the ceiling until she dropped onto all fours next to the bed. She began to run a hoof through her mane, not taking her stern glare off of him until he finally managed to get his fit under control.

"I'd say I was sorry, but that would be a lie, and I'm feeling a little jolly at finally being able to return the favor to you for all those times you woke me up just like that." He was still laughing as he rolled off of the bed, feeling his body refreshed for once, instead of the soreness he was expecting. He sprang off of the floor and started to happily stretch while his sister stretched herself across the bed trying to get the best view of him. "It's pretty nice being able to forcibly wake others up, and I'm starting to see why you do it all the time."

"I don't do it just because it's fun, most of the time." She muttered, rolling onto her back as he trotted around the bed. He stopped at the nightstand to strap on his hidden blade and throw his sword over his shoulder.

"Well, either way, you can say that that's for all the times you've done it to me." He shrugged, turning to her with a genuine smile. "I'm taking a bath to get your scent off me, then I'm going to get ready for a busy day that I was hoping you'd come along for. I'm going to talk with Rainbow Crescent about some things, but she said she was in some kind of 'no-stallion' house or something. I was hoping you'd help me find her, so that gives you an excuse to come with me. After that, I've got some spare time until dusk for training with Luna, which I'm sure Celestia will want you to return her book for."

"I'd love to come with you." She rolled off the bed and hopped to his side as he left the room. "But I can't say I'm a huge fan of that Rainbow mare: she seems mean. I'll go if you want me to, and I'll be there when you want me. You took the book, though."

"Ah, right. It's in my room, we'll grab it after I get you out of my fur." He stopped at the bathroom door, turning to look expectantly at her. She stared blankly at him for a full five seconds before it clicked what he wanted, and she trotted off in a dejected manner. He made sure she had turned the corner before entering the room, greeted by a few other ponies hoping to wake up with a cold bath.

He took an empty tub, and dropped his sword next to it, which was shortly followed by his hidden blade. He trotted over to the buckets of steaming water, and began the simple task of getting a hot bath going, settling into the water with a heavy sigh of relaxation. Even if he were sore, the seeping effect of the heat surrounding him would have been more than enough to sooth him into utter comfort. The water was doing a decent job of working him clean of whatever sweat built up from the busy night, and the radiating heat seemed to do plenty in purifying his coat from the permeating scent of Asta.

Once his peace had been filled with some him-time, he removed the plug and let the water drain as he did his best to dry himself without a towel. It was only when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere that he admitted defeat and grabbed enough drying fabric to do the job.

His morning starting on the best possible note, he re-attached his gear to him, if loosely so, and worked his way to his room, where Asta had already made herself comfortable on his bed. She was leafing through the book, and thus, had her back to him as he peeked over her shoulder; she was reading through the ritual parts again. "Hope you aren't getting anymore ideas."

"I already explained myself multiple times: I just want you to be happy." She didn't take her eyes off the pages.

"And I'd be a whole hay of a lot more happy if you weren't always trying to buck me, and instead focused your efforts on learning whatever it is that Celestia wanted to teach you. Who knows: maybe you could find an occupation out there in the city that could use something she teaches you." The comment got her ears to fall flat against her head, though she seemed to keep her attention on the book. He let the information float in the air as he put on his robes, which felt even better now that he'd started to break them in. His weapons went on over the clothes, and he loathed that he even needed them in the first place.

He heard her mutter something, but he decided that it wasn't worth pursuing, so he patted down his vest, trying to think if he needed anything in particular. He went through everything that he had on him: his sword, Assassin-exclusive weapon, full attire. A hoof went along his belt, checking the empty pouches that he'd been provided with, and noted the lack of things.

As grateful as he was for the new apparel, he wondered just what he was going to put in each of those tiny little pockets, aside from a very large sum of money.

As he thought about money, he checked for a coin purse, which had made itself known to be utterly missing from his pony. He opted to rectify that before he left for the day: a pony never knew when he was in need of coin for the day. He grabbed some of his emergency bits, loading them in one of his pouches, then turned to his sister, who had taken to sitting on his bed and staring at him with a veiled expression. "Grab that book and let's grab something to eat."

She did so, and the two made short work of grabbing food to eat: a wonderful breakfast of toast and milk. He kept his eye on her for the entire meal, watching her sulk about, and after they had everything set for a busy day, let the others know they were heading out.

The two set out down the street by hoof, letting the crowds slowly build around them, walking in tense silence. Once they were a safe distance from home, he sighed and wrapped his wing around her, pulling her in close while he leaned down to talk to her. "Asta. . . I didn't mean to sound harsh back there, but I just wanted to let you know: I don't need to buck somepony to be happy around them. All I ever wanted was for all of you to be safe, and when you are all happy, that makes me happy, so if you wanted me to be happy, then just be there: just having you around makes me happy. You don't need to try anything fancy, or be something that you aren't."

"I get it." She sighed, nuzzling his shoulder but surprisingly, she pulled out from under his wing. "I just thought that with everything going on, I needed to really show you, and I heard how you enjoyed partaking in those kinds of pleasures, so. . ."

"I wouldn't say I enjoyed partaking in them." He tried to think of some way to explain his thoughts, though with Asta finally getting on the same page as him, it was slowly starting to get easier. "But after everything I'd be introduced to, I won't complain about them. . . most of them. Sure, I like sex, most ponies do, but if I had the choice; I don't think that I would have so readily kept things as they were between Twilight and I, definitely not with Celestia."

"Wait, you and Celestia already-"

"No." He cut her off with a swift hoof over her muzzle, which quickly retracted so they could continue. "She made a hasty decision some time ago, and she had to pay the price for it; in the form of a strike against our friendship. We never did it, she just tried to persuade me into it."

". . .Oh." That seemed to kill their conversation, though he kind of wanted to keep talking with her, now that spending time with her wasn't riddling him with anxiety. They pushed further into the heart of the city, working their way along until they finally reached a large building along the fringes of the smallest of the marketplaces. This was the building they were looking for, he knew for certainty, if the lack of stallions around told him anything.

The building itself was a three-story bunkhouse, built of aging stone that looked to have suffered at least one fire and been the victim of a barrage of rampaging storms. Cracks splintered between crevices like bolts of lightning, offering space for wildlife to take root while any paint that would have been applied was so faded that it might as well have not existed in the first place. Vines crept their way along the face of the building, working from the cracks where they rooted and spreading like a great invasion force, claiming what was once tamed for pony use. Highlighting the wintry dead vines and dull gray stone like flashes of life were vibrant flowers of every shape and size, appearing in every color of the rainbow as the various species interbred and mingled together. Some had been potted, as if the mares here had taken some attempts to rein in the rampant growth of plant life.

It amazed him how the flowers themselves were still alive in the dead of winter, so he assumed some form of magic had to be at work to keep them alive. Though he had to question why the ivy had been left to fend for itself.

Behind the wall of ivy doing its best to topple the building from the foundation, all could see that there was a lack of windows on the first floor, though the scorch-marks of a fire could be seen clashing violently with the remnant creepers and blossoming flowers. However, there were openings along the two remaining floors where not even the conquesting vines dared intrude that marked the presence of windows. Following the surge of green, Blaze saw that the ivy had taken to dripping off the railing of a second-floor balcony, acting as a natural curtain to the shaded porch housing several lounging ponies.

It was in this shaded area guarded by both cautious and downright terrified looking mares that he and Asta saw the sole visible entrance from the ground: a vaulted doorway accented with geometric blocks of carved stone arching over a recessed door. The door itself was an earthy brown double door entrance, capped by dull brass that just barely glinted in the light.

Blaze took a sparing look at the group of ponies gathering together underneath the wooden structure and looking to pounce on him, so he leaned over to Asta. His voice dropped to a whisper as he nudged her forward: "Why don't you just go on ahead and ask them to fetch Rainbow Crescent, and I'll take a step back so these ladies don't get the wrong impression."

"Y-yeah. Good idea." She gulped and stepped forward. "I don't think they like the look of some massive dude in a hooded outfit that has a sword strapped to his back showing up at their home."

Without wasting anymore time, she stepped closer to the mares, who were slowly relaxing as Blaze began to back away, and did her best to look as nonthreatening as possible. She cleared her throat to make her request, when the doors behind the mares shifted, and the hinges upon which they sat creaked in protest to the movement. They slid wide open and non other than Rainbow Crescent herself scuttled out from the depths of the vault.

The completely surprised look on the assassin's face when she saw Asta struck a chord within Blaze, though he refused to do anything sudden for the sake of everypony there. He watched her trot up to the younger mare, her expression shifting into pleasant confusion, until her pink eyes shifted over to him. She mouthed her understanding, then smiled and dragged Asta back over to him, leaving the group of mares to rush inside from both under the parch and from the balcony.

"I'll consider this to be the greatest coincidence to happen in a while, because I was just about to head out and go find you." She declared cheerily, stopping before him to look him over. "At least you look ready for work, so we don't have to waste time heading back to your place to get you started on helping the Order."

"What?" Asta said, shaking her head and turning her confused expression over to the senior assassin. "Already? Blaze joined you guys, like, literally yesterday."

"Look, there's a lot of work to get done, and we've heard some reports that things are getting bucking time sensitive." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "The sooner we can prove to the Order that you are a useful member for us, then we can get you formally inducted as a proper Assassin. That'll come with some pretty good benefits, not to mention putting us that much closer to closing in on Al's little coup of fanatics."

"Great: I get that you want to get started right away, I really do." Blaze sighed, standing up and rolling his shoulder so they could get moving. "And while I'm equally as anxious to put Al down, the reason I'm here right now is that there were a few things that I was hoping you could tell me about before I got too far down this rabbit hole of a quest."

"Oh. . . well, no problem: we can talk while I get you caught up about what we're doing today!" Rainbow nodded excitedly and taking a spot beside him and starting to lead him away. She pulled up her hood as they got moving, though he didn't see the purpose in it: anypony seen with him wasn't exactly going to blend in with the crowd. He matched her pace, allowing Asta to claim the other side of him, her concern showing clearly as she stared at the assassin. "Just after you left yesterday, we got a report from Aqua that there's been even more activity from various thorns in our sides, so we're going to teach you how to pluck them out."

"Great." He muttered. "More mindless murdering."

"Actually, not this time, though we've never had to mindlessly kill." Rainbow shot back, and he found the grin she was now sporting to be slightly off-putting. "No; there's this annoying little colt, spouting nonsense about how us Assassins are all bad business and going to run Equestria into destruction. Probably bought off by the Cult to make us look bad, so we're going to get him to renounce his ways."

"And how do you plan on doing that if you're not going to kill him?" He asked, skeptical that the mare knew how to do anything peacefully.

"Simple." She chuckled. "There are many ways in which to earn silence or favored praise; I'll teach you about them once we get to where this guy's blabbering. Right now, we've got some time, and you said that you wanted me to answer some questions."

"Yeah, I did, but-"

"I don't think you should refuse, Blaze." Asta poked him in the side. "I know you've had some things on your mind that you should get out now, while we have the opportunity: you know how things have been going lately. Why risk not being able to ask for a long time?"

"Fine, you're right."

"Of course I am." He shook his head and looked to the assassin, who was watching the exchange with a playful smirk.

"You did say that I could come to you if I ever needed somepony to talk to, or ask questions, and here I am. I guess the biggest thing that I was wondering right now is how are we supposed to get to Al? I know that you guys all wanted to kill him and as many of his followers when they were gathered in one place, to clear out a bunch at once, but I just don't get how we are supposed to know how that's going to happen."

"Well, right now we've got eyes and ears all over the city looking out for anything telling us when he's meeting with who, and where those meetings go down. Usually, they take place with just a few of his lower managers, and we rarely get a spy there to investigate. Right now, we're collecting whatever information we can about the locations and activities of the higher ranking members, but it's slow work." She looked to the ground for a second, showing the difficult task of thinking these things over. It was something he understood well enough when dealing with complicated shit like this. "However, we have been hearing words being passed around that something big is on the horizon, and that message you received over Mist Artificer's body has only confirmed that things are finally in motion. If we're lucky, we can catch some couriers before they deliver for a big meeting and figure out just what is supposed to be going on."

"Hmm." They stopped walking down the streets, sitting at the corner of two larger streets and sticking to the boundary of an empty alley.

"From what I've learned, there was a flurry of activity shortly after Mist was killed, and right after that body showed up." She continued, looking around cautiously as she slipped into the alley and lead them further into the city, getting dangerously close to the central street. "And that was why we've had to look for so many more runners and interceptors: we've had our hooves full trying to pin down this Cult's own messengers. With any luck, we'll catch somepony that actually knows something, and not just a word or phrase that means nothing to us."

"They've been speaking in codes?" He cocked his head and trotted up beside her.

"Sort of. Most of it was just the name of a location, or a date, but nothing more that could give us context: they themselves didn't know what it was supposed to mean. For a cult dedicated to total chaos, they've been on top of using runners to the highest effect, splitting information perfectly that even when we catch them, there's nothing to work with."

"That's troubling." Asta commented from behind them.

"Hold onto that thought." Rainbow said, jumping forward and peering around a corner. As the other two got closer, they began to hear a pony passionately shouting out, and with each step the words began to gain coherency. They reached the corner and finally made out the slander coming out from a stallion directed at the Order. "Bucker's at it again; just like we heard."

"So, you said you knew other ways of silencing ponies without killing them. Let's hear them." Asta said, though her tone was anything but inviting.

"Alright, then let's get down to business." Rainbow didn't turn around as she addressed them, but she did slip passed the corner and work her way towards the end of the alley, getting a much better view of the clearing before them. Blaze and Asta followed, finally seeing a small park between the buildings, where a gray stallion had set himself up on a tiny stage and was preaching to a miniature crowd. "If you were dealing with some random fool who was only doing this for money, you might be able to bribe them: gold can go such a long way towards earning obedience. But I'm sure that you were aware of that from your time with the thieves under Al.

"If this is the kind of pony that is more solid in their belief that we Assassins are truly as bad as those fanatics make us out to be, then you might have to 'convince' him that we are the good guys. Beat his flank into submission, or talk him into understanding our cause: either way works for us, so long as you don't leave witnesses to see the deed." She offered, looking at Blaze with expectant eyes. "Just wait until he finishes whatever nonsense he talks about, then follow him until he's in a quiet place where somepony won't watch you get his silence."

"Alright. I'll see if he won't listen to reason." He nodded, then sat down to listen to this random pony talk about things the crowd didn't understand. It made him happy that nopony seemed genuinely interested in what was being preached, but it still had to be ended. The gray stallion seemed unnaturally long-winded, and continued prattling for far longer than he expected, until at last, the crowd began to disperse; they were clearly disinterested in his speech.

Now was his chance to begin, so he jumped up and took to the rooftops to tail the guy without being detected. He watched as the guy made the best decision to head further into the city block, surrounding himself with buildings and walls, and actually taking a break in a little corner away from everypony.

This was too perfect for him. He grinned as he dropped from the building, landing right in front of the stallion and earning a very startled yelp as he blocked off the exit. When the guy realized who he was, he regained his composure and pointed an accusing hoof at the fresh assassin. "I know who you are! You're one of those bloodsucking murderers they warned me about!"

"No, I'm neither a bloodsucker, nor a murderer." Blaze retorted. "Unlike those who have sought to gain your devotion to."

"Lies! They told me the truth: that you all want to bring this city to its knees, to wipe any freedom from the ponies of glorious Equestria! You'll not fool me, assassin!" The guy clenched a hoof and leaned down to rush the guy.

"Stop!" Blaze held a hoof to stop him before he made a mistake. "I don't know what lies they've been feeding you, but you don't even know what you're talking about. Those fanatics want nothing more than to watch as Discord ravages Equestria, burning this place to the ground. We assassins are fighting them, doing what we can to save us all from those freaks, and from the annihilation that they want to bring down upon us: it sounds like they reversed our roles is their tales to conscript you in a fight you don't understand."

"Sounds to me like you're lying to save your face." The guy crouched and prepared to lunge at him.

"Look, I have no reason to lie to you: did you hear about that mare that was strung up on a cross outside of my own home?" The guy nodded hesitantly, slowly rising from his position, though he remained on guard. "Her name was Mist Artificer, and she was a fanatic and loyal servant to Al Capony, master thief and leader behind these Chaos worshipers. When we brought her to justice, they had her body mutilated and strung up to display their message to us."

". . . I don't believe you: you could have done that yourself."

"If I had done it myself, why would I have put it up in front of my own home? I'm doing whatever I can to protect my family, and that would have accomplished the exact opposite of what I am trying to do." He finally saw the guy relax, and he appeared to actually be thinking it over.

"But why would they want to bring about disorder?"

"Because they're psychotic and insane. They don't care about their own members, they certainly don't care about the general population: all they want is to watch as this place burns to the ground." He said, stepping forward and trying to keep the guy calm. "If we were as bad as they made us out to be, I would have killed you once I saw you preaching to those ponies, or at least here, without giving you the chance to listen. I was told to silence you any way possible, because the public distrusting us would sow a whole lot of chaos: but I wanted you to hear the truth, and to help us disrupt their efforts."

"How are you going to do that?"

"Tell me who contacted you, so that we can find them and put an end to their schemes." The guy looked at the ground, then his brow furrowed as he put some effort into his memory.

"Alright, I'll help. But only if you promise to not hurt me, and to never bring me up to anypony ever again." Blaze nodded his agreement, settling into a relaxed pose. "The, uh, guy who fed me all those lies. . . I never got his name, but he was a, uh, blue earth pony. Had a white mane and crooked smile. Didn't see his cutie mark: he had on a cape, but he did wear a feathery hat. That help any?"

"Yes, it does. Thank you for seeing reason." Blaze turned and let the guy go, flaring his wings and taking to the rooftops again, where both Rainbow and Asta sat, watching the interaction take place. "Was that an acceptable approach?"

"Actually, I'm quite impressed you managed to talk him down; I think most of us would have just taken the easy approach, though I think there's still plenty of time for us to see how you handle adversity soon enough." Rainbow replied as she unfurled her wings to take off. "Follow me, there's another assignment waiting for you just over here."

"Alright. While we head out, there is something else that I'd like to ask you." He said once they were above the buildings. She spared him a quick nod before returning her attention to guiding them to their next destination. "This one's a bit more personal, and not entirely related to working with the Order. . . well, not exactly with the Order, but kind of referring to it."

"Spit it out already."

"How do you. . . how do you deal with each kill you've had to do? Like, how do you process and get over it?" The question was delivered with a somewhat shaky voice, as the memories he had accompanying him were returning him to the caverns where he had to kill ponies and griffons over and over. Sure they may have been undead, but he was still affected by it nonetheless. "I've kind of been putting it off until I had dealt with all the more pressing matters."

". . .Oh." She was silent for a while until she came up with a satisfactory answer. "Well, each pony has to solve their own issues his or her own way, especially since some work better for different ponies. If you were looking for options, I know that many of the others you've already met, and many more besides, have taken to devoting their time hunting down these fanatics. Drowning yourself in work has helped some of them, while others preferred to focus on whatever task was at hoof, and just trying to move forward. I personally enjoy meditating: just spending time in the air. It helps me think about what I've done, and it soothes me into rationalizing the justification behind my actions. If you want more detailed options, though, talk to some of the others: Mistress Ahad knows very well what it feels like diving entirely into a cause. Aqua seems mostly oblivious to the true consequences of this fight, while Slate always looked to take it well.

"I suggest you take a deep moment inside yourself to find out why you're avoiding the issue, and to really get to understand what coping mechanisms you can use. Experiment. Do whatever helps you." She finally led him out of the alleys and into a fairly busy streets, slipping into the crowds like a wisp of smoke in the breeze. He followed her as she worked her way towards a stack of boxes resting on top of a wagon, stopping within the shade of one side to wait for him to catch up.

Once he had made his way through the throng of ponies, she nodded for him to look up, where a single poster had been bolted to the stone wall via an arrow. He cocked his head at the page wilting in the winter frost and shifted his stance so he could get a better look at the writing, which was headed by the Assassin symbol.

Frowning, he stepped forward and put a hoof onto the wagon, pulling himself up so he could read what was propaganda poisoning the public image of the Order. "For a while now, these posters have been popping up around town,and while it seems that most ponies can't be bothered to read them, there are surely some of those who do."

He stepped back and returned to his place by the assassin's side as she leaned against the wagon. "We try to stop it, and for this, it's a pretty simple task of just ripping down the posters and moving on. So how about you go on and tear down some of the nearby fliers, and maybe we'll make some progress in removing this blight on our name and on this city."

He sighed and offered her a quick nod, climbing to the top of the wagon and ripping the crumbling parchment from underneath the arrow, sending half the thing falling harmlessly to the ground, while he crumpled up the other half. Stepping down, he cast a quick glance around, wondering just who in their right mind would even waste time trying to read some shitty poster that was hung up in some random place. Nopony seemed to be paying him any attention, which was fine enough. Rainbow pulled herself to her hooves. "Go and see if there are any more of these hanging around, and tear them down: remove any influence these fanatics have over our own image. Once you've done that, come meet me over in the market north of here: I think you might be ready for the next assignment for today."

She didn't wait around for him to reply, choosing instead to dart into the crowd, leaving him and Asta standing there at the edge of the migrations of ponies. He turned to the younger pegasus. "Wanna help?"

"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Because I just don't have any ideas that could be better than running around the neighborhood looking for slander to tear down. Not that there are bound to be many of those around here. . ."

He shrugged and led her into the crowd, walking street to street and keeping his eyes on the walls for anything of interest, and eventually coming across another poster handing by a nail on a beam to some small shop. Nopony had paid the thing even half a mind, and it seemed like the parchment was just there to take up space, so he did everypony a favor and ripped the thing down, garnering himself a single pony who batted an eyelash at his actions. Then they loss interest in him and continued on with their day.

"You know, she's not nearly as bad as I thought she'd be." Asta commented after another poster had been located and purged from Equestria, getting him to offer her a raised eyebrow. "Rainbow Crescent: I figured she'd be just like the other ponies we've met so far. I thought she'd be some broken pony looking to tear down those who had wronged her, and was so set on destroying them that she wouldn't have any control, but we talked a bit while we watched you persuade that preacher guy. . . she's fairly level-headed."

"Glad to hear you found one assassin worth liking." He said, getting ready to add another aspect to the conversation when a loud voice caught his attention. The two of them turned just in time to watch some random pony start shouting at a vendor who was selling fabrics. The apparent customer screeched about lies and blasphemers, then grabbed the table the vendor had been selling from, and flipped it, sending fabrics everywhere.

Before anypony could react, a couple of ponies jumped out from the crowd and latched themselves to the vendor and helped the screeching pony pull her down an alleyway. Blaze turned to Asta, and the two of them darted through the crowd and whipped around the corner hoping to intervene before shit got messy.

The three offenders had this mare shoved against a wall, and two had already brandished daggers and were being as intimidating as they could. Growling to himself, he reached back and drew his sword, letting the blade slide silently out and ready to strike. He stepped forward, using his wing to push Asta behind him, when the initial pony, a purple pegasus, spun around to face him.

The purple guy flicked a feather towards him and spat at the ground. "You assassins never do learn, do you?"

A blade slid out from under his wing, and he bit down on it as he settled into a combat stance, garnering Blaze's undivided attention as he watched the wily pegasus begin slinking his way forward. It was due to that fact that he missed the hidden blade slide into the throat of one of the other two guys holding the mare, and the now dying stallion's own dagger had been rammed through the third's eye socket. Before either Blaze or this other pegasus had a chance to react, the mare, a jade earth pony with a sparkling white mane, jumped into action and pinned the guy to the ground, pinning her hidden blade against his neck and stopping any resistance from him.

He was deathly still as the mare caught her breath, and both Blaze and Asta had a chance to process the turn of events, until she leaned down and gripped his throat with her free hoof, flipping him onto his back so she could stare him down. "You guys never learn, do you?"

The worry in his eyes, the fear, then shifted into a sick grin as his hooves slowly rose into a motion of surrender. Blaze stepped forward, hoping to ask just what was going on, his booted hooves barely scuffling the stone ground, catching the attention of the mare, who's head snapped up from the pinned guy to smirk at him. The guy shifted under her grip, and she planted her hoof firmly against his shoulder, holding him tightly to the ground as she returned her attention to him. "And just what is it that's got you lookin' all smug?"

The blade strapped to her forehoof was now resting just an inch from his exposed throat, though it seemed to worry him little, and he just continued to stare at her with a pleased expression. Blaze eyed the guy wearily as he approached, his confusion at the scene only growing as events unfolded.

He stopped at a safe distance letting the mare repeat her questions, which got nothing out of the guy. Eventually, she gave up with a disgusted sigh and looked up to Blaze, hoping to get him to help her out, and unintentionally dropping her guard just enough that the moment her attention was diverted, the pegasus under her shot into action. His hind-legs curled underneath her and bucked upwards, sending the mare cursing and rolling to the side. The second he was free from the mare, his wings kicked into action and he bolted upright, immediately diving clear of both Blaze and Asta and scrambling to his hooves.

Blaze jumped when the guy kicked himself free, but reacted as soon as he realized what was happening, giving chase as this rogue took off, barreling down the alleys. He hoped to catch the guy before they got airborne, where chasing him down would have gotten a bit harder.

He considered himself lucky when the pegasus kept to the narrow streets, dodging and weaving through obstacles in some kind of attempt to shake him off his trail. He didn't know where the guy was going, or what he actually intended on trying to escape, but he was certain he didn't have a lot of time to catch the guy before something bad happened. He broke into a full blown gallop, trusting in his reaction time to evade any sudden barricade or whip around a corner to keep this random criminal in his line of sight. He charged through the alleys until the guy broke free, rushing headlong into a clearing, which he quickly learned was a smaller marketplace. He made a note that this was the place that he was supposed to meet Rainbow at, so he was hoping she would be able to help him before this guy actually escaped.

He dashed into the open space, following the path that the pegasus was carving through the crowd as he tried to cut clear through. Given that he had made it well over hallway across the marketplace, Blaze was wondering why this guy hadn't taken off yet, or why he hadn't just jumped over the mass of ponies. It seemed like he needed to be in this market. . .

There was a flash of a shadow overhead, and Blaze reacted in defense by throwing his forehoof up, hidden blade flashing out in an attempt to intercept the aggressor: which was a hooded pegasus dive-bombing the fleeing pegasus. The two collided roughly, rolling in a tangle of hooves and wings, with tails whipping wildly as Rainbow forced herself on him and threw her hoof into his chest. By the time Blaze had caught up, she had already retracted her blade, leaving a bleeding wound beginning to pool onto the street as the guy gasped for breath, the shock of being stabbed running across his face.

"No-no." The guy shuddered, his hooves fumbling at the blood steadily leaking out of him. "I-I'm not ready to die! I wasn't meant to die!"

It was once those words were uttered that the crowd gathering around them realized what was actually going on, and it took mere seconds afterwards for chaos to break loose. Ponies were dashing away at the speed of a proper stampede, making getting close to the scene somewhat difficult for both Blaze and Asta.

"Nopony is ever ready for it." Rainbow slid off the guy's torso, her clean hoof reaching behind him and pulling his head up so he could breathe better. "But more importantly: why'd you run from Blaze Burn?"

"Ah, so it was him. . ." The guy's attention shifted to the named pegasus before returning to his killer. "He would have done the same as you, and I was just trying to get to safety. Those-those cultists had some important things that needed done, and I was just following orders: I never wanted to be a part of this, and yet here we are."

"Yes: here we are. What important things needed to be done?"

"We. . . we had another delivery for Eanulf, and just had some other tasks that they had deemed significant enough to delay the delivery." He started to cough, and blood began to drip from his gaping mouth, his eyes were clinging, pleading, and Blaze only felt uneasy as he watched another life begin to fade from the world. "I had. . . had to go out and take care of that mare over th-there: well, look how that turned out."

"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Rainbow sighed, gabbing the guys forehooves with her spare, and offering what was supposed to be a comforting squeeze. "This war extracts a heavy toll from all."

"Look. . . I never wanted to be a part of this, but I didn't have many choices, and none of them were any good." His breathing was getting frantic, and the blood pooling around him was steadily slowing down. "Go in that warehouse over there, free those foals, take down those bastards that did this: I want them all to burn for what they've brought upon me. I'm finally free to choose my own ending."

"Rest in piece." She said as the last of the light faded from his life, her hoof releasing him and moving to close his eyes, a final gesture that Blaze agreed was the minimum that should be done. She sat there for a second, her eyes looking through the world as she accepted that another pony had fallen victim to those fanatics. Once she'd accepted the fact, she stood from the dead stallion and turned to face Blaze. "Looks like we got a bit of a final request from another victim: and I've heard enough from these guys that I'm going to go investigate this warehouse, and I'll have to take you along with me."

"Sounds about right. He mentioned foals." Blaze nodded, though his mind was in turmoil over the fact that this guy had to be killed: he understood the necessity of the situation, but he was doubting the ending result. This was going to be dirty no matter how much he hated it, he understood that, but he had to question whether or not he was going to even be able to get through this. The sound of hoofsteps at his side alerted him to the presence of Asta, and he was, once more, reminded of why he was doing this in the first place.

Unfortunately, he didn't really appreciate the intrusive memories, nor the deep-seated feelings of regret and self-loathing they conjured up. He shuffled in place, then turned to his sister, putting on the most serious expression he could form. "Go on home and tell the others that I might be a little late coming back, and I want you to stay there."

"But-"

"Asta, I'm not arguing with you about this: go home." He put a hoof on her shoulder then gave her a gentle push backwards. "This isn't something you're going to want to see."

She stared at him, rooting herself in the spot as defiantly as she could, until he gave her a harder push away. Her defiance melted into open worry as she jumped forward and latched herself on his chest, forcing her muzzle against him in a desperate hug, forcing his foreleg to wrap around her in return. "You better come back soon; or else I'm never going to forgive you."

"I'll be back before you know it." He assured her, pushing her back so she could leave, lest he be tempted to stick by her side, as much as it tore him apart to send her off so suddenly. She backed away slowly, hesitating to turn her back to him, until she found herself back in the alley across the empty clearing. He waited until she had finally left his sight before he turned to Rainbow, who bore the blank expression of somepony trying to hide their true emotions, not that he cared enough to actually ask her what it was about. He nodded to the warehouse the poor soul indicated. "The two of us should be plenty to deal with whatever is inside, so shall we?"

"Yes, let's get this over with." She agreed, flaring her wings and taking to the sky, landing on the root of the building immediately next to their target, where a useful window allowed them to attempt to peek in. Unfortunately for them, the windows had been boarded up, as if the warehouse was abandoned, even though they knew better, so they gently glided the short gap and started prodding around for any sort of rooftop access.

When their searches proved fruitless, they silently worked their way to the back, where a small door might give them a stealthy option for entering the building. Blaze had grown to be quite fond of back doors.

Using his wings to slow his fall, he touched down next to the door, motioning for Rainbow to take her place on the other side. He grabbed the handle, silently turning it and inching the door open until he had enough space to lean in and get a look around. With his head barely fitting through the gap, he couldn't see much more than the wall directly in front of him, along with several dusty crates and rotten boxes. He used his wing to pry the door fully open and crept within, his ears straining to pick up on anything besides the gentle breeze now blowing out.

Sneaking along the wall, the two paused at the open doorway leading further in, with Rainbow deciding to take the lead and poke her head around the corner. Her ears perked the moment she did so, and from his spot, he watched her wings shoot open just a hair, before relaxing and settling at her side again.

His curiosity overpowered him, so he put a hoof on her side and worked his way around her, leaning over her just enough to see around the corner. They were looking at the large room of the warehouse proper, where in place of boxes being stored, three rows of sleeping foals lay chained in the middle of the open space. He felt a knot form in his chest, and bile threatened to claw its way up his throat at the sight, but he managed to just barely force it down. His gaze shifted from the peacefully sleeping foals to the monsters just behind them: three ponies, all cloaked in dark robes and each with a hood drawn fully, completely concealing any identifying features.

Rage was quickly becoming his dominant emotion, but the mare at his side did enough to control him with a hoof quickly pulling him back around the corner. "We can't just go in their and mortify these foals."

"Yeah, but we also can't just let them sit there like that! Look at them: they're literally sleeping in chains, out there on the stone floor!" He whispered harshly, doing everything he could to suppress his growing disgust and raw anger at their mistreatment. It was taking more willpower than he thought he had to stop himself from just charging in there and freeing the foals, and likely punishing those freaks in the harshest ways he could think of.

'So let's do this in the most efficient, least damaging way possible." Her frown deepened as she took another peak around the corner, noting the location of everything in the room: a line or crates off to one side of the room, likely supplies the fanatics were going to make use of, the stakes that held the foals chained to the floor, the table that the three fanatics sat at. Her ears fell hard against her head when she saw that only one of the ponies had their back to her. "We've got to find a way to get across that room and over to those ponies before they realize we are even here."

"Tell me something I don't know." He growled, returning to his position at the edge of the doorway glaring daggers of death at the three cloaked ponies. "Hmm. Do you think you could get in the air and up in those rafters right here, before they noticed?"

"Actually. . ." Her gaze went from studying the large open space to the small staff room they appeared to be in, and her eyes lit up as she followed a trail from that same room straight to the upper support of the building. She silently trotted to the far side of the tiny room, earning the curious, if reluctant gaze from Blaze, and gently flew straight up, reaching a small platform that she could use to squeeze over to the rafters. As useful it was for her to reach the top of the building, where these fanatics weren't likely to be watching, the crawlspace she was working her flank through was far too small for him to fit through.

Just after popping through, she stuck her head back through and looked down on him in triumph. "Just wait for the commotion to start before you dash over to the fanatics as fast as you can."

He nodded in understanding, though he barely heard what she said, and crept back to the doorway to wait for her to do whatever it was that she was planning on doing. He struggled to restrain his anticipation, though his abhorrence of what these ponies had done to these foals was unrelenting, and his heart was pounding in his chest. His breath caught when he finally saw Rainbow stealthily creeping along the beams, slowly making her way above the three seated figures.

His vision was turning red at the prospect of giving these monsters what they deserved, and he was having a hard time of deciding whether he was going to cut them down with his sword, or with his hidden blade. For just a second, he fantasized about hacking them to pieces with his sword, watching as they slipped from this mortal world, knowing that he would do whatever it took to avenge those foals that were unjustly chained to the floor. Yet, before he was able to properly imagine just how he would have removed each of their heads, the rational part of his brain kicked in, and he felt a wave of nausea at the violent thoughts that had just been coursing through his head. He had to question whether he would have really done those things to anypony, let alone in front of a whole bunch of innocent foals.

Shaking his head clear, his vision finally starting to return to normal, he tried to focus on just stopping those three fanatics and saving the foals when there was a blur of color at the far end of the building, and his heart jumped into his throat. Things slowed down to a near stop as Rainbow dropped from her perch just above the three, her left forehoof already swinging back to unleash the deadly weapon, and he knew that that was his cue to start moving.

In the split second he had to choose, he opted to go for the more discreet method of elimination whoever he had to, so that the foals wouldn't be greeted to a complete bloodbath. It was the little things he really needed to focus on.

Rainbow fell from the rafters at an unnaturally slow pace, and he thought that maybe she was giving him just enough time to catch the fanatics' attention before she fell upon them. Sure enough, the one he had been charging directly to called to their companions at his intrusion, yet before either of the three could properly react, Rainbow fell onto the furthest, knocking them clean out of their chair. He wanted to compliment her grace, but her blade was already in the pony's throat well before a scream could escape their lips. The two remaining fanatics jumped when she slew one of their own, and were too stunned to respond to the new threat, leaving them completely open when he finally reached them, his wings serving the useful purpose of barreling him into the closest one and slamming the two to the ground, where his blade quickly found a new sheath in the pony's back, earning a scream of terror and agony before being silenced when his momentum rolled the two straight into the wall, fanatic first.

The second falling to an assassin's blade actually triggered the last one's survival instinct, and the pony threw it cloak at Rainbow, who had risen and was now readying to pounce on him. The cloak blocked her attempt and gave the stallion, a blue earth pony with a white mane, enough time to distance himself from the mare. Underneath his hood, a tight-knitted feathery hat fell to the ground, getting stomped as Rainbow jumped after him.

Blaze had now extricated himself from the second fallen fanatic, and used the distraction between the other two to work around the shining silvery sword this fanatic had pulled on Rainbow. The poor fool was unprepared for a massive pegasus leaping on top of him, hidden blade already striking down with lethal intent towards his exposed neck. There was just enough time for him to scream out in utter terror, then the blade found its way into his flesh, and the shock of having metal inserted where it didn't belong shut him right up.

Blaze landed on the guy, forcing him to the ground in a rough manner, and it wasn't until he had firmly planted himself over the earth pony did he dare to remove his blade, which started the instant cascade of blood. It sickened him endlessly, especially now that he was acutely aware that he'd taken the life of a living being, and not some undead horror or the monstrosity that was Grogar. The pony lay there, gasping like a fish, trying to gulp down air as his hoof did the pointless job of trying to hold back the torrent of his life leaving through the wound he just suffered.

"It didn't have to end this way." He stuttered, sitting down above the earth pony and looking at him with every emotion he was feeling clearly displayed on his face, from the disgust at his actions to the anger of seeing those foals chained down. He glanced down at the bloody blade, sickened by the way it glinted crimson in the light of day, and struggled to contain a grimace. "There were other ways that you could have let this go down, all of them involving you never having gone to these radical fanatics. I'm sorry that you had to lose like this, but I've come to learn that you guys stepped over the boundary way too far for me to just not let you get away with this. The only thing that could really get me going, and you did just that: enslaving foals?! Really?"

"I'm not going to justify anything to you, assassin." The guy held his own as he started to accept his own demise. "Eanulf demanded tribute, he demanded _life_ : so we gathered the purest, most full of life we could find. We sacrificed these foals in his name."

The confession drained all the blood from both assassins' faces, and got them to stare directly at the fanatic as he struggled to find the perfect final resting position. Only once he did get that sweet spot did he dare to look at either of them again, though he wore a perverted grin as his hooves started to slip away, matching the little life he had left. "Oh yes: we were killing foals. We have been for quite some time, and now there's nothing you can do about it: Eanulf is unbelievably powerful now, and even bothering trying to stop him will surely result in your deaths, just as you saw fit to deliver unto us. . ."

"You're just a lying sack of shit!" Blaze shouted, grabbing the guy by his crimson neck and giving him a harsh shake and spitting venom as he squeezed the last shreds of life from his dying body.

". . . am I. . ? Here." With the last of his energy, the fanatic reached under his cape, pulling forth a stack of papers, though they slipped from his grasp as his final breath parted from his lips in the form of a long sigh. The papers scattered in the ruby pool of what had been his life, staining many of the pages in a blotchy coating of guilt and darkness.

Blaze shuddered and let the body collapse on the floor, rising from his seating position and growling in unending rage, doing his best to not let the negativity unleash over everything that had been going on. He stepped away to pace, letting Rainbow slip forward and close the corpse's eyes as well, wishing him off in peaceful slumber.

He took a minute to collect himself, then returned to the body, watching over her shoulder as she picked up one of the blood-stained letters and peeling it open. At first, he had difficulty reading the scribbled lines, until the words finally collected together into a coherent sentence, and a death-like chill ran through him. These notes were something haunting him from his past, a message that instilled in him a rage of unrivaled proportions that his earlier tantrums seemed petty and relaxed. He was shaking as the emotions ran through him, reminding him of everything that he had suffered through, and all of it pointing back to Al Capony, and his pathetic gang of traitors and terrorists.

The note, through the splotches of blood read: _Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever._

He roared his anger, his pain, and his sorrow, waking the foals at last, though at that point, he didn't think he had the capacity to care. His heart had shattered, been rebuilt, and was now being tortured by these crazy ponies, who thought they were going to bring Equestria to her knees. His bellow was that of rage, unrestrained and infinitely growing, it was that of an agony so ancient, he knew it wasn't just his to share, but it spanned the ages, through generations and worlds split by reality, and it was of grief so total, he felt the darkness of the void collapse around him for just a moment.

That darkness was shattered and replaced by the reality he was forced to suffer, his attention now honed in on the foals currently sitting in the middle of the room, all staring around blankly, shuffling in their shackles like spurned prisoners devoid of will.

He would have liked to say that he was disturbed by the fact that he had just slain two ponies, taking the lives of two creatures that could have been sent to the Princesses for punishment. He truly did; but the reality was that he was so emotionally ruined, that all he could think of was the memory of desire to enact total revenge. And now he needed a way to fulfill that desire.

He turned to Rainbow, who had been watching him with an empathetic expression, with the glint in her eyes of unshed tears of equal sorrow and despair. She held up a single letter, one that had been read before him, while he was lost within his own heart. It gave him a single location, deep within the Everfree, where the foals were to be taken: and now he had the means of getting his vengeance.

Things were lining up for him just perfectly, so he flexed his wings and began to prepare to fly straight to where he wanted to go, when Rainbow placed a hoof on his wing to stop him. "I know what you want to do, and I want to help, but there is something else we need to do first: everypony we share our duties with needs to know of this opportunity. This sounds like an important meeting for the insane worshipers of Discord: and the perfect time to gather in a significant number. Let us take this information back to the Order, and gather them to siege this place and free these poor foals."

He wanted nothing more than to march straight to this supposed temple of chaos, this place where Eanulf was waiting for the lives of the innocent, and his heart was demanding immediate justice, but there was a look in the mare's eyes, and something else pleaded with him to grant her request.

It was a mighty war within his mind for a few seconds that filled an eternity, until his empathy won over: this was not just his fight, and he knew that taking this chance for himself would rob all the others who had suffered if he denied them this opportunity for their own vengeance. He relaxed, and nodded to the cyan pegasus, who gave him a grateful smile and the briefest of hugs in gratitude. They trotted over to the foals, who had either been staring off into space, or looking at the two of them in vague disinterest.

He found their calm attitudes genuinely disturbing.

Rainbow instantly set to work breaking the chains, though not one foal that now had freedom seemed to notice or care. They just kept staring forward, as though they were waiting patiently for their parents to punish them. He sat down in front of the first one that was freed, and when the colt made no move to acknowledge his presence, he reached down and pulled the colt's chin up to look at him.

The second his hoof touched the foal, a light seemed to come into him eyes, though it wasn't the light of life, but one that seemed to just come through the colt. "Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever."

Blaze recoiled at the phrase, his chest clenching tightly as he tried to deny that the colt had said anything. His reaction got Rainbow's attention, and she finally looked to see that none of the foals seemed to even know they were free. She looked to him with concern, and the two shared equally confused and worried looks, then she went up to the colt, who had resumed his original state of staring off into space. "What did you say?"

"Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever." The words were uttered without a trace of emotion, as if it was the only thought running through the colt's mind, and though it answered the mare's question, it only added countless more.

"Okay, but what does that mean?" She tried, stepping in front of the colt while Blaze took a seat next to her.

"Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever." The colt echoed again, much to the two adult's growing fear, worry, and dismay. Rainbow looked to Blaze, who's face had managed to grow more pale than white, before her furrowed brow returned to staring at the expressionless colt. She reached down and pulled his chin up so he could look somewhere close to her.

"Is that all you know how to say?"

"Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever."

"Rainbow, I'm not going to be able to keep listening to that, I'll go see if any of the others are capable of talking with us." Blaze said through clenched teeth as he stiffly walked around the mare and started waving his hoof in front of every foal he crossed.

"Under the brightest of days, within the folds of darkness. We shall all grow through moonlight, and hide the sun forever." The words rang over and over as he interacted with each foal down the line, making him increasingly distraught over the reality he was now facing. These foals were incapable of thinking anything beyond that bucking terrible phrase, and it was wearing heavily on his ability to function: his breathing was growing ragged, and his head was pounding as if they were hammering away at it with chisels. By the time he had reached the end of the first line, he was sweating profusely and his vision was starting to blur.

He stepped back from the line of sitting foals, shaking in his boots and doing what he could to repress the threat of food expelling itself from his stomach.

 **I've looked into their minds: there is some extremely complicated spell ensnaring their minds, and it has disabled them from being able to do much more of anything other than serve these fools' masters. Whatever is going on, I am unable to help.** The booming voice in his head came as a complete shock, though it helped immensely in disrupting the melancholy that had overtaken him. He couldn't remember the last time that he had heard Jace talk.

"Jace!" He shook his head then closed his eyes so he could focus on the Spirit crashing in his skull. "What do you mean you're unable to help? Isn't messing with heads kind of your thing?"

 **This kind of magic is more powerful than anything that I'm able to deal with anymore; but thankfully not all hope is gone. Whatever is controlling the magic clouding these kids' minds, if the source were to be eliminated, then the magic would dissipate nearly immediately. Fret not what will happen to them, your plan to hunt down the darkness behind this whole scheme might be able to put an end to it.** Blaze nodded, then turned to address Rainbow, who was now looking at him like he was crazy.

"It's complicated, but the short version is that as long as they foals don't walk into some kind of trouble, they're going to be fine: we've just got to go and kill Eanulf and all of his minions. Somepony there is bound to be the one who cast whatever mind control spell now holds these foals." He explained with a gesturing hoof towards the lined up foals. "So the sooner we get out there and put an end to this, the sooner we can all put this behind us, and the sooner everypony is going to be a lot safer. Nopony should be enslaved like this, certainly not them."

"Alright, and Jace?"

"It's a long story, and I think we've got more important things to worry about." He let out a long sigh as he turned around and went straight to the large bay doors leading to the front of the warehouse. He pushed it open and let her go first, drawing his hood and blinking blinking as the sun reflected off the snowy rooftops and lit the area around them in a blinding light. Due to the surprise blindness, he slammed his eyes shut. . . and then slammed right into Rainbow, who had stopped for whatever reason. He heard her squeak in surprise, but he was otherwise occupied blinking the stars out of his vision. His sight cleared, and he saw what had gotten the mare's surprise: a line of ponies and griffons standing across the clearing, glaring the two assassins down with spiteful snarls. "Oh."

"Turn them into mincemeat!" The leader of the group, a burly gray and brown griffon, yelled, flinging a yellow claw towards the two of them, and signaling for two griffons wielding crossbows to fire. The griffons hopped up from behind the group and lifted their weapons to their shoulders, aiming down towards Blaze and Asta.

"Move!" Rainbow shouted, diving to the right while Blaze dove to the left, barely avoiding being it by a pair of angry bolts. They scrambled to their hooves as the mass of creatures converged on them. The cyan pegasus' hidden blade had started to cut through the ranks swarming her just as Blaze managed to pull his sword from its sheathe. He stared down the three griffons and two earth ponies bearing down on him, each one carried either a shortsword or hammer in hoof or claw.

He instantly knew these to be fanatics, their eyes were gleaming with an insanity that he saw clearly as they recklessly charged closer. He thought of why they would have any reason to be here, and then he thought of the enslaved foals sitting inside, and his blood began to boil. Slavers had no reason to exist.

He never imagined a day would come when he _wanted_ to take another life, or at least, the life of anypony other than Al Capony: and yet here he was, lunging forward with his blade quite ready to taste the flesh of the living. He wondered at what point would this all be too much. . . but then he finally met with the loose line of attackers, and only the thought of combat remained in his head. He felt his heart soar as he sent his sword flying forward, whipping passed the lazy defense of the griffon before him.

His blade was met with little resistance as it slipped between the bones of the griffon, easily sliding frighteningly deep inside his chest cavity, getting the bird-cat to cough up blood at the fatal wound. Sitting around was not the wise decision in the middle of a fight, that was something that Luna had beat into him during training, so he ripped his blade free from the griffon and stepped back to avoid being flanked by the remaining four fanatics. An earth pony to his right swung an axe at his head. He leaned to the left, easily evading the swing and countered by swinging his sword underneath the weapon, hoping to either cut the mare or get her to back off.

Just as she jumped back to get out of his reach, he twisted his hoof and sent a reverse cut towards the griffon trying to stab him with a shortsword. The griffon quickly lost a claw, before Blaze did another twist and sent the blade through the griffon's neck, resulting in a gory death and a film of blood spraying across his face.

This was his chance to escape, to get some advantage and finish the fight from the air, so he used the small clearing he'd opened up to flare his wings and try jumping into the air. Unfortunately, his plans for an aerial counter-assault were cut swiftly short when another bold went whizzing by his head, catching the hem of his hoof and ripping it off his head. He dropped back to the ground, weary of the crossbows trained on him, and began to worry that he wouldn't be able to escape both the blades and the bolts. Luna hadn't really taught him how to take on a mass of enemies with mixed weapons like this.

The first mare had lowered her axe as she shuffled into a better striking position, and as the two remaining griffons split for the second crossbow, an idea popped into his head. He feinted towards the other pony, then quickly snapped back and swatted the mare's axe away, reaching with his spare hoof and pulling her against him. Just as he made the move, the next bolt came coursing towards him, flying true and cleanly through the opening of the griffons. However, instead of finding his torso, where the impact might have been devastating, it instead found a home within the surprised mare, hitting between her ribs and disappearing within her barrel. She gasped at the impact, her axe dropping as a hoof went to the bleeding puncture wound, then she dropped to the ground while a steady stream of blood poured from her lips.

He didn't have the opportunity to finish her off, as a griffon jumped over her and gave a wild slash at him, forcing his guard up.

Now he only had to deal with three fanatics, but a three-versus-one fight wasn't going to end well for him. Especially not when they had two crossbows training down on him, and he was stuck backing against a wall. At least he didn't have to worry about an attack from behind him. The last pony took his sword in hoof and tried to work around his defense, while the aggressive griffon refused to let off in his attack. Unsure of what to do, he decided that the reckless attacking that the three were doing was kind of helpful.

He waited until the two attacked in unison, then he whipped his sword to deflect the pony's attack, twisting his sword so it slipped against the griffon's and then he twisted the handle, sending the tip sailing into the griffon's shoulder, before he skipped over to the stallion and sent his blade thrusting underneath his guard and into his chest. The pony had enough sense to try to defend himself, though he also tried to counterattack, so he sort of twisted and tried to swing his sword. The result was Blaze's sword slicing through his shoulder and into his rib-cage, while the fanatic's own blade was flung against the wall. Blaze pulled his sword out and jumped on the griffon before it could recover, slashing down on its exposed neck. He followed through by grabbing the griffon and tossing it against the pony and running both through with a final thrust, the pair dying as they lived: together.

Just as he stepped back and pulled his sword free, he got the surprise of his life in the form of a crossbow bolt embedding itself in his shoulder. He screamed in agony and dove behind the two corpses propping each other up, and felt immediately grateful that the griffon firing on him was a terrible shot.

He had just enough time to recover and rip the bolt from his shoulder before the final griffon charged on him, bearing down with wings flared and a heavy axe swinging wide against him.

His shoulder stung like nothing else, but he managed to step away and evade the axe, though it leveled the two bodies of the griffon's comrades. Feeling particularly exposed to crossbow fire out in the open, he tried to step around the remaining griffon before he found himself being turned into a pincushion. This last fanatic adjusted his grip on his axe, then grinned maniacally as he raised it to finish Blaze, once and for all.

Blaze didn't really think that was necessary, so he crouched down, tensely waiting for the arc to begin. Once the axe was in motion, he dodged the attack with an instant jump to the right, and with the axe being too heavy for the tiny griffon, he escaped unscathed, though the distant ranged one aiming its crossbow at him was suddenly a much larger threat. Deciding that another meat shield was in order, Blaze reached over and grabbed the griffon before he could recover from the heavy attack, and pulled him between the incoming bolt and his own weak, fleshy body.

Another fanatic had fallen to a comrade this fight.

Now that he had absolutely no cover to deal with the crossbows, he knew that he had to end them before they ended him, and he had a lot of distance to cover while they fired on him. He threw the dying body of the griffon to the side and flexed his wings to bolt his way across the clearing, when he saw the last griffon fall as Rainbow pounced on it.

He blinked that she had already taken care of the two, then he looked to where her fight had started, and the pile of dead fanatics that she had dispatched. She was panting heavily when the two met between the two war zones, matching his own gasping for breath after the surprise conflict. Her hooves were bloody, though he highly doubted that it was her own blood, but otherwise, it looked like she was completely unscathed. "That was unnecessary."

"Yeah." He gasped, looking over what had happened. The snow had already been broken by the stampeded from earlier, and now this scuffle had turned up what little had remained untouched. The two areas the fighting had been focused in were stained with pools of crimson, with lifeless blood pooling around the bodies of the slain. "Come on: I don't want to be here any longer, especially not now."

Rainbow nodded, and the two took to the skies, though it was a labored effort. After some time, she pulled up in front of him and slowed him down. "Blaze, that party right there was too large to escort a bunch of foals being mind controlled: I'm worried that they may have anticipated our attack. They were clearly ready for a fight. . . and not once have we heard from any of our contacts told us about this, which meant that had to be moving ponies at night."

". . . Right." He nodded slowly, fighting through the deep throbbing pain in his shoulder and looking at her. "So these bucking cultists are watching us? Great!"

"Let's just get to the Order and deliver what we've learned. With any luck, we'll be at the Temple with an army of Assassins, and then this blight will be ended for good." Her determination was helping him fight on more than a lot at that moment, as the weight of the knowledge that these fanatics were sacrificing foals was nearly too much to bear. He felt overwhelmed, and he wondered how long she'd be able to keep him grounded.

He seemed to be having a really bad day, because as the pair flew over the city, yet another volley of crossbow bolts were shot into the skies, barely zipping passed them. He growled to himself and the two dipped into a steep dive to take care of the crossbows, thankfully only having to deal with a trio of griffons firing from the rooftops. They all fell easily.

"What's with all the griffons?" He asked once they had resumed their flight, finally passing over the central street of the city, where countless ignorant ponies all milled about their day, completely oblivious to the fights occurring in their own city. There was a part of him that envied the simplicity of the life they all lived, but he had no say in where his life was going now: Al had sealed him into this life years ago.

"Mercenaries." Her swift reply caught him off guard, and he snapped his head over to her. "Griffon mercenaries are fairly common: they're cheap, and they tend to be pretty effective. Unicorn spellswords are more powerful, but they're also significantly more expensive, so if you want more bodies to take into a fight, you usually go for griffons. Claws let them use weapons that most ponies simply can't use, and because they are also able to fly, they have a whole lot of uses. It helps that griffons are naturally greedy, so buying their loyalty isn't terribly difficult."

"Uh-huh. Still doesn't tell me why these fanatics are hiring griffon mercenaries."

"I. . . don't have an answer to that." She admitted, and the conversation dropped without anything else to hold it up. They flew over the remainder of the city in silence, until they finally came to the small side street housing the unassuming entrance to their Order. They rushed down the stairs and bolted down the hallway until they reached Mistress Ahad's door, where Rainbow took the lead and pounded on it. As they waited for the master assassin to open the door, they were greeted by a breathless Aqua, who had also bolted from the hallway.

"You guys are alright?!" The bouncy mare seemed genuinely surprised to see them, though Blaze wondered what she meant by the two of them being alive, yet before he could respond, Aqua leaped forward and embraced Rainbow in a tight hug. "Oh, thank goodness you guys made it! I saw the aftermath of the fight, and heard from one of my sources that you two were at the scene when some fighting broke out. I didn't see you guys there and so I thought that those crazies had stolen your bodies. I just rushed back here to warn the Mistress!"

"Well, we're alive, and we've got important news to share." Rainbow replied, offering a very short hug in return before pulling back and holding the mare down with a stern look. "I need you to gather everyone that's here and assemble them in the main area: Blaze and I stumbled on some very useful information, and things are finally getting moving."

"Okay!" The pink mare responded, wiping a tear from her eye and bolting back down the hall, her squeaky voice screaming for all the other assassins to meet her in the open area.

Blaze blinked and turned to Rainbow, but before he could say anything to her, the door in front of them opened up, and the familiar black hooded robes of the Mistress flowed into sight. Rainbow visibly relaxed when she saw her leader and reached into a pouch at her belt, pulling out several bloodstained notes. "Blaze and I happened upon some useful information while we were out testing, and I think it's finally time to gather our ranks and take the fight to the last meeting of this accursed Cult."

"What are you talking about?" All-Feather reached forward for the notes with a quizzical expression on her face.

"Blaze hunted down a small group of fanatics that led us to a warehouse they were using: inside were these notes. . . on the bodies of several more fanatics. We broke in and killed them, finding about thirty mindless foals napping inside, though the foals appear to be under some form of mind control, and are pretty much unresponsive." As Rainbow explained the situation, All-Feather sifted through the notes, skimming the letters as best she could through the blood, dropping each page as she finished it. Her expression grew more and more dreary as she pushed through the evidence. "It's disheartening to confirm some of the reports we've received about movement outside the city, but at least we've got names, a location, and a time."

"What?" Blaze turned to the cyan pegasus. "Why didn't I get this information?"

"You were pretty unstable." She waved him off. "While you were raging about, I went through those papers: you needed some time to yourself, and I figured we should all know what's going on. That temple is just east of the city, and there's supposed to be a meeting for many of the high-ranking members of the Cult tonight. That's why we needed to get here as quick as possible: to get everything prepared for this raid."

"Then what are we waiting for?" He stepped back, ready to finish this.

"Not yet, Blaze." All-Feather raised a hoof to stop him, then she motioned for the two of them to follow her into the room. Both Blaze and Rainbow looked to each other then followed her inside and over to her heavy table, where she placed the remaining pages on display, unfolding one of them into a light sketching of what he assumed was the temple. "This is apparently the building we are looking for: though I can't guarantee that it's the temple itself. This could just be a meeting room, or some other facility we don't know the purpose of. Those damned fanatics are smart enough to split their couriers' information. We've heard whispers that they've been trafficking ponies, but there was never solid information. . . until now. And with this lovely little package you two have delivered to us, there is finally more than enough evidence for us to form an attack of off. This report here gave us some names of ponies that I've actually heard of before; lists that had other names and groups, along with ties to various deeds and locations. Then the map itself: I'm skeptically hopeful, because there was exactly one other piece of information we collected that gave a general location for some kind of ritualistic 'temple' that was also placed in these woods. The only other description said that the top was more or less a domed structure that served as an entrance to a long series of underground tunnels and rooms. This sketching looks similar enough, and while I'm not really familiar with the Everfree, not like this, it does seem possible. I think Aqua has enough of a scouting party under management that we can find the location easily enough.

"It certainly helps that this little cluster of letters were all under the same hoof: trying to track down and piece together this much information is just a bitch to do." All-Feather sighed, leaning herself against the table and peering over the collection of papers she was gathering. "I intercepted a message saying that a number of fanatics had been slowly integrating into the Everfree, so if this report is truthful, then it's likely that there will be considerable defenses set in place. But that is just for the temple itself: if there truly will be a considerable meeting tonight, then each party is likely going to come with reinforcements, which means we should gather all the forces we can."

"I don't care how many guards or defenses this place has; I'm going to tear that place to the ground and slaughter every fanatics I come across." Blaze growled, leaning over the table and doing what he could to display the emotional state he was residing in. "I'm fully planning on that place falling sooner rather than later."

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but my reports say that this is likely going to be much larger than any one assassin can handle." All-Feather responded in a strangely calm tone, which surprised him enough that he sat back down and looked at her with open confusion. "We all hate what this group has achieved, but we must do this the right way, so that the entire group is ended swiftly, lest they have the chance to grow again. I've fought them alone before, and then I learned that we are much stronger together, hunting them down as a group, so that the dream of purging them actually happens."

Blaze clenched his jaw but remained silent, his eyes firmly fixed on the pages resting on the table. When he didn't argue against her, All-Feather nodded and turned her attention to Rainbow, a determined gleam in her eye. "I know you've been waiting for an opportunity like this for some time, so you need to be ready for this when it happens. Is there anything else you feel like we need to know before we go out and gather the others?"

"Once we'd freed the foals and left the building, we were met by a force of fanatics, or at least allies of them: it was a group of about a dozen ponies and griffon mercenaries; they tried to kill us. I think that they knew something was up, and that was why they were heading to the warehouse: the group was too heavily armed to just be escorting those foals, and there was no way they needed griffon crossbows if they were. We killed the group, but when we tried to get back here, we ran into more mercenaries: it's possible they had more ambushes prepared for us, which would mean they were expecting our attack."

"That's. . . troubling. Why would they hire griffons? They've already got a significant number of loyal ponies, and they've already been making use of those?"

"I couldn't tell you one way or another, but my gut tells me there are preparing for a war." Rainbow said after a moment's silence. "The attacks and raids they've been doing have been becoming more frequent, and they already destroyed a few of our dens in the city. When I took Blaze here around the city, he came across an attack on one of our merchants, though the two of them managed to kill the fanatics there."

"A war seems possible, but I never thought they were ready to initiate any open hostilities of that scale." All-Feather trotted around the table and up to a bookcase, reaching for a scroll. She skimmed through a few pages and reports, her demeanor slowly getting more tense as she continued to flip through her resources. Eventually, she grabbed a bundle of scrolls and tossed them on the table, which were followed shortly after by three journals. "I guess it's all starting to come together, then. I never thought that they would have used some of the old ruins outside the city for this, but there are the hints, all hiding in plain sight. We've got something a lot bigger on our hooves than just some petty conflict with a splinter cell of the fanatics. This Eanulf character isn't directly mentioned, but I'm thinking that he's behind some of the other raids, or at least: he's the one giving orders. Take a look at this."

She pulled another bloodstained note from the shelf, then tossed it over to the cyan mare, who snatched it from the air and started to read it: _". . .You were supposed to take the market stall intact, we needed those supplies for the next order of recruits. We're upset that you ruined a chance, so you know the price you're going to have to pay when you return, and you better be coming back with those missing ingredients, or else the price you pay will be your life._ "

"Okay?" Blaze looked between the two mares. "So Eanulf sent out orders to gather supplies, what was so crucial about that?"

"The stall he mentioned was one of the fewer merchants that deal in the black market." Rainbow sighed, dropping the note on the table with the rest. "I remember trying to figure this one out: they wanted some kind of powder that the vendor had, but it was held in a box built directly into the stall, along with some other ruined alchemy ingredients. I can't remember what was exactly in there, but the supplies were all highly illegal and particularly difficult to find, even in the underground."

"So why did he want the powder?"

"I'm not the pony to go to for that kind of information: you have that Sage at your house, right? If she knew what the powder was, she might be able to tell you what they needed it for, but the powder was ruined when the fanatics trashed the stall."

"Sounds like this is something that can wait until we've stopped them from going through with this next meeting, which I think we need to be reminded is tonight, and we've still got no idea just where it is. Why don't we put this on hold until we deal with the bigger threat, now that we've got a relative location and time. I'm done just sitting around waiting for events to unfold: it's high time that we took the fight to them, and finish this."

"I agree." Rainbow nodded, the three of them finally stepping back from the table and slowly made their way to the door. "I asked Aqua to gather everyone that's here, so that we're all ready to march down there and put a stop to Eanulf and every other Cultist hiding in that temple."

"Good. I'll tell them all what's going on." All-Feather took the lead, marching down the hall with purpose. Her steps had intent, her black and red robes flowed behind her as she breezed down, each step sent the silvery sword at her side flashing from underneath her cape before hiding again. Even though her hoof was drawn up, Blaze felt like he could see the determination and sadistic glee in her eyes at making such a breakthrough. They marched passed the alcove where Flamewing sat, the dragon was already rising and flexing her wings. It eased him a lot to know that they had a dragon on their side. With the large purple death machine steadily following behind them, the emerged from the hall into the large clearing, where everypony that he had already met was assembled. "Alright, everyone! I've got some absolutely amazing news, and some sad news.

"We made a monumental discovery today in regards to the Cult: mainly a general location for the next meeting they should be having. This means that we're going to have somewhere to match down to and kick some ass! The meeting is tonight, which isn't exactly ideal, but at least it's very soon, and that means we've got very little time to get there and put an end to their schemes once and for all." She stepped into the mass and gestured with a wing towards the door. "The bad news is tragic: our suspicions were confirmed that it was the fanatics behind the foal-nappings, as Blaze and Rainbow found out in the warehouse earlier. Worse still: those bastards have been sacrificing innocent blood for their sick rituals."

The air sobered instantly.

"But we now have the means to put an end to this unholy amalgamation of freaks who think that the world needs to burn: we have a location, we have a time, and we have a target. But most importantly: we have a reason to fight, a reason to succeed, a reason destroy them. We have to do this, to put aside any hesitation, to throw away fear and doubt; we have to do this for the families of the fallen, and for the foals who have yet to suffer needlessly." Her declaration was met with angry cheer and shouting, the gathered assassins collectively growing with disgust and rage. "We prepare to march on these fanatics so that no one has to ever die in this pointless war."

"When are we going to kill this Cult?!" Slate asked from the crowd.

"Prepare yourselves for the fight of your life." All-Feather continued, gazing at the burly assassin with a stern look of approval. "I want you all to gather every ally we have, and to prepare them to lay siege on the last bastion of these fanatics! Return here once everyone has been assembled, then I want you all to eat your fill, drink well, and polish your blades: we leave at sunset."

The group split immediately, many darting to the doors to grab any friends the Order had, while the sound of magic filled the air as the three unicorns all teleported out. By the time the group had dispersed, the only ones remaining were Blaze, Rainbow, All-Feather, and Flamewing. Then the latter two went back down the hall to their respective living quarters, leaving the two pegasi standing around with nothing to do.

"Rainbow. . . got a minute?" The named mare turned to him with a cocked eyebrow.

"Not right now. As you can see: I"m totally swamped with paperwork I've got to do. . . of course I've got time, we aren't leaving for a few hours." She smirked at him and then led him over to a table, sat him down then grabbed the two cups of coffee. "What do you need?"

"I'm not sure I'm going to be able to just sit around while you all get here: not when I know what's going on in this temple."

"Alright: go on ahead and rush over there. Do you even know where you're going?" His ears fell flat against his skull as she pointed out the error in his initiative, and he leaned back in his seat, reaching forward and grabbing the mug of steaming coffee. He didn't really like the drink, why was he drinking it? The coffee was gone before he could come up with an answer. "Even though we don't know exactly where we are going, we've got the resources to find out, and it's by using these resources as a group that we are going to come out on top. I know you're anxious, trust me; I understand. But we can't throw away this chance: not when there is so much that could go wrong, especially not since there are so many counting on us. This opportunity isn't going to show up for a very long time, and if you waste it by rushing into this unprepared, then you're going to end any hope for countless foals. Neither of us are going to do that."

He nodded sullenly and settled into his seat for the very long hours coming up.

The time passed achingly slow, as various ponies began to arrive, a few from the Order he had already met, others that seemed to just be faces in the steadily growing crowd. Some had the full gear, others just seemed to be armed with daggers or shortswords, though he saw one or two carrying crossbows of their own. He didn't bother getting up from his seat, as much as his blood was begging for him to go out and do something: Rainbow's words were bouncing around in his head, and he couldn't force himself to do something that would counteract the only reason he had agreed to work with the Order. So he sat there, sulking in the negativity of the events that led up to today: wanting nothing more than for all of this to be over, both for his sake and for those innocent foals'.

His body was on edge, his stomach tied itself into knots, and his chest felt like there was an anvil crushing down on him, but he persevered, knowing full well that the time was approaching fast enough, judging by the large group of various creatures milling about getting prepared for a massive fight.

At long last, All-Feather emerged from the halls, followed by a very imposing Flamewing, and she called for the crowd to silence. Once she had their undivided attention, she made the swift declaration of war, and beckoned for the Order to march to the outer edges of the city, along the eastern walls. There was a mass exodus as the assassins began to charge out of the building, many through the front door, while some pegasi took off into the upper reaches of the building, where openings were surely to be in place. Unicorns flashed magic and giants groups of bodies teleported outside.

As the room was clearing, Rainbow approached him with her hood drawn up and a devilish grin splitting her muzzle. "It's about time we got moving, eh?"

"Yeah. I can't believe this is finally happening, not after all the waiting, the tension, the fighting, everything's finally coming to a close: and I can't wait for this to all be over." He returned her smile then looked to the door, which was still being pressed heavily by the flow of assassins. "I saw some of the fliers head up to what I figured were upper levels: are there any exits we can take?"

"Follow me." She chuckled and stepped away from him, her wings flaring as she crouched to take off. She shot into the air and whipped through the large circular opening in the ceiling, which gave him enough room to follow after her.

It was times like this that he was grateful Luna had him start his flight training with control: because the corridors built in here were definitely made for smaller pegasi, and he had to restrain his wings in order to not have them clip against the walls. At least the opening led into a large room that had several open slots more than large enough for him to launch outside and above the city. He pulled into a heavy climb so he could watch where all the others were going, and he just barely evaded yet another crossbow bolt. He screamed in surprise and pulled himself into a loop to evade any further fire.

Once he settled above the range of anything more projectiles, he looked down to see just what the buck was going on, and his vision was greeted by the first of what he just knew was going to be a few skirmishes between the Order and the Cult. Fanatics lined the rooftops, they filled the streets, and they were all armed to the teeth and ready to fight.

He growled and ripped his sword out, then prepared for yet another fight, his heart pounding with adrenaline as the wind ripped through his mane and around his ears. As he fell towards the ground, the sounds of fighting began to dominate the city, and he felt his anger mix with her horror at what had to be done. Only two or three griffons actually knew where he was, and they had already set about reloading their crossbows, so he did what he could to make short work of them.

His wings flared out just before he slammed into the rooftop and the two griffons directly below him, but then he slammed them shut and dropped onto them. His sword sliced them both open with an angry slash, then he barreled towards the next pair of griffons, one of whom had already pulled his crossbow up to fire.

In a panicked attempt to avoid getting shot again, he threw his sword forward, intending for it to just distract the griffon. He was pleasantly, and horrifyingly, surprised when the blade shot forward with pinpoint accuracy and embedded itself in the griffon's torso, cleaving an arm of the crossbow off entirely, and making the mechanism explode in a shower of splinters. He didn't stop charging forward, though, as the next griffon had noticed that he was there, and was already twisting to shoot him. He jumped forward, pouncing over the impaled griffon, then reached his left forehoof back, activating his hidden blade and pushing the crossbow out of his way with his right. The griffon had a look of utter terror at the sight of the large pegasus descending on him with the small blade flashing down like a vengeful bolt of lightning, claiming yet another life as the two dropped to the ceramic rooftop.

He heard some screaming from across the street, so he pulled himself to his hooves and glanced over at the other rooftop, seeing a line of horrified griffons scrambling to get their crossbows aimed down at him.

The sight of certain death trying to line a shot stirred his instincts to overdrive, and he dove forward, slipping off the roof just as a volley of bolts peppered the rooftop and slammed into where he had just been. He bolted across the clearing between the buildings, then shot over the lip, ramming his hidden blade into the first skull he came across, hitting the griffon with enough force that it was sent flying across the group, knocking another one down.

There was a loud explosion from the streets below, followed by the entire building shaking and knocking the remaining griffons off balance enough for him to close the distance with the four horrified mercenaries. He swatted the defensively raised crossbow aside and sent another griffon to the afterlife, and that seemed to be enough motivation for the others. They each threw down their weapons and bolted for the open skies.

He was grateful that he didn't have to kill anymore useful opponents, so he shot his way back to retrieve his sword, and even though he was stuck in the mindset to fight anything he had to, he was still disgusted by the sound his sword made as it exited the dead griffon.

Now rearmed with his weapon, he dove down from the rooftop and nearly dropped straight to the ground the moment he saw the utter carnage in the streets below. There was a massive charred circle against one of the buildings, where the crisp bodies of ponies and a couple griffons lay lifeless, with a mass of assassins all gasping for breath around the perimeter. Several of the unicorns looked totally pale, and he surmised that they were the ones who caused the explosion. He got his wings to work enough that he landed less rough than just a straight drop.

"What happened here?"

"They killed them. . . ambushed by the buckers. . . and we killed them all." One of the citizen assassins responded between gasps for breath, and he looked around at the ragged mass of ponies that were caught totally unaware. This wasn't going well.

"At least you're all still alive." All-Feather responded as she landed beside him, her expression was growing more and more pissed as time wore on. "This is just some horrible bucking new: now they know where we are, and this isn't going to be the last of the ambushes, I just know it. Things are looking even worse than before, Blaze, so we better hope this this attack puts an end to them all. I don't think this city will be able to survive much longer with these attacks."

"Then we better get there and put an end to Eanulf and Al, and hope against all hope that the rest of the heads are there to die as well." He felt something inside him die a little at the harsh, bitter tone, and the genuine hatred he was harboring.


	30. Fulmination of Anguish

_Just a very brief forewarning, this chapter contains an obscene amount of violence in it, so if that makes you uncomfortable, then you might just want to skip to the last part of the story._

Chapter 30: Fulmination of Anguish

With that ambush dealt with, the assassins reorganized and set out through the streets making their way deeper through the housing district and keeping all their senses on high alert for any more threats. Thankfully, the immediate ambush seemed to be the only obstacle the group encountered, but with tensions running, All-Feather ordered Aqua to send her scouts forward, and to wait at the walls, where their group would merge together.

The vibrant pink mare did so, and a series of pegasi shot into the air and began to comb the streets as they worked their way forward. Blaze nervously trotted beside the Mistress, his blood still coursing far too rapidly through his veins, leaving him short of breath and twitchy at every sound.

They worked their way through the streets until the walls finally loomed over them, and the group worked together to get every member up to the ramparts, where a pair of guards gawked in terror. One of the gold-clad ponies took s trembling step towards the group, until several of the assassins turned to stare blankly at him, which was all the motivation he needed to turn tail and run inside the nearby tower. Once they had the space to themselves, All-Feather set about giving copies of the sketchings to Aqua's scouts, who studied them quickly before nodding and jumping off the wall and sailing above the dark Everfree trees. The rest of the group waited until they had gone off before they started to drop themselves at the outer base of the wall, utilizing the space continuously cleared with magic as a landing stage.

Blaze let the rest of the group work down, and turned his attention to the city, along with several others, and watched for any suspicious activities. Rainbow trotted up to him and stood at his side, watching in silence for a few seconds. "I'm worried."

"Me too. But I don't think we have the same worries." He finally turned to her, noting that she was very visibly worried, and patted her back with a wing, doing what he could to comfort her, even though he knew he was in no place to really be doing so. "You've been a willing ear for me, so I feel it's only fair that I return the favor: what's on your mind?"

"It's just terrifying that those guys back there knew where we were. They knew where we were, and they waited until we were leaving in mass to launch an ambush: it was as if they already knew what was going to happen, and had planned accordingly." She sighed and sat down, her attention very briefly flying back to the group that was still working on lowering the small army. "I just can't understand how they knew, and I'm terrified about what the possibilities are that would give them this information. It got me thinking about what is going to be waiting for us when we find this temple of theirs: we could be going into a suicide mission, but we might also just be chasing smoke."

"Only one way to find out, but I promised Asta that I'd be coming home, so this isn't a suicide mission." He nudged her shoulder. "And these guys are batshit crazy, so I don't think that we're just chasing smoke, and whatever is going on down there is going to involve these guys. All we got to do is go down there and end this; once and for all."

"Thanks, it's nice to hear somepony that actually thinks this will end well." He looked down at her with a confused expression.

"Wait, what? Has nopony else said that this is going to end with us getting this done? Do they really believe that we're all going to die?" She looked down at her hooves instead of answering his question and nervously shuffled in place. He stared at her for a few seconds then wrapped his wing over her shoulder and pulled her in for a very quick hug, catching her by surprise so badly that she squeaked and jumped under his grip. "Well, it doesn't matter what anypony else thinks: all that you need to worry about is what you think, and everything else will fall into place. I'm going to go down there and give Tartarus a reason to shudder in fear, you all can stand around and gawk, but I've got plenty of reasons to come out of this alive. I'm sure you do too."

"Yeah, right. . . plenty of reasons." She murmured to herself, though he thought it was mostly for herself to hear. He pulled his wing back and turned around to evaluate just how much longer it was until they were all situated on the ground; and found himself surprised that the last of the unicorns were teleporting down, and just a hoofful of ponies were still watching on the wall.

He opened his wings and glanced back to Rainbow, who was also preparing to take off, then he stepped off the side of the crenelations and slipped into the empty air. His wings filled with air and he gently floated to the ground, where the mass of creatures had already begun to arrange themselves into lines to dive into the woods. He took a spot next to the furthest right line, pulling his sword out just in case they ran into hostile creatures; be it fanatic or beast. The other lines were nearly done, and despite the murmuring of dozens of anxious creatures, the silence of the forest was eerie. Minutes later, and the group began to slip into the forest, all voices cutting off as they began the dreaded march towards what so many considered to be certain doom.

They barely made it inside the line of trees before creatures of the night began to rustle in the bushes, and the trees suddenly came to life with activity. The assassins bundled together and the few unicorns did what they could by throwing up shields to stop any surprise crossbow fire.

Instead of being met by a volley of bolts, the rustling stopped and any movement in the trees instantly died off, leaving Blaze thinking that they had just startled a large group of some forest animal. Still, he was tense just in case anything happened, so his sword stayed held between him and whatever may be in the bushes in front of him.

 **Relax.**

There was a light rustling from the set of bushes directly in front of his line, then a few shadowy figures crept out from the leaves, the darkness around them shifting around like smoke, obscuring their forms beyond basic crawling figures. He tensed up even tighter, despite the Spirit's words, and his eyes darted between the four figures splitting from the shadows.

There was enough light in the sky that as the shadows faded and solidified into the hardened bodies of what he could only think of were humans. The four figures stood up, confirming to him that these were, indeed, humans. He looked more closely at them, still unsure what their intentions were, but he felt comfortable enough that he lowered his sword, though it stayed firmly held in his hoof. He studied them, watching them closely as they approached the magic spheres, each one rising to their full heights when they stopped. They were all dressed in black, with hoods obscuring their features and lengthy black capes draping down their backs.

Each human had a sword strapped to their side; short handles of brown leather capped by a shining silver pommel, while the simple cross-guard divided the handle from the long brown scabbard.

As he studied them further, he thought it odd that three of them had some kind of black and red bow attached to their backs, the vicious weapons barbed and curved in a rather intimidating manner. The bows looked to be entirely made of a black metal, but the red was clearly something else, and the slow pulsing in gave off reminded him of a beating heart. The hues of red ebbed, glowing brighter and dimming at a persistent pace, and with the barbs coming off each curve, it seemed like these bows were living weapons of war. He didn't trust them.

Then there was the fourth human, who wore a shorter cloak, one that only fell down to its waist, and neglected gloves, revealing bare tanned skin in the place of fur. Having seen hands before, Blaze wasn't nearly as affected by the sight as some of the others, who were backing away from the creatures before them. The last human stepped forward, raising its left hand up, where a faint blue light began to swirl and several markings on the extended appendage started glowing bright white.

Before anything could happen, one of the other humans reached out and stopped the fourth, throwing a hand out between the ponies of them. The fourth turned to face the first, cocking its head in confusion, until the first place its hand in a placating manner, then turned to Blaze. He flinched at the sudden attention, but stood his ground at the front of the group of ponies, staring into the black recesses of the human's hood, barely making out the complicated features of a human face. The human pointed towards his left forehoof, the one that had his hidden blade and bracer, then indicated at its own forearm, which had a simple leather guard covering it.

Turning its palm up, the human flexed its hand and activated the mechanism for its own hidden blade, sending a lengthy steel blade sliding out. The human activated it again, and the blade hid itself under his bracer, before waving at him. He took the hint and raised his forehoof, then flexed and released his own blade, showing that they had similar gear, even if he was confused about what point the human was trying to make.

The four humans looked between each other, then started muttering amongst themselves in a language that none of the ponies could understand.

 **I've never heard of this language before, but their intentions are good: they're hunting down the fanatics as well. None of them have names.** Blaze made a mental thanks to the Spirit then turned to the others, waving them forward.

"They're friendly, as far as I can tell." With the little amount of information that Jace could provide, the group lowered their shield and kept pushing forward, soon being led deeper into the woods by these four humans. The underbrush was thick, and it slowed their movement greatly, though the four humans showed an adverse ability to move through the area with ease and grace, slipping through as though the brush was nothing more than a breeze against them. As they continued into the woods, he was accompanied by Rainbow, who had slipped into his column shortly after the greeting between the two parties. He nodded as she stepped up to walk beside him. "I'm not entirely sure what they're going to do, but I was told they were also here to hunt down fanatics, so I'm sure they're leading us to the temple: it's getting late enough that the Cult might be starting their meeting soon."

"How do you know that?" She looked at him cautiously, though the question didn't make him any more pleased.

"Jace. Like I said: it's a long story, and if this all goes well, then I see no reason why I shouldn't tell you, but for now, just know that he's a friend and he helps me sometimes by giving me information." He looked down at her, and while it was clear that the answer didn't satisfy her, the humans at the front of the group had stopped moving and had crouched behind a line of bushes. Any further conversation was cut short with the muffled noise of movement in front of them, and the group of assassins went silent.

The pair of pegasi crept forward until they were also crouching beside two of the humans, and peered passed the bushes. Before them was a large glade in the forest, and standing in the center of the clearing like a twisted symbol of anarchy were the crumbling ruins of the temple. The structure had once likely been a fortress fortified with large towers and a heavy wall, but all that remained was a square building, and a moat filled with chunks of stone that had once been used in defense. The foundations of two towers could be made out from the building, but only because the Cult had built up wooden towers that served as lookouts, while patrols roamed the clearing.

The only light that made it to the grassy ground came from torches, as the stars had yet to shine enough, and the moon was obscured by trees, which left the area looking in a smoldering glow.

From their angle behind the bushes, and thanks to the poor lighting at the heavy gates to the building, the group had very little insight as to the numbers currently waiting around the defenses. They only had the option to storm the place swiftly, else they run the risk of the gate being effectively barricaded and them out of options. All-Feather had issued orders for the assassins to wait at the edge of the forest, then she walked up to Blaze. "We're unsure if the meeting is taking place yet, but we know that several prominent members are already here. Those are their carriages."

She gestured to one side of the clearing, where a line of thee carriages stood unoccupied.

"Well, how are we going to know-" Before he could continue his question, the two humans next to him exchanged a couple of quick words, the one with a bow had a much higher pitch than the other, which led him to believe that it was actually a she, while the other was a male. He hadn't had a lot of experience looking at humans, but Jace had been polite enough to explain them to him a bit. He, Rainbow, and the Mistress all turned to see what the humans were doing, when the female loudly whistled out to the others. The sound mimicked an owl perfectly, so he doubted any of the fanatics in the clearing would care to notice. The guy drew his sword, and began to shift in place, as if he were getting ready to rush out, but Blaze didn't think that they were that stupid to just charge on a heavily fortified structure like that.

Then he was proven wrong: these humans were actually stupid enough to just charge on the heavily fortified structure.

The male flicked his sword around, presumably to warm his arm, then rose and stepped out from behind the bush, walking right towards the nearest patrol. They spotted him and shouted in alarm, and prepared to draw their weapons, but before any of them could do so, the human's hand flared to life with some kind of magic, and he shot forward in the blink of an eye, right into their mix, his sword slashing around. A pony lost his head, and while it flew over the group, the human slit the throat of the next, then grabbed the head before it hit the ground and chucked it against the only griffon in the patrol. The last pony finally drew her sword, and swung at the human, who merely dropped to the ground and evaded the attack before shooting forward and ending the mare's life. He killed the griffon by dodging the crossbow bolt and slashing with lightning speed.

He was already on the move before the griffon had even fallen, and though Blaze felt conflicted over the absolute brutal efficiency of which this guy was slaughtering, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the carnage unfolding. There were a number of griffons posted on the wooden towers, and they all cried in unison once they saw the human dashing across the clearing.

Just as the griffons fired, there seemed to be a tear in the very fabric of space, and then the human disappeared, suddenly reappearing at the base of the towers, and a griffon now standing in his place. The bolts were true, and the griffon soon found itself being the quiver of a few bolts, while the human tore through the ranks, when he shot forward again, sailing over the top of the structure and crashing into the group of griffons, where another was decapitated, one had its crossbow shot into the skull of another, and then the last two were cut down instantly.

It was ruthless, but he wasn't done.

He hurled himself off of the top of the wooden tower, then his magic hand flung him around the corner of the building, where he slammed onto a pony guard, then he raised his hand and once more teleported behind the group, where the griffon was now firing his crossbow through another, while simultaneously falling to the ground, dead. The guy swung his arm wide, and there was a blast of air that battered the doors open, but instead of rushing in, he finally seemed to back off.

Some hidden doors along the sides of the buildings swung open, and a horde of fanatics came pouring out of the structure to meet this threat, and were instantly peppered by arrow fire. The all the assassins watching flinched in unison; they were so entranced by this horror show that they had completely forgotten about the other humans, who had drawn their bows are were now firing on the temple.

Figuring this was his cue to hurry in there and get some work done, Blaze drew his sword and threw himself into the clearing, heading towards the second group of patrols, who had finally realized that there was something to do. He was in the air, and they were focused on the human cutting his way through the forces amassed at the doorway: they never knew what hit them until it was too late. His sword took even more lives when he descended, and all four ponies were unable to sow more chaos in Equestria.

All the emotions he had been feeling before this horrid day started were numbed out of him now, and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. . . not that he had time to think about it. Once he had finished those fanatics, he took off for the main entrance, which had become a breeding ground for chaos as the two groups clashed, bodies flying everywhere as the humans displayed their utter savagery on the battlefield.

It actually felt like a one-sided fight when he got there: these humans seemed to have no equal in a fight.

They cleaned up the clearing fast, with whatever fanatics still surviving making the smartest decision of turning tail and bolting inside the building. Unfortunately for them, the assassins were more than happy to dive in and slaughter them all, though some were definitely putting every drop of their rage and passion and pain into this fight. Those were the first ones to charge in.

Blaze followed behind the first wave, along with the three humans who weren't using that crazy hand-magic. He had lost track of who was where, but he couldn't care, as things were only getting more chaotic now that the last remaining fanatics were starting to fight again.

Inside the building, they were greeted by a large rectangular chamber that was littered with chunks of stone, dotting the room with cover from the wall of griffon mercenaries aiming at the incoming group. Both the assassins and the humans were quick to take that cover, and the first volley of bolts proved fairly ineffective. Using the brief cover as a chance to study his surroundings, he noticed that the room once had a vaulted ceiling, though the chunks of stone of the ground were likely sections of it. Pillars embedded in the walls broke up the walls into sections, with spaces serving as viewing platforms dotted the empty spaces in what must have been a second floor. Torches lined the walls, spaced intermittently and dotting the pillars, casting the room in a flickering orange glow that cast deceptive shadows in every crevice and between every block.

He couldn't tell how many fanatics were still left to kill, and he wasn't sure what was laying in front of them: he had only identified the crossbows aiming at him before he dove for cover. He forced himself to hyperventilate slightly, trying to work up the courage to take a glance around the edge of the slab of stone he was using as cover.

It sort of worked, so he leaned over and very quickly took a glance at the far end of the room, where that same line of griffons were waiting for something to do just that. They were all standing in formation in front of a large entryway to the next chamber, where a large number of creatures wearing robes were chanting in a circle. Upon realizing that he was stealing a peek, the griffons all aimed at his head and fired, giving him just enough time to dive back behind the stone.

"Get up a shield!" He heard a shout from the stone behind his, so he knew an assassin was starting to use the group. A second later, three large magic bubbles popped up around the assassins, giving them room to come out from cover and converge in a single spot. There was a group effort between just about all the Order unicorns, whose horns were all glowing brightly, though many of them had strained looks on their faces. He guessed that holding a shield this large, against the barrage of crossbow fire the fanatics were dealing out, must have been particularly taxing for them. Armed with the knowledge of their steadily decreasing clock, he ran over to All-Feather, who was sporting a bolt out of her flank. He was impressed that she was still walking, but he was also enraged that they were still taking damage. "Ah, Blaze! I'm glad to see you! I heard that one of your unique aspects as a Gold Blood is that you're resistant to magic, correct?"

He nodded, which gave her a massive grin as she turned to two of the original pegasi that he'd met at the Order. "Wind Walker! Shout! Get over here! I want you two to distract those crossbows for however long Blaze needs. Blaze; you're going to get your flank over there and take out those three unicorns."

"Um. . ." He looked through the prismatic shield and passed the griffons currently making themselves very busy on said shield. Just behind the griffons were a trio of unicorns who were, somehow, looking equally pleased with themselves and utterly bored. He tried looked around the far region of the chamber, wondering just how he was supposed to even get up to the line of griffons without becoming a pincushion. At least he had the stone for cover. "Alright. I think that I can do that."

"Of course you can; because we're pretty much done for if you can't." He gave her a sarcastic smile at the horrible words of encouragement and ran up to the edge of the shield, and as soon as he did, the griffons started focusing their fire on his region. He turned and nodded to the Mistress that he was ready, and a small hole appeared just behind one of the stones, and he left the safe zone, with both Wind Walker and Shout in tow.

He followed the stones as they steadily made their way against the far left wall, until he happened upon a secondary doorway. . . one that was guarded by two anxious looking pegasi. He looked as surprised to see the fanatics as the fanatics were to see him, but he had the advantage in reaction time. He shot forward and sent his sword through the first, while Wind Walker followed up with a finishing stab to the second. He wanted to continue down this corridor to see where it led, but he wasn't sure he had the time to explore, and he already knew where the threat was. So he decided to just keep traveling along the outer wall and work his way to the front.

He stopped behind the last block of stone, sliding along the edge until he could just barely peek out and look at the situation.

The three targets he had were now adding their magic bolts to the barrage on the shield, which he could also see was cracked and starting to flicker. He was really running out of time, so he slunk back and turned to the two assassins following him. He saw in their expressions that they were just itching for a reason to go out there and get some fresh blood on their weapons, but something just seemed off about the situation. He had to shrug it off when the unicorns cried out in victory and doubled down on their assault on the shield, obviously getting close to breaking through it. "Just go out there and make sure I don't die, but try to stay alive yourselves: all that matters is that the griffons don't realize what's going on until I can get to the unicorns."

The two nodded and flared their wings, then they bolted around the stone on the other side and made a dash for the line of griffons, each brandishing a blade as they goaded the griffons into looking their way. He crept along the shadows, hoping to stay out of sight, but just when he rounded the corner of the stone, he finally realized what was wrong with the situation: several griffons were already aiming their crossbows at the two, and were likely going to shoot them clear out of the air.

He wanted to stop them, but he was too far away, and shouting would mean he was the one being slaughtered, so he could only sit there and watch as the two assassins did what they could to close the distance before the griffons destroyed them. Just before the griffons could fire, however, the shield went down on the group of assassins, and three bolts of magic shot forward, exploding on the group and stunning them enough for the two to get out of the way.

That was the only distraction he needed, so he jumped into the air and rushed into the disorganized mix of griffons, making a beeline for the three unicorns, who were smugly staring at him, like they were just waiting for him to make his move. They all touched their horns together, and before he had the chance to even get under the arches, their magic sent a shock wave blasting out. The wave slammed into him with more force than he had ever felt before, and it slammed him clear out of the entrance, along with the entire force of griffons, and shattered the stonework around them. He lost his attention from them for just a fraction of a second as the movement behind them caught it: the robbed creatures had encircled an altar, and had moved a foal onto it. A single ray of moonlight fell on the altar, and the head creature pulled a knife from its robe, the glinting steel threatening to fall on the poor foal. He couldn't keep his eyes on the sickening scene any longer than that, even though he wanted to will himself into the room to stop it from continuing: the magic forcing him back intensified, and his eyes were forced back to the trio of unicorns.

Their eyes had gone pure white from channeling the raw flood of energy, and then a blinding flash of light forced him to look away, while he was slammed down and rolled across the ground. There was an echoing boom before all noise was cut out by an intense ringing in his ears, while his eyes felt like they were being scooped out with a rusty spoon. His body hurt like Tartarus from being knocked around and tossed like a rag-doll, but he managed to crawl to his hooves, grateful that he had a strong grip on his sword.

His skull was pounding from that burst of magic, but he forced his eyes open, because there was no way he was hearing anything. Looking to where the unicorns had been, there was nothing left but the crumbling rubble of what had once been a clean entrance into the sacrificial chamber, and he felt his heart sink: there was no way anypony was moving that mountain anytime soon.

He looked around, trying to evaluate what to do now; the shield was, unsurprisingly, shattered, with most of the Order scattered about and dazed, and then there were the griffons, still tossed around and scattered amongst the others. Many of the various creatures around him were starting to get up, including all four of the humans, who had also fallen victim to the surprise suicide. Deciding that if he couldn't tear down those deeper within right then, that these griffons would have to suffice, he marched over to where the largest group of them lay scattered and dazed, and raised his sword to cut them down. There was a flicker of color at the edge of his vision, and he flinched at the instinct screaming for him to move, so he pulled his head up to see what it was.

A line of unicorns had taken up position in each of the alcoves above the area, their horns charging to shower the entire chamber in a storm of deadly magic. His head clicked, and he realized they were now trapped in a death chamber. . . he looked behind him at the other wall, where there was also a line of unicorns preparing to slaughter everything below. He looked down to the confused faces of the creatures assembled, and how none of them had any understanding of what was about to happen.

And his emotions returned full force: his sadness at the deaths about to happen. His regret that he had let down his only family. His fear that everypony was going to live in utter chaos because these bucking fanatics were going to win. His rage that, after all the effort he had put in, he still had so much more to give. His sorrow that these foals were doomed to serve beings that deserved only the most painful of deaths. Then a new feeling overtook everything he had: hope.

His resolve kicked into overload as he felt completely determined to not only fulfill his promise to Asta, that he'd come home; but to also make sure not a single foal was harmed during this entire thing. He would not just survive this: he was going to win this war.

He threw his sword into its sheathe and dove forward, pulling as many ponies he could grab with him as he slipped into a tiny alcove just as the magic began its deathly downpour into the clearing. His ears were still ringing, but the sounds of magic being slung and stone being slammed into were starting to come back. He looked into the bundle of ponies he had grabbed: Rainbow Crescent, Slate, Elaine van Colt, and Aqua.

While he was happy that he had saved some of his friends, his heart sank at the deaths surely happening just outside of his small sphere of safety. They all started to gather their senses, and were all shouting over each other trying to figure out what was going on, until they all began to look up passed him, one by one, and see the raining magic filling the chamber. Each one of them fell into silence when they realized what was going on, and they each took on an expression of total despair and horror.

The barrage continued for another minute, until each of the unicorns ran out of energy to keep pummeling the room. Then there was silence. The silence of death from a group of fanatics utterly purging everything they could, and the only thing the five ponies could hear was their own breathing.

Blaze was the first to come out of the overhang of stone, stepping onto the charred stone of a lifeless room, and he had to force down the rising bile at the sheer number of dead. There were very few spaces of open floor, and he was unable to force himself to take another step.

"By the heavens!" Rainbow gasped as she stepped out from safety, a hoof going straight to her muzzle as she dry heaved from the utter massacre. "They killed their own soldiers! What kind of monsters would kill their own forces?!"

"The kind that want nothing more than to see chaos rule unchallenged." Slate declared as he emerged as well, followed by the only surviving unicorn and his marefriend, all of them wore grim expressions at the depravity just displayed. He stepped up to the mangled corpse of one of the griffons, who was still holding a crossbow in its talons. "I highly doubt these poor souls even knew what they were getting themselves into: they probably would have charged four- no five times as much to do this, if at all."

"This only means we've got to find a way to finish them off even faster now, and with fewer numbers." Blaze added as he waded through the destruction, his eyes scanning the area for any signs of movement. The others followed behind him as he went, their hoofsteps echoing through the empty chamber as they pushed further inside, the dust of the collapsing archway finally settling enough to show the fully blocked passage. Up close, the ruination was significantly more pronounced, and the remaining assassins could clearly see the utter destruction those three suicidal unicorns had brought about, with massive chunks of stone fallen to cover any possibility of getting to the sacrificial chamber with ease. "The set up this entire thing as a trap, didn't they? I mean, it was clear what was going on; they had a very clear killing chamber, and they were just trying to weaken us enough for our shields to go down. They were ready to kill themselves, and had planned on doing just that, hadn't they?"

"It certainly looks that way." Aqua said in a dark tone, any life that her usually upbeat tone had was gone, stripped away at the massacre they had just barely survived. "I just can't believe it. . . they managed to wipe us all out. . . just like that."

"Oh, thank everything that's good in the world you guys survived!" A deep, booming voice cried out from the rubble just to the left of them, the group of survivors all jumping in unison at the sudden voice with weapons whipping at the ready. There was the clattering sound of hooves pounding on stone, then a shape started to form through the shadows clinging to the edges of the room. Then the shape emerged from the darkness, and a zebra crawled through a bundled pile of the dead, his expression grimly relieved at seeing other survivors.

His stripes had been faded, presumably coated in dust from the destruction, and his mohawk mane was still singed from a close call with at least one bolt of magic. Blaze would have pounced on him, but there was a hidden blade strapped to the zebra's forehoof, indicating he was a friendly. "We were barely able to make it out of that mess. . . unlike some. . ."

His sweeping glance around them was all that was needed to sum up the mood after having such an attack thrown against them.

Blaze stepped forward and greeted the zebra with a firm hoof-shake, as both of them were still trying to fully grasp the total purge. "You said 'we' as if there are more than just us that survived. Who else has made it, and just where the buck are they?"

"We're right here." The Mistress said as she hopped over a charred block of stone, though she landed roughly and with a heavy grunt. The zebra jumped forward to help her up, but she stubbornly pushed him away, holding a hoof to an oozing wound on her side as she climbed back onto her hooves. She glared at him then repressed a groan once she was settled. "I'm not some mare in distress."

After her attempt to hurdle over the block, seven other assassins came after her, each looking scared out of their wits at the utter annihilation tossed on them. There were a series of thuds and booms started to echo around them, coming from behind the walls, and the entire group ducked for cover expecting another barrage of magic.

When nothing came from the platforms in the wall, several assassins poked their heads out from behind whatever blocks they had taken refuge behind. When it was deemed the walls clear, the rest of the group all rejoined in the center of the room, listening nervously at the sounds of battle coming from behind one wall. They grouped together and pulled whatever weapons they had remaining out to fight, staring at the opening that was producing the most amount of noise. Their eyes were fixed on the balcony, fearfully glaring at whatever threat was going to meet them now, until the screams of agony ceased, and the booming became the consistent thud of something large making its way down the hall.

Flamewing appeared on the balcony, and even from the distance between the two parties, it was clear that she had suffered quite a few wounds dealing with the number of unicorns up there. She jumped over the ledge and let her wings carry her towards the main body of survivors, and as she entered the chamber, her glistening hide lit up from the few remaining torches. The dragoness was missing several plate scales along her torso, and her snout was bleed from what was obviously a pretty heavy blow, but other than that; she appeared to have come out of this unscathed.

"I tore down half the remaining unicorns, so we just have to head over there and finish off the remaining ones." Her emotionless voice filled the air as the others gathered their thoughts, her forearms crossing in a veiled attempt at appearing tough. Unfortunately for her, there was a twinkle of passion in her eyes that Blaze and All-Feather had noticed, the two both suddenly looking very confused.

"Then what are you still doing here?" That deep, rich voice asked from behind Blaze, causing the entire group to look to the zebra, who's face had hardened in unrestrained rage. "You're the only one who's got any real capacity to take on a group of unicorns, and the rest of us are going to still need to find a way to get through that wall of stone."

"How about you remember your place, _zebra_." Flamewing spat on the floor, her fiery breath actually melting through the stone. "I could break through that stone faster than any of you little equines could. . . but I rather enjoy the satisfaction of knowing I saved all your lives."

"But you weren't able to save theirs, so any satisfaction you feel should be turned into motivation to do something for those that died today." Blaze stepped up to the dragon, much to the horror of the others, who unanimously gasped in shock at his boldness, while the dragoness simply raised a scaly eye-brow at him. "You can either hunt down those murderers, or you can start digging, because your decision is going to determine what we do. If you want to go avenge the fallen, then we're going to need to find another way around that wall; or you can get your claws dusty and do the digging, while we get to go kill some bastards."

There was a deep silence for a couple of seconds where the two just stood there, staring at each other: Blaze had a frustrated sneer on his face, while Flamewing appeared to wear the faintest of approving smirks. Neither party spoke, but eventually, Flamewing rolled her eyes and flared her wings. She took off, barreling through into the openings and roaring as she made her way after the remaining fanatics.

With that decision resolved, he turned to the others, doing what he could to steel his resolve and help them finish this once and for all. He walked up to the group, who slowly stood up straight and looked between him and All-Feather, who was looking more and more exhausted by the minute. When he saw the condition she was in, his expression flashed concerned before she glared at him with enough force that he actually took a step back. Deciding that it wouldn't be in his best interest to aggravate her further, he turned to the zebra and nodded. "I don't believe we've met yet; I'm Blaze Burn, but I'm sure you already knew that."

"Aye, that I do." The zebra nodded, pawing at the ground and stealing a quick, worried glance to their Mistress, who had momentarily turned her attention towards the gaping hole in her robes, and the charred flesh now exposed to the elements. His voice somehow managed to drop even lower, much to Blaze's surprise, and he cast a somewhat pleading look to the pegasus. "My name's Bob, and while I'm not a direct member, I've been an herbalist for a few years, using my skills to provide medical aid for the Order."

"Good, that's a lot better than what I was expecting to hear," Blaze said after a moment to stare at this supposed 'Bob.' Once he had gotten the threat of stupid giggles removed from his system, he cleared his throat and looked over to the mare nursing her would with some kind of salve that she had procured from her pouch. "I want you to get her out of here and make sure this doesn't get any more serious than it already is."

"What?!" The mentioned mare's head snapped up to stare at him as if he had just declared himself the leader of the Order. She stopped up on shaky hooves and did her best to march intimidatingly towards him, though all she managed to accomplish was a sort of hobble as she approached. "I'm not just going to sit around while those monsters kill the rest of us! If this is truly a suicide mission, then I'm very much going to be there to die by your damn side, whether you want me to or not!"

"Mistress; you are in no condition to fight." He tried to placate her, but when he reached to put a hoof on her shoulder, she merely smacked it away and growled at him.

"Don't you dare think that I'm incapable of fighting just because of a flesh wound: I've fought in worse condition than this, and I'm not going to stop now." She said as she tried to push her way into his face, even though he was considerably taller than her. When she saw that she was shouting into his chest, she grunted and pumped her wings, flying up to stare him down at eye level. Her force of will slammed into him when he looked into her eyes, and now that she was staring him down, it was a lot easier to do just that. The determination in those vibrant blue-violet orbs was only matched by the sheer intensity of her passion, in her clenched muscles, in her flared nostrils and vicious snarl at his insinuations. It was that one looked that made him back up, though even as he relented she refused to give ground, leaning closer and making sure he completely understood her motivation. "You are not the only one that has made vows to stop this threat, nor are you the only one determined to keep fighting.

"I've got medicine that will dull the pain enough for me to keep going." She declared after she dropped to the ground, and to prove her point, she reached into one of the pouches at her belt and pulled out a small silk bag of some powder. She tipped the bag up and poured a tiny amount into her mouth, grimacing at what he assumed was a pretty nasty flavor, then returned the bag to her pouch. After groaning and rolling her shoulders, she took a few steps to make sure everything was in working order before turning to face him. "Now let's get going: I think there are some side-passages we can use."

"I saw one earlier before that suicide attack, but I was too pressed for time to explore it." He offered, following behind the mare as she led the group of remaining assassins in the direction he pointed.

"That was a bucking stupid idea." Rainbow muttered as she fell into place at his side, catching him by surprise and getting him to jump. As soon as he realized who she was, he relaxed and leaned against her, using his wing to give her a soft push before returning to his original place.

"It had to be said." She looked at him skeptically, then shook her head and trotted against his side, returning the favor in her own shove of a wing, though her smaller stature lent a much less effective push. The group slowly shuffled around the mass of bodies, skirting over the blocks as much as possible, all the while, the angry roars of Flamewing could be heard echoing around them. The walls were getting considerably closer as they trotted, until the group stopped, the steady groaning of something else moving from just beside them igniting their defensive reactions.

"Ah'm not dead yet, so don't y'all go an' leave me 'ere to rot." Hammer grunted as she forced herself over a block and landed in front of the group, leaving the assassins exclaiming in surprise. She smirked at them, then her expression soured and she held a hoof to her head, where a line of dried blood caked into her fur, evidence to her hitting something pretty hard. "Ah've had it up ta just 'bout here with these guys, an' Ah'm more than ready ta just finish 'em off: so ya ain't gonna leave me 'ere and twiddle mah hooves while ya do all the hard work."

"I'm more than glad you're alive, Hammer: but we're down to very few members, and I don't know whether you're in a condition to fight." The Mistress said, though the moment the words came out of her mouth, just about all the remaining assassins turned to look at the gaping wound in her side. Hammer raised as eyebrow, but shook her head and stepped forward.

"Ah ain't takin' 'no' as an answer." She shifted her weight and pulled her damaged warhammer off her back, planting the head on the ground as she rolled her shoulders and stretched her back out. "So let's go an' finish this fight."

All-Feather looked at the mare for a second, then her gaze fell to the ground. She spun on her hooves in defeat and continued walking towards the now-visible doorway leading further into the temple. The rest of the group followed after giving brief nods to Hammer to welcome her back to the party, though the ex-farmer made it apparent that she was going to make sure this ended soon, as she trotted up to lead the way with the Mistress. Blaze watched her in admiration, his reverence for the durability of many of the Order's members only growing, before he was pulled along by Rainbow, who had a nervous look to her. The two pegasi took up the rear, and he had to assume that this was what the cyan mare had wanted: she shuffled slower than the group.

"Blaze. . . those fanatics must have planned to kill off their own soldiers, and that trap was obviously laid out knowing that we were going to have a large force here." She mumbled as they passed into the darkened halls. "We fell right into it. . . and you didn't have to save us, but you still grabbed the four of us and puled us under those boulders."

"Of course I had to: you're a friend, and it's like you've all been saying. This isn't something that just one pony can do: we're in this together."

"Yeah, but it could have been anypony that you grabbed, and I was one of them. . . so I just wanted you to know that I'm extremely grateful that you did. I'm not sure I would have known what was going on until I was already dead, but you still managed to sweep us to safety. I;m not really sure what there's to say, other than 'thank you.'" She looked at him with a terrified face, and he felt a wave of understanding that this was going to hit her just as hard as it hit him. He wrapped his wing over her shoulder briefly, offering her a quick squeeze before they separated again.

"I'll do what I have to to protect those I care about. . . that includes my friends. We'll see this through, especially after the price we just paid to get here, and both of us are going to walk out of those doors alive." He reassured her, his attention shifting to the opening in the corridor just in front of them. They were nearing the next room, and the tension in the air was rising with each step as the remaining assassins prepared for yet another fight.

Feeling more than a little worried about the physical condition of the few surviving assassins, Blaze pushed himself through the group and reached both the Mistress and Hammer as they exited into the next chamber, which wasn't even attached to the sacrificial chamber. "Great, yet another dungeon to trudge through."

He grimaced at the memories of working his way through Grogar's cavern, and he wasn't at all thrilled that this may take a similar turn.

The entire group entered the room, and they cleared out to see what was in there, aside from the obvious door leading to the next room or whatever was behind it. Beds lined either side, which some of them found a little odd, though it was quickly mentioned that even the crazies had to have somewhere to sleep. Candles were flickering in what looked like goat horns, which only served to reinforce the insane nature of these fanatics, but without anything else to show any sort of personal belongings or clues to individuals, the assassins were left to move through the room fairly quickly.

The door had led to yet another hallway, one that turned away from the general direction of the main chamber, and the group carried further through the bowels of the temple. Hooves clattered on smooth cobble, boots thudded softly, and the occasional scabbard scraped against the stone walls, each sound echoing through the dark hall and leaving each assassin only more on edge than before. The fanatics must have had a love for the dark, as there wasn't a candle to be seen as they traversed the regions between rooms, and it seemed the the walls themselves must have been closing in on them. With weapons drawn, they pushed forward, and the depths of black they trotted through seemed apathetic towards the group, as if it were content to devour any and all equally. Even the sounds of Flamewing rampaging on the upper stories had ceased, leaving the only thing audible to the resounding steps.

The night was wearing on, and Blaze knew it: but he could only go so fast in the darkness, and after charging blindly into walls on several occasions, he was hesitant to rush. Still, he knew the group was making progress towards the final chamber now, even if he had no idea where he was.

The first hint that they were nearing the end of their journey came in the faintest echoes of chanting, reminding Blaze of the creeping breezes that he had heard in the tunnels beneath the city. It made his mane rise, and the fur along his spine struggled under his robe to stand on its end, but he pushed forward at an even faster rate, knowing that they were getting so close to finishing this. They turned another bend, and light began to bleed into the stone hall, fueling their hope and destroying any trepidation: this was finally going to end.

They kept pushing forward, the chanting grew louder, and the light was slowly strengthening, turning into the familiar orange glow of candlelight or torchlight. The stones along the floor seemed to shine in stark contrast in this end of the hall, as if the light illuminating them was coming directly through the walls, and was glowing a bright, magical white, yet the stones of the walls and ceiling were lit normally.

His fur was standing rigid as they turned the final corner, where the light was strongest and the chanting had finally turned into a chorus of strange tongues he did not understand. He adjusted his grip on his sword, and then led the wild charge down the hall, throwing all subtlety to the wind as they galloped across the distance and poured into the chamber.

The doorway had funneled the group into the side of a fairly large room, though it opened to either side far more than it ran across, which forced the group to face two separate fronts. Blaze and half the assassins turned left, where a group of a dozen red-robed fanatics looked genuinely surprised to see them. The other half had turned to see the gaping entrance to the sacrificial chamber, underneath yet another archway and recessed inside of several more tones of stone above.

Two fanatics snapped to attention and flung themselves behind the others, diving to a pair of levers before anyone could react. The two fanatics heaved the levers just as the group of assassins all converged on the fanatics, who split down the middle to reveal a line of chained foals: all looking absolutely terrified to be there. The revelation that the foals were no longer under some kind of hypnosis immediately put a halt to the charging assassins, who stared in horror at them. Then the grating sound of metal trying to resist being moved dragged their attention to the two fanatics, who heaved the levers back. There was a pause, then the two fanatical ponies threw open their wings and ran down mirrored corridors just beside the levers.

Just as the fanatic pegasi disappeared, the archway behind the assassins groaned, catching their attention and forcing several to whip around to face the new threat. Those that turned were greeted by a large gray gate slamming shut across the entrance to the sacrificial chamber, while those that had face the fanatics were greeted by the remaining ten pulling out knives obviously intended to strike down the foals.

Blaze wanted to react, he wanted to kill each fanatic before they could do any more harm, and he even started to push himself forward, his wings just barely able to start rising to propel him through space. But before he could get so far as an inch, a blinding bolt of lightning surged passed the assassins and arced its way through the fanatics, illuminating the entire chamber with a bright bluish-white light as it touched the tip of the closets fanatic's dagger. The blade shone brightly, and an instant later, everyone in the chamber could see the glowing outline of the fanatic's skeleton, before the arc of lightning shot out to the next dagger, and proceeded to electrify each one nearly instantly.

The ten bodies dropped to the floor before any knife or dagger had gotten to any of the foals, who were now screaming and crying in utter terror. Then Elaine dropped to the floor in the midst of the assassins, her horn smoking like she was struck by the lightning. All the assassins but Bob had leaped forward, sweeping passed the foals to take care of the two insane pegasi. While Bob tended to Elaine, who had immediately snapped back to consciousness, Blaze and Rainbow stopped at the foals to free them and do what they could to comfort them.

They weren't the same ones the the two had seen earlier, which both relieved and worried Blaze. However, those feelings were shut down as he stopped before the cowering foals and sheathed his sword so he could lean down and try to placate them. "It's okay, guys: it's okay. We're here to help you. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to get you guys home safely, okay?"

He murmured rapidly, his voice collecting itself and staying calm as the weeping and screaming slowly subsided, though Rainbow steadily breaking the chains also helped to ease them. He continued to reassure them that he was there to help, sweeping as many of the crying ones as he could into a tight hug, hoping that by showing them some kindness they'd stop wailing. It started to work. The ones he held onto were the first to regain some semblance of composure, though the sniffles and tears were flowing, but that was something he knew would be the case for a while. He rubbed the heads of those that were still in need of comforting, and as some of them seemed to recognize who he was, the rest began to steadily crawl up to him knowing he was a friendly face. He had the mass relatively calmed down, though he was still murmuring comfortingly to them, when the others had started to show up again.

Rainbow explained to the others what was going on, and then Slate and All-Feather approached the gate to examine it, while Bob the zebra checked on Elaine, who was now conscious, but shaking violently.

"Thank you for that, Elaine." The Mistress said once she'd determined that the gate wasn't going to move. Slate and her returned to the group, who was now gathering before the two levers, when Aqua stepped up and pulled the left-most lever. The gate didn't move, but a massive spear shot out from the ceiling and nearly impaled the mare, who shot backwards, yelping in terror. "Bob, why don't you and Elaine get those foals out of here? They probably aren't going to want to stick around here much longer, and I know Blaze here would kill us all if we let them stick around."

"I'm sure we can manage." The zebra approached the group of foals, most of whom were staring at him curiously, though some of them had taken to hiding underneath Blaze's wings. Elaine slowly stepped up, though her legs were still shaking and she looked utterly exhausted and was pale in the face, and some of the foals seemed to react far more favorably to her presence. The group slowly started to shuffle towards the two, looking equally terrified and hopeful, emotions that most of the group were happy to share. Bob leaned down and offered his hoof to the first one to approach him. "Hey there. My name is Bob, and I'm going to make sure you guys all get back to the city, and this is Elaine, and she's going to make sure we're all safe and fine along the way."

Several of the foals' ears perked at the depth of his voice, and his smile reassured many of them to nod wearily. The group of foals surrounding the two was steadily growing as they felt more comfortable with each other, until just a few of the most scared were still clinging to Blaze, who had taken to stroking their heads and whispering encouragingly at them.

After a brief period of coaxing, the three foals managed to pull away from the pegasus, and two of those reluctantly stepped towards the group, leaving one tiny yellow pegasus filly, who held a small bag in her hooves, pressed tightly into her chest. She stood right in front of him, her eyes shifting between him and the pouch she was holding onto for dear life.

"I. . . I-" She started to whisper, though the words were cut off by the sudden painful screams of another life being taken in the next chamber, and the angry growls of the rest of the group. She stammered quickly, then stared at Blaze while her hooves parted and she offered the pouch to him. He looked at the thing for a second before slowly accepting the thing, and slid out a shiny red egg.

The red egg had a series of yellow stripes spiraling from the top down the sides, ending just below the bottom half. He couldn't believe his eyes, now that he was holding a particularly precious item here. He looked to the filly, who was smiling warmly at him and nodded appreciatively. "Where did you get your hooves on a phoenix egg?"

"My mother and I take care of animals. Promise me you'll take good care of it." He stared at her for another second, then he gaze fell to the small egg. He had already made up his mind, of course, and he showed it by sliding the egg back into the pouch and nodding fervently to the filly.

"Obviously. This is a true treasure. . . thank you." The filly just turned and followed the others as Bob and Elaine led them back through the halls and away from the danger. He tucked the egg into a pouch, hoping that there was enough padding that it would remain unharmed. He couldn't fathom the great opportunity he was just given. That little filly actually had held onto a phoenix egg: and she had kept it safe from these fanatics, even though they had stolen her and a bunch of others. He turned to the others, who had made themselves busy trying to figure out why the levers weren't doing anything anymore.

Slate had pulled on the other, which had resulted in the same thing happening as the first: a spear had shot out from the ceiling, nearly impaling the guy. He walked up to the group and tapped All-Feather on the shoulder. "What's the holdup?"

"Whatever happened to these levers, they won't activate anymore. I can't quite understand it, because they obviously worked just before now, but something had turned on those spear traps." She groaned and looked between the levers and the stagnant gate, which was the only thing separating them from the end of this quest. Blaze followed her gaze, then felt his curiosity overwhelm him, and he walked over to the metal bars to see what was going on on the other side.

In the duration that they had heard the last foal being sacrificed and reaching this chamber, the vast majority of the fanatics must have all ran in here to collect some more sacrifices. He couldn't really make out any more shapes within the shadows around the center of the room. The only obvious things left in there were two items of interest.

The one that stood out was a massive unicorn, easily twice his own height, who was standing at the altar, whose hood had been pulled down, revealing a black coat and mane. Eanulf was massive, his neck looked to be as thick as Blaze's chest, and the one forehoof he had on the altar was as large as a foal. A thick beam of moonlight poured from an opening in the ceiling, marking the only light in the chamber and casting the outer walls in gloomy shadows.

The observations came quick, but then Blaze noticed that there was a distinct lack of bodies. It worried him.

He returned to the group, who were obviously no closer to getting the levers working again. When he approached, Slate grunted and backed off from the right lever, walking up to him and the Mistress. "When the fanatics went down those halls, they must have done something to the levers. Maybe we need to head down there and reverse it?"

"It's possible, but they had already turned around and were trying to attack us when we went after them." The Mistress replied, her gaze turning to the hall she had led a charge down. "Then again; it's not like we went all the way down the halls, and there was obviously more to explore. I just wish we didn't have to."

"Then let's just go back there and see what these buckers did to mess with the gate." Blaze declared as he stepped through the group and started going down the left corridor until he stopped to look to the others. "This would go a lot faster if we split into two groups, with one going this way and the other going down that way. Choose what you want, I'm going to head down here and try to figure out just what needs to be done."

He turned around and pushed further into the hallway, immediately grateful that the fanatics had at least chosen to light this one. His boots thudded on the stone as he trotted down, and the sound of hoof-steps soon followed behind him as the others had made a decision, though he never slowed his pace. The hall was simple, it was straight, and thanks to the lighting, he could easily see the chamber that it opened into just down the ways. He stopped at the doorway to the smaller room to scan the room for any dangers and to wait for whoever had followed him to catch up.

The room was still massive, though by comparison to the others it would have been considered small. There was a large pedestal in the center of the room, inlaid within a circle carved into the stone floor, and had been decorated with elaborate carvings that were begging to be examined. Two large bowls on either side of the room held large fires that both lit the room and filled the air with a smoky scent that made his eyes water. The fires flickered and cast shadows over every surface, creating a vivid contrast and highlighting every fold, scratch and flaw in the stonework walls, including the pillars that flanked either side of the bowls.

His eyes followed the pillars as they flowed seamlessly into the vaulted ceiling, where the smoke collected momentarily before billowing out of an unseen vent.

Back on the ground level, his eyes caught on the intricate carvings set in the walls, each a detailed image of one thing or another. On one panel, he could clearly see the moon, emerging from what looked to be clouds, yet on another, he could see a line of ponies, all bowing before a much larger creature. He stepped into the room to see the creature: it was seated on a throne, and had the same bipedal structure that he had seen in humans. Only, this one was obviously not a human: instead on the small, orb-like heads that they had, this one had the head of a bull. It was a creature he had never seen before. He stepped closer, hoping that by closing the distance, he'd be able to make out the details more clearly, though the flickering firelight wasn't helping in the slightest.

The sounds of the others stopping at the entrance let him know he wasn't alone anymore, which let him relax a little more. He stepped up to the carving, admiring the skill of whoever made it, and noted that the creature not only had a bull's head with wide, sweeping horns sticking out on either side, but that where the humans had booted feet, as per what Jace had shown him, this creature had the cloven hooves of a bull. Then there was the intricate carved tail that almost seemed to be swishing off the side of the throne.

He didn't have a word for this monstrosity; it wasn't in the books he'd read, and he had never heard anything from anypony about a half-bull, half-whatever creature. And though he was worried what the depiction meant, he was strangely curious as to the validity of such a carving, and if creatures as terrifying as this one actually existed.

His answer came in the form of a metallic clanking off to the side, snapping his attention from the carving and to whatever had been hidden from his vision behind the pillar. Whipping to the side, his hoof already reaching for his sword, his sight honed in on the very same creature that had been depicted in that carving, this one raising from its seated position on one such throne.

The throne itself was glinting in the firelight, recessed at the far end of the room in the wall in a homely alcove, raised from the ground on a small platform with two sets of stairs leading up to it on either side. Resting between the two tiny staircases was an iron-bound chest.

The setting seemed to befit the looming creature that appeared to be capable of standing taller than even Princess Celestia, and sitting was only slightly smaller than Blaze. It was coated in plate mail over its strangely human-like torso, with pauldrons strapped to its shoulders and heavy-looking metal gauntlets on what were definitely hands. Poking out of the top of this thing's torso was a neck thicker than Eanulf's, a feat he didn't understand how was possible. The neck justified itself with the bull's head resting on top, and the two thick black horns that sprung out of the bull's temples.

As if to add an air of intimidation, the skulls of what looked to be a pair of griffons and three ponies hung from iron chains along the rim of the alcove, and thorny spikes served as a railing for the stairs.

The bull-creature rose onto its hind legs, which were distinctively a bull's, complete with thick, rippling thighs that flexed as the creature's powerful arms pulled itself up. His suspicions were confirmed for the thing's height, as it rose from the throne, and the alcove that could have fit a covered wagon with room to spare seemed just barely big enough for this monstrosity, and though the alcove rose it an arch, those massive black horns seemed like they were going to scrape the walls at any moment.

His eyes bulged at the size of the creature before him, and he slowly backed away from the thing, until his flank ran against the wall.

The creature leered down at him for a second, its beady black eyes peering passed a massive black snout and around a thick iron nose-ring. It stepped forward, lurching at the weight shifting onto a single leg, then there was a heavy clank as the cloven hoof stomped onto the stone ground. It snorted but stopped, a burly arm twisting its chest as it reached to the side of the iron throne. A heavy, two-handed battleaxe slid out from its resting place, and the creature returned its attention to the puny pony before it, holding the axe with a wide grip. There was more than enough room for it to swing its axe freely.

Blaze gulped at the threat he was now facing, but a knife thrown at the monster reminded him that he wasn't alone. Unfortunately, the knife bounced harmlessly off the thing's horns, clattering against the throne before disappearing forever. The creature turned to face the attacker, and from his angle, Blaze was able to see the others had been forming a line on the other side of the strangle pedestal or pillar thing in the middle of the room. Rainbow and Slate took up formation right beside him, and the six assassins in this room prepared their weapons to fight whatever this thing was. He felt a little better about trying to beat this thing, but that axe was sending chills down his spine just looking at it: the black metal didn't seem right to him. The blade curved down in an evil fashion, held to the shaft by two thick prongs of metal, and even came with a courtesy rear spike.

The creature stepped forward, its bull tail whipping from side to side, then it crouched down, with its massive thighs flexing, and just leaped over the spiked railing. It landed with a thundering thud before rising to its full height as if it had walked down the stairs normally.

The assassins all stepped forward and met in a single line to face the monster, when it dropped its axe down to a loose grip across its waist, and nodded to them. In a deep, guttural voice that seemed to shake the room it addressed the group: "It has been many seasons since challengers have come seeking their doom, and I must admit: I am eager to face a real fighter. Know now, your deaths are all sealed, and brought to you by the glorious minotaur, Orik, the fierce-hearted. He who's axe has ended the lives of countless minotaurs in honorable combat, and has traveled in search of the hardest of warriors in vain. He who smiles at death, and bellows the songs of war with every victory."

The assassins all looked between each other, sharing very worried expressions, and it was obvious they were all having doubts about how this fight was going to go. Blaze tried to figure out how this was probably going to end, considering this hulking creature, claiming to be a minotaur, could probably best them all in combat. Well, Luna had trained him to fight, but he didn't really have that much experience in actual combat, and he wondered just how badly Orik here would kick his flank. Rainbow was a formidable fighter, he'd seen that first-hoof. Slate seemed eager to fight. All-Feather had to be a capable fighter, he doubted that she could be in her current position otherwise. The other two were ponies he didn't recognize, so he doubted that they were going to actually be helpful here. So, as he considered their odds of survival, he was looking at a bleak outcome here, especially if Orik was honest in his ability to fight, which was hard to dispute, given his equipment, and position as some kind of fanatical warrior. That axe was dangerous no matter who weld it, if they had the strength.

Orik grinned, and adjusted his stance, bringing his axe into a much more battle-ready position, then waited to see what the assassins were going to do. Every step he took was emphasized with a heavy thud as his iron-shod hooves impacted the stone with the weight of an armored minotaur, and served the additional purpose of intimidating any foe he went against.

Sensing the tensions rising to the inevitable fight, the assassins all lowered into crouching stances, tightening their grips on their weapons and staring down the massive target.

One of the nameless assassins jumped forward in unison with Rainbow and the Mistress, intending to have somepony slip around his defenses. Orik simply smirked at their attempt, and swung his axe in a wide arc in front of him, the weapon clanging against All-Feather's armor, and pushing the three ponies into one another, and then slamming them all away from him. He stepped forward as he did so, and let his momentum carry him against the other three, bringing his axe behind him ready to swing again.

Blaze jumped to the right to flank Orik, Slate charged head-on, while the second unknown assassin flanked to the left.

They all swung a blade at the minotaur, and watched as his shoulder dropped, his right hand gripped the axe and brought it down on the assassin, who barely dove out of the way, while his horns caught the other two blades. His weight didn't let him stop as he ran forward, and Slate was caught between his horns, and was pressed down to the floor as he was nearly trampled.

Blaze dove after Orik, his sword already aiming to pierce the minotaur's neck, just above where the plate ended, and where he could see a glistening black mane flowing out. Orik sidestepped the blow, his tail whipping Slate since he couldn't stomp the stallion, and he proved his battle mastery by swatting the descending blade with the back of his gauntlet.

Still grinning like mad, he grabbed Blaze by the hoof, ripped him forward and tried to gore his face with a horn. Blaze was just barely able to lean away, and missed the sharp appendage, and as he closed the distance, he reached out to the minotaur's neck, stabbing him with his hidden blade. He had hoped that that would be the end to this fight, but Orik simply stiffened up, then threw him across the room, where he slammed into the chest.

Blaze grunted at the impact, but his instinct forced him to move, else he be slain right then and there.

The instinct was unfounded, as once he had rolled away and recovered, he saw Orik standing to the side of the pedestal, a hand held out. The minotaur chuckled at the small trickle of blood coming from the stab wound, and the smear that must have been on his palm. "It has been long since I last saw my own blood, little pony. I must say that six against one may not seem fair, but I relish in the challenge: so come and face your dooms, and give my heart the joy of a difficult fight!"

He gripped his axe and brought it down to end Slate's life, but the assassin just managed to roll away, letting the axe cleave into the stone as if it were simply wood. All-Feather took this opportunity to lash at the guy, her scarlet arming sword flashing forward as she tried to catch the minotaur while he recovered from his swing. His grin never left his face as he reached up and punched the mare, the impact sending her right back to where she had launched from. The first nameless pony followed suit, leaping to slash at Orik, who had finally recovered enough to bring his axe up and block the attack. That axe then twisted and he spun the head into the pony, chopping right through the robes, though whatever armor the assassin had, and nearly cleaved him in two.

The assassin dropped to the ground, and the minotaur turned to face Slate, who had risen and was bringing his own sword down on him. Orik simply blocked the swing with his axe, and caught Slate's hidden blade hoof with his had, then twisted and threw the gray pony across the room.

Rainbow and Blaze attacked at the same time, she charged Orik from the side, while he caught his attention with a headlong charge. Orik brought his axe up with a counter swing. Unfortunately, that counter swing timed itself perfectly to clip Rainbow's leg, denting the bracer that protected her hidden blade, and caused her to slam into him while his axe continued on its way to slam into Blaze's sword. She cried out in utter agony, he body flailing as she tried to right herself even as she got entangled around his horn.

The blow was barely noticed by Orik, who shrugged off the weight of the mare and reached back to punch at Blaze, who was wrestling his sword free from under the axe. Just as his hand came down to make contact, All-Feather jumped forward with Slate in tow to stab at Orik. The minotaur just flicked his head, and his horn deflect the first blow, while he twisted his stance and let Slate's sword bounce off of his plate armor. Blaze felt the impact of the punch, but rolled with it enough that he was able to spin and return his own on the minotaur.

His punch had little effect, much to his expectation, but he followed up with another attempt at sending his hidden blade through the minotaur's neck, which was now countered by Orik grabbing his hoof and throwing him to the side.

Orik's tail wrapped itself around All-Feather's throat, tightening into a stranglehold as he picked up his axe to face Slate and the last assassin. The Mistress' hooves struggled at his tail, clawing as best she could to free herself, to no avail. Orik simply dragged her along as he stomped over to the other two, her body flailing as she tried to escape his death grip. Blaze picked himself up from where he'd been thrown, and scrambled over to pick up his sword when he realized the position they were now in.

He let out his own war cry and leaped into the air to throw himself on Orik, who turned to look at him with a curious expression. Just as he distracted the minotaur, both Slate and the other assassin took the opportunity to attack, now launching on three different sides in a desperate bid to overwhelm him.

Orik bellowed in laughter and swung out with both arms, the one holding his axe sent the weapon arcing towards the two ponies, while his open hand was flying towards Blaze. The axe collided with Slate, who rolled with the blow, and carried through to the other assassin, sending both crashing to the ground, while Blaze reached up and did what he could to catch the heavy blow. Seizing the opportunity, he twisted around the minotaur's arm and tried once more to stab him with his hidden blade, only to be met with a black horn slamming against his forehoof. He wasn't going to give up, though, and he dragged his sword across the plate armor, intending to slice the blade against something, anything, and cause damage.

Due to dragging the blade backwards, he wasn't entirely successful, but it did end up with him hitting Orik in the snout with his pommel, and nearly ripping the ring out of the minotaur's nostrils.

That impact was enough for Orik to drop his axe and grab Blaze with both hand, wrapping him in a tight squeeze as he tried to crush the life out of him. Grinning down at the pony, Orik tightened his grip, ignoring the steadily weakening flailing of the mare in his tail, and then he leaned his head back for a powerful headbutt. His forehead collided with the pony with enough force that it rang out across the room, and the white pegasus in his grip recoiled back with equal intensity, momentarily going limp in his grip.

The decision to not gore Blaze was what had saved his life, as the distraction the minotaur went through to batter him with a blunt blow gave the others enough time to sneak up behind him and lob off his tail with a heavy swing, freeing All-Feather from the doorstep of death. The mare rolled away, choking and gasping for breath as she fled from the overwhelming opponent.

Orik bellowed when he lost his limb, his typical grin instantly being replaced by a frightening snarl of rage as he dropped Blaze and whipped around, his hands snatching the second nameless pony before he could react. Slate barely escaped being grabbed himself, ducking under the arm of the minotaur and intending to thrust his sword through his skull. Orik's hands began to crush the pony in them, slowly tightening around his throat, cutting off any chance of escape. He realized what the other pony was doing, and his indestructible horns flashed in front of the blade, knocking it aside as he leaned down to Slate. Those very same horns were swung wildly, and the gray pony had just enough time to back up before the tip of the left horn scraped across his face, leaving a deep gouge across his muzzle as a result.

Slate went flying off to the side, and Orik returned his attention to the pony being crushed in his grip, making sure he finished him off before the others.

Blaze had recovered enough that the stars blinding his vision had faded, though the deafening ringing in his ears kept him dazed and confused. He blinked, trying to clear his mind, and he wondered just what was raining down on him, until he could see a hulking figure looming over him, and that there was a spray of blood coming from the severed tail. His mind still foggy from the impact, he tried to get his hooves under him, but his limbs were trembling, and he was struggling to get a coherent thought out.

He could just barely make out a shape falling to the floor on the other side of the hulking figure, but his vision was still blurry, so he wasn't sure. He tried to move away, and just managed to pull himself somewhat away, until his hooves gripped something cold and hard. He forced his vision into focus on the object, and he could see the handle to a massive black battleaxe just in his grip.

His thoughts finally began to focus again, and he tried to pull himself to his hooves, knowing full well that he was in a very bad position. He got to his knees before the ringing subsided enough that he could hear Orik bellowing incoherently in rage.

Then the bellowing stopped, and he turned to see what had happened, only to find the minotaur staring at him with murder in his eyes. Blaze felt a knot growing in his stomach, and he wondered whether he had the strength to evade whatever was about to come. He got his answer, and it wasn't really to his liking: Orik sneered at him and charged forward, lowering his horns and obviously intending to gore the pony as he ran him down. Blaze had a single second to decide what to do, and he had to pull his thoughts together enough to do just that.

His immediate decision was to throw out his hooves and catch the horns.

It kind of worked: he had enough of a grip that as Orik charged forward, he held on and managed to avoid being trampled. However, the minotaur was determined to charge forward until he had murdered him, so Blaze held on as best as he could. Orik kept charging, until his horns slammed into the pedestal, and Blaze felt his back connect rather roughly with the stone.

His instincts finally came in to save him, and he felt a surge of adrenaline sharpen his senses. He could see that Orik was on a rampage, and wasn't likely to think anything through, so he tightened his grip on those shiny, if gory, black horns and threw them to the side, exposing just enough of that rippling neck that he could try another stab to the neck. His attack only seemed to enrage the minotaur more, but now that he had more than enough thinking power to plan, he had an idea to end this finally. Unfortunately, his plan was cut short when Orik forced his head back around him, and he had to hold on tight as the monster ripped him from his spot at the base of the pedestal and started trampling over anything as he charged towards the walls.

Blaze felt even more pain as the minotaur slammed into the wall, and he was subsequently thrown against it, but he was still determined to be victorious. He repeated his previous attempt: this time he threw the horns to his left and slipped completely from in front of the dangerous part of the minotaur. Now that he was standing to the side, and Orik was facing away from him, he stepped forward and slammed his weight against the pauldrons, forcing the minotaur to the ground, where he tried to finish him off with yet another stab to the neck.

Orik had more durability than anything that Blaze had seen, however, and with the raw strength his rage had given him, he rolled out from under the pony and scrambled onto his hooves, blood now steadily pouring from the three wounds he had collected. His muzzle was venting steam with each heavy exhale, and his eyes were now dull, so filled with rage that any higher thought had been completely severed.

Now that he had a chance to evaluate his options, he spared a very brief glance looking for his weapon. The sword was laying on the ground a little ways away, but with Orik looking ready to charge him again, hands clenching and hooves scraping against the stone as he settled into a sprinting stance, it would have been difficult to get to. He wasn't sure what he could do, but he knew he had to find a way to end this fast.

Orik snorted, then stomped onto the ground and started his charge.

Blaze reacted with the only thing he could think that might work, and dove to grab his sword, barely getting a good grip and managing to turn to face Orik, who was nearly on top of him, with horns splayed and ready to kill. He dropped to the ground, feeling a breeze as his death was barely avoided, and let the minotaur keep charging forward. He stayed tucked until he was at Orik's legs, where he lashed out with his sword, cutting deep into the minotaur's thighs, slicing them open and forcing him to the ground.

Now acting on the instinct of what he knew he had to do, he jumped forward and climbed on top of the struggling mass of rage. He stepped on one of his horns, forcing his head to the ground, then stabbed at the reaching arm, earning enough of a break that he could thrust with his blade down.

Still, he underestimated the strength of he enraged monster, and Orik just managed to shifted his weight and block the killing blow with his other horn.

Refusing to lose when they were so close to victory, Blaze dropped his sword and unsheathed his hidden blade for one final time, punching downwards with all the strength he could muster. The blade connected with Orik's neck, sliding cleanly inside, and severing his spinal cord, the minotaur going limp immediately.

Blaze stayed mounted above the minotaur, his panting echoing across the silent room as he tried to get his body under control. His eyes glazed over and he let his body slowly stop shaking, his attention slowly coming into focus on his surroundings, and the three surviving ponies scattered around the room looking more or less beaten. Once he had gotten his breathing under control, he glanced at the others, of whom Slate seemed to have recovered the most, though his muzzle was horribly disfigured and bloody.

He was staring at Blaze with a proud look of approval.

Slowly trotting around the lifeless mountain of a minotaur, he hobbled over to the others, feeling completely destroyed by that fight. Just a quick glance told him that they were all feeling just about the same, with Slate clearly fairing the best, though he looked about as beaten as they all felt. All-Feather had a distant expression on, and she was rubbing her rad throat with a gentle hoof, her wings shaking at the utter terror she was living in. He slowly approached her, but his presence did nothing to ease her: she seemed oblivious to any of their presences. He looked at her for a second, but when she remained unresponsive, he dropped his gaze and moved on.

Rainbow seemed emotionally better of than the Mistress, but she had removed her bracer, her bare blue hoof bent pretty badly. She looked to him with painful eyes as he approached, but she still did what she could to offer a sympathetic smile. He nodded to her forehoof. "Are you alright?"

"Eh, I think I'll survive. He hit me pretty hard when he did that double attack, and it didn't help that he stepped on me. . . yeah that hurt like a bitch. But this isn't broken, as far as I can tell: he just really bucked it up. Don't know how much I'll be able to help you right now, and the only healers we had are now all dead, so I'm going to just have to sit back and watch as this all goes to complete shit."

"As if it hasn't already." He shook his head and wrapped his wing around her, helping her to her hooves, though it was clear she was honest in her inability to help the assault anymore. "We've got to figure out what the point of coming back here was."

"Looks like this pedestal might be of some importance." Slate declared as he approached the thing. Once both Blaze and Rainbow got up to it, the three of them took a much closer look at the thing.

The three sides of it were all engraved with something different, each carving as detailed as the wall carving, and obvious proof that whoever had built this temple were skilled masons. The side that had been facing them was interesting to Blaze: it was a unicorn encircled in an aura of powerful magic, the pony's mane and tail flapping wildly in a depicted wind. The flickering of the fire behind them gave the carving an air of power, as if the depiction would come to life. They shuffled around to the next face of the pillar, which simply had an open set of jaws, complete with a set of vicious fangs.

They quickly moved onto the last face.

The final image was directly facing the throne, with heavy shadows cast across its surface, but they still clearly saw the depicted carving on the face: a tall, broad-shouldered minotaur wielding an axe. Slate scoffed after leaning up close to the carving: "Seems a little self-indulging, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps, but what's the point of it? The other pictures don't make any sense, at least if this was supposed to show off how vain Orik was as I think it might be: there's that carving on the wall of him being worshiped. So why are these two random carvings here?" Blaze asked as he led Rainbow up to the pedestal for a closer examination. She patted his shoulder and stepped away from him, letting Blaze lead Slate over to the first carving on the right. Slate looked it over for a few seconds, then the two of them returned to the pedestal, only more confused than before. Rainbow had her muzzle planted near the ground, which got the attention of the two. "Um. . . what are you doing Rainbow?"

"It looks like this thing can rotate." She rose to her full height, then pressed her shoulder against the corner of the stone and heaved. The stone remained static for just a moment, then something underneath it snapped, and the large stone lurched forward. As Rainbow slid the stone, and shuffled awkwardly around with it, the space under her opened up to the two, and they saw an engraved arrow just before the pedestal. "I think. . . it's supposed to point to one specific carving."

"Possible, but which one?" Slate asked, looking more critically at the pedestal as Rainbow finished her display. She looked to him, then her gaze also shifted to staring at the stone, as if she were trying to scare it into revealing its secrets, something that Blaze didn't think would help. He scanned the walls lining the room, noting that it would have been too easy for it to be the minotaur carving, given the open display surrounding them, but it could have just as easily been one of the other two: he though that, given Eanulf was the minister of _voices_ , that maybe the jaws were the right answer. But Al Capony was a unicorn, which gave the third option some credence.

The minotaur still had the biggest chance of being the one the arrow was supposed to point to, but then why had that fanatic even bother running down here?

He looked to the throne, trying to find answers there, and when nothing was really making any sort of sense, he stepped up to the chest with the hope that there could be some form of answer. He loomed over the chest and reached to the iron bars severing the lid from the box of the chest, then something behind the chest caught his attention, and he leaned forward to get a better look at it.

Engraved into the front of the platform, and securely hidden behind the chest, was a gleaming metallic statue of the head of a dragon, with its jaws parted wide, as if biting down on the stone slab between its teeth. Carved onto the stone tablet was an identical carving to the jaws on the second side of the pedestal. He snapped back, staring at the image placed before him in cautious wonder: how had they known to just give the correct answer on a secret little tablet behind the chest? Now armed with something potentially useful, he spun around and trotted up to the others. "It's the jaws. Turn the pedestal until the arrow points at the jaws."

"And what makes you sure that it is supposed to point at the jaws?" Slate asked skeptically, looking at him in confusion.

"There's a metal dragon head statue behind the chest that's got a stone in its mouth that has the exact same carving on it. I'm pretty bucking sure that that is the face that's meant to be pointed at." He responded, moving passed the skeptical stallion and rotating the pedestal until it had a pair of jaws facing the throne. "Now let's go and see if the lever works, and if this really is the solution."

All-Feather grumbled something and stood up, stopping the other three in their tracks as she slowly walked over to the chest and climbed over it, her eyes ablaze with passion as her life filled, once more, with purpose. When she had confirmed that the symbols were the same, she motioned with her head for the others to follow, and began the short trek back to the gated chamber. They all looked between each other and at the mare, but silently obeyed her and immediately followed her as she set up the brisk trot. Blaze scooped his sword up as he passed the weapon, though he thought about just grabbing that massive axe.

Already waiting in the chamber were the six assassins, all bruised and several now had new gashes and tears in their robes. Hammer picked up her weapon when she saw them arrive and smiled sadly. "Glad ta see y'all made it out alive. We ran into some kind o' monster back in our chamber, said he was a 'minotaur' or somethin' like that. We fought, killed the thing, and looked around for some kind o' switch or something."

"Was there a pedestal or pillar in the middle of the room?" The Mistress asked, her tone so sharp and urgent that Hammer blinked in surprise and stop to think for a second before nodding. "Then we're thinking that that might be the switch, wait for a second."

Without waiting for another response, the upset mare walked over to the left lever and stepped up to it, sliding over to the side so she'd avoid the spear, and pulled the lever back. She waited a second, and when the spear had a noticeable lack of shooting out to do when she did so, she grinned at the group. "There is a symbol hidden behind the chest in your room: twist the pedestal until the arrow on the ground is pointed at the corresponding image. That must be the lock that's making these spears come out."

Hammer nodded and bolted down the hallway, another pony in tow, and the others all began to ready themselves for the final confrontation.

The two assassins returned shortly afterwards, nodding to their Mistress that they had turned the pedestal, and made their way to the lever. After a second to collect herself, Hammer hooked her signature weapon to her back and wrapped her hooves around the large metal device. She pulled the thing back quickly, then dove back in anticipation of the impending spear, a defensive device that never came out.

The entire group stared at it tensely, and when a thundering boom echoed across the chamber, they all jumped, whirling around to face whatever had made the noise.

The large metal gate slowly slid up, being release from the mechanisms the assassins were just dealing with, and opened the gateway to the mostly empty chamber, where the very fabric of time seemed to ripple and recoil. A cloud of dust flowed out from the gate, sparkling with an aura of magic as it entered the torchlight, crossing a strangely sharp line of darkness and light. They watched as the mystical specks slowly disintegrated or flowed out of sight, their nerves tight as the magical aura intimidated them.

All-Feather led them forward, putting on a brave face and stepping through the entrance, and slipping into the unnaturally dark chamber, giving the others enough courage to follow after her. The group of ten remaining assassins marched into the darkened chamber, where the air was stagnant and reeked of death and decay.

Blaze couldn't resist the shudder that forced its way down his body at the sheer force of magical tampering around him. Something was profoundly wrong with this very building, and it all seemed to culminate in this chamber, something dark. Something evil.

Eanulf had remained unfazed by their entrance, and the closer they got to him, the more it seemed that he hadn't even deigned to acknowledge their presence. He stood completely still at the altar, his eyes shut as if he were simply taking a brief nap before the next sacrifices could come. It looked like he hadn't even noticed that his followers were all dead, but merely that he had let them all leave for a break. But the strangest thing that his aura had exuded on the group: the moonlight was distorted around him.

The assassins slowly approached him, weary of what was going on in the room and unsure of what might happen if they were to be too hasty in their approach. They all kept their eyes tightly fixed on him, steadfastly ignoring the dead air around them, and doing their best to keep their heads focused on the final remaining threat. The distance between the gate and the altar was larger than any of them anticipated, and they had all started to feel the pit of anxiety grown to alarming levels by the time they were nearing it.

"I don't know whether this is a fight that I'm going to be of much help in." Rainbow stopped beside Blaze, looking down at her mangled hoof and grimacing. He turned to her, shared her worried look, then nodded and told her that she was probably safest returning to the gate, where Eanulf was the least likely to hurt her. She thanked him and tried to trot off, though it she only managed to leave at a brisk hobble.

Blaze returned his attention to the others and hurried to catch up with them just as they neared the circle of light that poured from the ceiling. The time to kill Eanulf was nearly there, but something seemed to stick in their minds over how this conflict was going to go.

Blaze pushed his way through the group when they stopped, stepping up beside All-Feather as she evaluated the hulking cultist before them, his eyes quickly finding purchase gauging how difficult this guy would be to kill. He worried about the size difference, but he had some training from Luna on how to defeat larger opponents. But the carefree aura that this guy had. . . Blaze sensed that this was the exact origin of the misaligned feelings he had getting: that it was him, and not the altar for sacrificing foals, that was exuding a melancholic air. The darkness of the room must have come from him.

All-Feather stepped into the circle of light, and the second her hoof cast a shadow on the ground, Eanulf awoke.

She was stopped mid-step by two violently green eyes popping open on the sides of Eanulf's face, and his hoof suddenly coming to life as it slid off of the altar. His body shifted and flowed like water, moving with ease and grace as he stepped forward, his robes flowing in a wind that none other could feel. Each step was sent with such force that the assassins all lowered their stances to maintain their balance. Then he spoke.

"You are not my followers, for my followers are now all dead." His voice may have boomed, but there was no life in it: his tone was heavy, but in nearly droned and felt hollow. "So, then, who are you to intrude upon my own home?"

"My name is All-Feather Ahad, and my Order has come to end the Cult of Chaos once and for all; including yourself and the murderous followers we already slew tonight." The Mistress raised her chin and stared at the Minister of Voices. "You've committed crimes against Equestria, and against Harmony itself. By murdering foals, and stealing the lives of the innocent, you have furthered the progress of chaos and disharmony in the world. For that, you must pay with your life."

"I knoweth not of this Cult you refer to, as mine own subjects only follow me and me alone, but it would appear that you all have come to meet your demise. Whether chaos comes from my actions or not matters little to me: for by garnering the souls of the innocent, of the pure, I have transcended beyond any of your abilities." Eanulf said, his horn lighting up a pale misty green. His robes were thrown aside, and then his horn grew brighter as ancient magics were swirling around him. "My ritual is complete, and thine transgressions here are to be punished most severely."

The group of assassins backed up rapidly as the whirlwind around Eanulf grew more powerful, and the moonlight that had been shining down was beginning to be pulled in. they all watched in horror as the vortex grew in intensity, until all the light cascaded around the room, striking the walls and condensing into orbs of pure moonlight that flooded the chamber in a white, radiating light.

The lights now reversed, the group looked in horror as what had once been a very large equine was now coated in inky blackness, only visible as a pony form as dark as the void. Then the magics he had cast began to twist his shape, turning Eanulf from a simple equine into a true monster: his legs lengthened, they twisted and bent, sections began to swell into blobs. The wind ripped at his mane, and what was once a single flowing mass of hair began to split and thicken into chords. Something. . . _wrong_ happened to his snout, and it thickened, as if it were a sack slowly filling with water, until it was no longer recognizable as a snout. His tail condensed into one flowing tail, which whipped around angrily in the wind that was finally twisting and circling around the group, and slowly spreading out to the rest of the room.

The darkness seeped back into the ground, like water dripping off of something, though the monster's hide appeared to want to remain as black as night, even when the light shone upon it. What was once an equine had morphed horribly into the most frightening thing that Blaze had ever seen. . . he was certain that not even the Reapers were this horrible to look at.

Where it once had a black coat of fur, there was now a thick, inky hide of either scales or some kind of carapace like the Changelings had. Where he had thought that any other creature might show muscles moving, this thing was stiff, there was no sign of anything happening underneath its flesh. It shifted its head, and thick, ropy tendrils flicked about, replacing what had been a mane, and reflected the light back in a sickly, almost oily blackness. It's forehooves had been split down the middle, and as the thing rose onto its hind legs, those forehooves opened wide, revealing a pair of gaping maws. Then the monster's hide shifted, and lines and lines of splits opened up along its torso, each creaking open to reveal yet another drooling mouth.

Everything about this monster reminded them why it had once been know as the 'Minister of Voices.'

The group flinched back when the monster stepped forward, the winds whipping around them suddenly intensifying as it leaned down and prepared to leap at them. Its head started to snake back and forth, then its twisted mouth split open, drool spilling out as row upon row of glistening fangs revealed themselves. It's tail thrashed against the ground and the creature let out a bellowing roar, its hand-mouths chomping into the stone ground and ripping up chunks of stone that were instantly dropped. Then it jumped forward.

The screeching noises that came out of its mouth were more than adequate at disarming the group, but as the creature sailed over them, the winds that this thing appeared to be in command of began to pull with even greater intensity. The tempest blowing by them grew so strong that the assassins began to have trouble keeping their hooves on the ground.

Things only got worse for them as the monster landed behind them, shaking the entire building, and let out another screech. The wind finally reached its maximum power, which happened to be just enough that half the group was sent flying into the walls at the far end of the room while the other half slid across the stone floor. All-Feather barely managed to roll out from being snapped in half by one of the creature's reaching maws.

Blaze rolled onto his back as he slid passed the monster's left arm, his sword ready to strike when the snapping jaws at the end of it inevitably tried their luck. Sure enough, as he slid under the appendage, those salivating jaws shot at him, and he brought his sword up in a wide arc, slashing one mandible on the thing, and earning his life again momentarily. He slid back onto his hooves as he passed the arm, opening his wings to take to the air just as the thing's tail whipped underneath him. The winds carried him against the wall, where he stayed planted, watching as the others rolled away from the monster, thankfully unscathed.

When he felt the winds begin to die off, he jumped away from the wall and raced towards the creature busying itself by trying to turn around. Now he knew that the thing had a weakness, he figured he could put his mobility to good use.

His plan ready to be put into action, he dove at the creature and barely managed to evade its erratic attacks, swing his sword at either arm whenever it came close to him. He did what he could to keep the creature turning after him, swinging and yelling, while buying as much time for the others as he could.

Then the creature got a lucky strike with its tail, slamming into his side and sending him crashing to the ground.

He rolled with the impact, and kept moving when he felt the vibrations that the monster made with every step, evading every bite and stab the thing made. He kept rolling until the creature let up, curling in on itself and watching him with leering eyes full of a kind of feral wrath he hadn't seen before. This thing truly had no mind of its own, and he could see that there was no longer anything left of Eanulf inside of it. It was a mindless monster.

He brought his sword up in a defensive position, goading the creature into attacking, and waiting carefully as it jumped after him, arms stretching eagerly to bite into him. When it was nearly on top of him, he pulled his sword in tight and slipped to the side, letting the monster pounce on empty air. When he knew he was passed the hungry arms, he spun and raised his sword, leaving a heavy gash in between two of the gaping mouths on its side and jumping back before it had the chance to counterattack him. As he pulled away, he heard a faint whispering in his ear, and he turned one eye to his blade, which now had an unhealthy coating of inky black blood on it.

The whispering was barely noticeable, but he wasn't so sure that it was the blood, or just his imagination. Not that he had time to think about it: the monster was turning to face him.

Another reach by one of its arms was slashed to the side, and for a second, he thought he could actually hear the whispers, but the creature had his attention again before he could be sure. It planted both arms wide, and leaned back as if it were going to lunge at him. Fearing that this was going to happen, he crouched down and started to dive to the side, seeing that it was already parting its jaws, a line of drool already starting to spill out between two rather fearsome fangs.

He slipped by the side of its head and used his momentum to twist and swing at the now exposed neck. His sword struck against the scaly exterior with just enough force to cut through whatever was protecting the creature. A line of the black liquid sprayed out, but by now he wasn't even sure if it was even blood.

And the whispers surged again.

As he backed away from the creature, who was glaring at him with ever-increasing rage, he saw that several mouths were also lining its back, and that they were moving, giving him reason to believe they were the source of the ceaseless whispers. He readied his sword for yet another attack by this thing. He tried twisting around the creature, but it had realized that it needed to face him head on, and had mirrored his movement to stay facing him. When he had turned ninety degrees, he decided to stop, and from the corner of his eye, he saw All-Feather trying to perform a sneaky attack on the thing.

He wasn't the only one who noticed, and that massive tail came slamming down where she was about to step. He watched as she managed to dive out of the way, and she slammed a small axe into the tail, though when the monster recoiled, it hit her hard with the haft of the now-embedded axe.

More furious than ever, the creature tried to make another lunge at Blaze, using the temporary distraction to get much closer than before. He recoiled back, not bothering trying to get in another slash, and instead focused on jumping backwards to avoid the particularly massive pair of jaws screeching death at him. He jumped back two times, then flared his wings and pushed himself to the side, ducking under another swing of the thing's arm, and jumped back at the lashing tail.

The creature stopped charging so it could twist and face him again, the mouths on its back were picking up in volume again. The choir of voices that he had to strain to hear were starting to become maddening.

Staring him down, the creature stepped up to him, taking slow and steady steps, its tail lashing against the ground to punctuate each one. The mistress must have lacked anything to properly take on the monster, as she backed off, screaming obscenities and just trying to distract the creature. While he appreciated her efforts, he was sad when he had to admit that it had little effect on the monster getting ready to pounce on him again. He shook his head and lowered into another defensive position.

Much to his surprise, the creature didn't lunge straight at him, but took a more strategic path in attacking just above him, giving it much more room to strike from. He growled and dove to the side, once more finding himself rolling and evading wild strikes for his life. He worked his way around the creature in a wide circle, hoping to eventually flank it, until it suddenly stopped attacking him, a putrid stench coming out of its parted jaws in ragged breaths. He seized the opportunity and jumped forward, landing a heavy blow on it while it was temporarily distracted, and when it flinched from the jagged gash running down its face, he managed to slip in another sideswipe across its snout, knocking out several teeth and nearly getting his sword stuck in a bone.

He ripped his blade free before it could use the proximity to kill him and leaped backwards, wishing that the gale above him would calm more so he could use his wings. There was another second where the monster recovered from the blows, but the mouths along its back wasted no time in raising their voices in protest, the sounds now somewhat audible over the wind, though the words made no sense.

He flinched when he heard the raised tone, but didn't feel anything other than confusion and a little irritation in his head at the strange words.

However, his confusion shot skywards when he saw his Mistress react very poorly to it out of the corner of his eye. She threw her hooves to her head and dropped to the floor, screaming out in agony, while her wings fluttered about as if they were trying to detach themselves from her body. Her hooves clawed at her ears, and the shrill shrieking coming our of her throat was nothing short of horrifying. He feared that she might fall victim to the creature if it had the chance to strike at her, so he darted to the side hoping to catch its attention again.

Another instance where he was thankful that his skills mingled well with the traits he had inherited. He shouted at the monster and stomped on the ground, though he wasn't prepared for the speed at which its head whipped towards him.

It climbed over its arms, shuffling awkwardly as it turned to face him, its jaw biting up and down all the while, as if it hadn't realized that he'd cut deep into it. He stood still for a second, hoping to get it to lunge again, as he knew that it was smart enough to keep its eyes on him, and hoped that he'd get another opportunity to slash at the thing.

It took the bait, and launched another attack directly at him, allowing him to easily dodge the thing and this time he gave the thing a heavy swing at the reaching arm, sending a shower of that black liquid cascading onto the stone floor. He followed up by spinning around and diving at it, bringing his sword down on its side, and found himself on the other side as his sword cut through the hardened hide of the creature. He was horrified a bit more than usual when his sword went through a mouth that had suddenly opened, and a row of severed teeth sprayed onto the ground, making the monster wail in pain. He watched as the body locked up for a second, and he took the cue to back off.

The body began to rapidly shrink in on itself, shaking violently, and the whispers became all out screams as whatever this thing was pulled itself onto its hind legs, every mouth opening up and letting loose an ear-shattering scream. Then the arms reached towards the ceiling, the gales around them died, and the mouths all went silent in unison, each one dripping a disgusting mixture of inky liquids and drool. He watched in equal measures of relief and dread as the creature dropped to the ground, every limb and appendage going completely limp and scraping against the stone floor.

Then the others all began to uncurl themselves from fetal positions from the barrage of magic-induced sounds. He could hear some of them still weeping at what he assumed to have been total agony, and he looked to see just who had gone where; their Mistress was sitting up from one side, while the majority of the group was untangling themselves as the lights above them slowly began to fade.

Rainbow hobbled over to him from the entrance, appearing to have recovered the most, or perhaps she had just suffered the least. She was gaping at him, staring in a combination of utter reverence and terror. He didn't blame her.

He looked at her, and felt the emotional drain of everything leading up to this weigh down on him, instead of the release and peace he had been hoping for. This was all finished; Eanulf had been killed, and yet. . . he still felt so hollow, so dissatisfied. He knew that many of the others who had survived would likely be celebrating this as a monumental victory, and he knew that he could too, that he really should, but he just didn't feel like it was even a victory. "We killed Eanulf, but I don't think anypony saw Al Capony here, and I'm not sure how many of his own minions were actually here. So all this death, all this fighting, and for what? One villain dead? Was all this even worth it?"

"Of course it was." Rainbow said as she limped next to him, slowly leading him towards their Mistress, who had taken to staring at the dead mountain just before them. "We've saved those foals, and now one very dangerous villain has been slain. . . even if we had to lose a great many friends along the way. I know that this victory here means that their deaths were not in vain, and that we were able to uncover yet another threat to Equestria that had gone unnoticed. Today may not be perfect, but in the end; we still helped to the best of our abilities."

"It just feels so false: like we didn't really achieve anything today. Especially not since we've got basically nopony left to help us. There are what: a dozen of us left? How can we stand up to the Cult now, when everything we were going to have to just keep the fight going has been lost." He hung his head and plopped his flank on the stone, apathetic towards the others that had gathered around him.

"While we are alive, there is yet hope." Slate said, placing a stern hoof on Blaze's shoulder. "While we breathe: we haven't lost everything."

0_0

 _Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm super pleased with how this arc had come out: I wanted to sort of mimic the boss fights you get in Dark Souls, though I must admit that I've never actually been able to play one of them (A fact I'm currently trying to rectify). If any of the fifteen or so of you that are keeping up to date on this thing have played it, I'd love any feedback on that, but then again: I'd love any and all feedback so. . ._

 _Anyways: I've got some major plans for this story, but I also think that if I were to end it here, that this might be a decent enough spot to do so. With these plans for the story, I could easily continue on, but I do need to think about any other paths I might need to take. Now that I've finished this, however, I'm going to start really looking into moving over to FiMFiction, which would give me somewhere else to be while I think it over. If I do head on over there, I'll probably still be the Seer from the Hinterlands, but this story will have a bit of a rewrite for the first five-ish chapters. I'm not sure how much I want to redo, but given that this story is literally my first attempt at a serious story, I'd like it to have a much less cringey beginning. I haven't done that here because I like being able to look at the earlier postings and see just how much I've grown as a writer. Although, if I were to just rewrite the earlier chapters, and keep the old documents. . ._

 _I'll have to keep thinking on it, though any opinions could expedite the process._


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